The style sheet included with the Help Authoring Templates contains the standard styles Microsoft recommends for creating Help files. They are provided to enable Help authors to format all the text and graphic elements of a Help file without having to go through the time and effort of creating a style sheet from scratch. Of course, the existing styles can be modified and additional styles can be created if your Help system requires those changes. But these styles should provide a good starting place for any style sheet, no matter how sophisticated.
The following table describes each style included in the style sheet.
| Style | Definition | Used for |
| bitmap | Font: MS Sans Serif (or Helv) 10 Point, Indent: Left 6pt Flush left, Line Spacing Auto, Space Before 6 pt After 6 pt, Next style: Normal | Bitmaps that occur alone in a paragraph |
| Ex | Font: Courier (or Letter Gothic) 8 Point, Indent: Left 6pt Flush left, Line Spacing: Exactly 12 pt, Space Before 3pt, Keep Lines Together, Tab stops: 26pt; 46pt; 66pt; 86pt; 106pt, Next style: Ex | Programming code examples and ASCII text |
| heading 1 | Font: MS Sans Serif (or Helv) 12 Point, Bold, Indent: Left 6pt Flush left, Line Spacing: Exactly 16pt, Space Before 14pt, After 6pt, Next style: Normal 2 | Topic titles |
| heading 2 | Font: MS Sans Serif (or Helv) 10 Point, Bold, Indent: Left 6pt Flush left, Line Spacing: Exactly 12 pt, Space Before 6pt After 3pt, Next style: Normal | Bold subheadings (procedures, notes, comments, hints, tips, and examples) |
| heading 3 | Font: MS Sans Serif (or Helv) 10 Point, Indent: Left 6pt Flush left, Line Spacing: Exactly 12 pt, Space Before 6pt After 3pt, Next style: Normal | Plain subheadings (procedures, notes, comments, hints, tips, and examples) |
| heading 4 | Font: MS Sans Serif (or Helv) 10 Point, Indent: Left 18pt First -12.25 pt Flush left, Line Spacing: Exactly 12 pt, Space Before 6pt After 3pt, Next style: Normal | Plain subheadings |
| Jl | Font: MS Sans Serif (or Helv) 10 Point, Indent: Left 18pt First -12 pt Flush left, Line Spacing: Exactly 12 pt, Space Before 3pt, Next style: Jl | Lists of jumps |
| Jli | Font: MS Sans Serif (or Helv) 10 Point, Indent: Left 30pt First -12pt Flush left, Line Spacing: Exactly 12 pt, Space Before 3pt, Next style: Jli | Indented lists of jumps |
| Lb1 | Font: MS Sans Serif (or Helv) 10 Point, Indent: Left 18pt First -12pt Flush left, Line Spacing: Exactly 12 pt, Tab stops: 18pt, Next style: Lb2 | The first item in a bulleted or numbered list |
| Lb2 | Font: MS Sans Serif (or Helv) 10 Point, Indent: Left 18pt First -12pt Flush left, Line Spacing: Exactly 12 pt, Space Before 3pt, Tab stops: 18pt, Next style: Lb2 | Succeeding items in a bulleted or numbered list |
| Lp1 | Font: MS Sans Serif (or Helv) 10 Point, Indent: Left 18pt Flush left, Line Spacing: Exactly 12 pt, Space Before 3pt, Next style: Lb2 | Paragraphs within a bulleted or numbered list |
| Normal | Font: MS Sans Serif (or Helv) 10 Point, Indent: Left 6pt Flush left, Line Spacing: Exactly 12 pt, Space Before 4pt, Next style: Normal | Body text |
| Normal 2 | Font: MS Sans Serif (or Helv) 10 Point, Indent: Left 6pt Flush left, Line Spacing: Exactly 12 pt, Next style: Normal | Paragraphs following topic titles |
| Normal3 | Font: MS Sans Serif (or Helv) 10 Point, Indent: Left 5.75pt Flush left, Line Spacing: Exactly 12 pt, Space Before 10pt, Next style: Normal | Table text |
| Normal Indent | Font: MS Sans Serif (or Helv) 10 Point, Indent: Left 18pt Flush left, Line Spacing: Exactly 12 pt, Space Before 4pt, Next style: Normal | Indented paragraphs |
| Sa1 | Font: MS Sans Serif (or Helv) 10 Point, Indent: Left 6pt Flush left, Line Spacing: Exactly 12 pt, Space Before 8pt, Next style: Jl | “See Also” subheadings |
| Sa2 | Font: MS Sans Serif (or Helv) 10 Point, Indent: Left 6pt Flush left, Line Spacing: Exactly 12 pt, Space Before 6pt, Next style: Jl | Subheadings below “See Also” subheading |
| Th | Font: MS Sans Serif (or Helv) 10 Point, Bold, Indent: Left 5.75pt Flush left, Line Spacing: Exactly 12 pt, Space Before 6pt After 2pt, Border: Bottom (Single), Next style: Tp | Table heading |
| Th2 | Font: MS Sans Serif (or Helv) 10 Point, Indent: Left 5.75pt Flush left, Line Spacing: Exactly 12 pt, Space Before 6pt After 2pt, Border: Bottom (Single), Next style: Tp | Table heading, not bold |
| Th3 | Font: MS Sans Serif (or Helv) 8 Point, Bold, Indent: Left 5.75pt Flush left, Line Spacing: Exactly 12 pt, Space Before 6pt After 2pt, Border: Bottom (Single), Next style: Tp | Table heading, 8-pt font |
| Tp | Font: MS Sans Serif (or Helv) 10 Point, Indent: Left 5.75pt Flush left, Line Spacing: Exactly 12 pt, Space Before 3pt, Next style: Tp | Paragraphs within two-column lists and hanging-indent tables |