Use Outline View to manage headings and arrange text

Outline View helps you manage a document's structure and headings without getting lost in the text. In Outline View (click View > Outline), you use Outline Tools to move and edit headings, change heading levels, and move text around. You can also control how much detail you see.

Note:  Creating an outline from nothing instead of starting with an existing document is a whole different process. See Create an outline from scratch if that's what you're after.

Once you're in Outline View, here's how to work on your document:

To…	Do this	Keyboard shortcut
Create heading	Select the body text in Outline View and under Outlining, in Outline Tools click the Outline Level box and choose the heading level you want.	Alt+Shift+Left Arrow
Edit heading	Select the text in Outline View and make the changes you want.
Change heading level	Under Outlining, in Outline Tools click the right and left arrows next to the Outline Level box to promote or demote headings.	Alt+Shift+Left Arrow or Alt+Shift+Right Arrow
Move text up or down	Select the text and click the up or down arrows under Outlining.	Alt+Shift+Up Arrow or Alt+Shift+Down Arrow
Expand or collapse text	Select the heading and click the + or - symbols under Outlining.	Alt+Shift+Plus Sign or Alt+Shift+Minus Sign
Show or hide some headings	In the Show Level box in Outlining, pick the lowest heading level you want to display. All levels lower than that will be hidden.	Alt+Shift+n shows all headings up to heading level n
Show first line of text or all text	Under Outlining, check or clear the Show First Line Only box.	Alt+Shift+L
Close Outline View	Under Outlining, click the X on the Close Outline View button.
Switch to another view	Click View and click the type of view you want to switch to, such as Print Layout or Read Mode.	Alt+Ctrl+P for Print View, Alt+Ctrl+N for Draft View, Alt+Ctrl+O to return to Outline View.