Removing Heading Hierarchy From MS Word Document

Microsoft Word documents have a headings feature, which provides consistent formatting of headers within documents and assigns sections of texts certain levels. This leveling system can be seen in the navigation panes in Word and in Interfolio. For example, if you were writing a book in Word, you may divide the book into 3 sections with 5 chapters each. The section titles might all be labeled as "Heading 1" and the chapters might be "Heading 2". In Interfolio, the templates provided already have a hierarchy in place.

Sometimes the hierarchy can become muddled from copying and pasting from multiple documents or extensive editing. Below are steps to remove the hierarchy from your document, without losing the text or formatting. 

Enter Outline Mode: 

1. Click the View tab from the top menu. 
2. Check Navigation Pane from the Show section of the ribbon 
3. Click Outline from the Views section of the ribbon.
4. You should now be in Outlining Mode. You may have to click the Outlining tab on the top menu.
5. Click Headings on the Navigation Pane. Now you should be able to see the Hierarchy structure of your document.

Remove Hierarchy: 

1. From the outlining tab, select the text you want to remove the hierarchy from.
2. Select Body Text in the Outline Tools section of the ribbon. This will remove any levels from the text while preserving the formatting. 

Add Hierarchy (from the Outlining tab): 

1. From the outlining tab, select the text you want to make into a heading.
2. Select the proper level in the Outline Tools section of the ribbon. Level 1 is the top level. 

Add Hierarchy (from Home tab): 

1. Select the text you want to make into a heading. 
2. From the Styles section of the Home ribbon, select the proper heading style. Heading 1 is the highest level heading. 

For more information about Styles, check out Microsoft's guide to Customize or Create New Styles.