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In Word, a style is a named set of formatting (font, size, color, spacing, numbering) applied to paragraphs, characters, tables or lists: Normal, Heading 1, Heading 2… Direct formatting is applied to a specific piece of text (select it and make it bold or change its font) and overrides the style. Changing a style changes every text that uses it; direct formatting has to be changed one place at a time.

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Why it matters when generating documents with AI

  • A document built with styles stays editable: whatever is added later inherits the same design.
  • Word’s automatic table of contents and navigation pane are built from heading styles.
  • If every paragraph carries its own direct formatting, changing the document’s font means touching every paragraph.
  • Screen readers and tagged PDF export use heading styles to understand the structure.

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With Doconda

You ask for the style in words (“Lora 11, dark blue headings, with a table of contents”) and Doconda applies it to the Word styles, not paragraph by paragraph (Style). Anything it can’t do isn’t silently ignored: it comes back in style_unsupported, and style_applied shows how the request was understood.