How to use paper formatting software: basic operations and common settings

Key points of this article

Define the title and text style first, then write the content, so that the entire format can be modified uniformly.
The cover, abstract, table of contents and main text must be set in sections so that the pages of each section can be numbered separately.
The table of contents should be updated after all modifications are completed. Modifications in the middle will cause the page numbers to be inconsistent.
Use automatic numbering for table captions so that references in the text will not be misaligned after adding or deleting tables.
If the imported Word document has manual bolding or space indentation, it should be changed to style settings.

After many students get the school template or the instructor's requirements, they get stuck when they open the paper layout software for the first time: the title number is wrong, the table of contents cannot be updated, and the page numbers start from the cover. Most of these problems are not caused by broken software, but rather by settings not being set in the correct order. This article only talks about how to use the tools after choosing them. It does not compare tools or repeat general layout principles.

After reading this article, you will be able to complete the complete process of a paper from importing, setting styles, dividing into sections, generating a table of contents and checking item by item. It is suitable for preliminary layout of undergraduate thesis, master's thesis and journal submission manuscripts.

How to use paper formatting software? One sentence conclusion

Use paper formatting software to determine the style first, and then adjust the layout paragraph by paragraph. The styles are set uniformly, and the entire article can be changed at the same time; each paragraph can be adjusted manually directly, and you have to check it again every time you change it. The following table gives methods based on common situations.

your situation	Recommended practices	reason
Already have a school or journal template	Import the template first and replace only the text content	The layout, fonts, and headers have been set according to regulations, and there are few errors.
Start writing from a blank document	Define the title, body text, and caption style first, and then write the content	Change one part of the style and the entire article will take effect simultaneously
Cover and abstract are not page numbered	Set page numbers by section, with text starting from page 1	Only the catalog page numbers can correspond to the school’s requirements.
Lots of formulas and charts	Use the editor to insert formulas and charts, and use automatic numbering for captions.	After adding or deleting a chart, the number and reference can be updated accordingly.
Mixed reference formats	Unify one citation format and check item by item after exporting.	Mixed formats are the main reason for later rework

Before you start: Confirm these points first

Taking a few minutes to confirm the following items before starting can save a lot of rework.

Confirm the version required by the format. Paper, margins, font size, and line spacing shall be subject to the latest notice from the school or journal. Older templates are often inconsistent with current regulations.
Confirm the file format. Importing .docx files is easy, and the structure and style are preserved. If you only have a scanned PDF, you need to use OCR to recognize the text first, and the recognition results need to be checked page by page. Formulas and tables are especially error-prone.
Distinguish between template style and handwritten format. The existing title and text styles in the template should be used first. Do not create another set of styles with the same name, otherwise the table of contents and navigation will be confused.
Collect charts and documents in advance. Put the original pictures, data sources and reference lists in one place first to avoid adding them at a later stage, which will cause all the numbering and citations to be rearranged.
Keep a copy. Save another copy before major changes. If a certain operation causes structural confusion, you can roll back.

Steps to set the basic format of the paper in UniDoc

The following steps take UniDoc's Word-compatible editing as an example. It can be completed in the web editor (app.unidoc.top) or using the UniDoc document editor in the desktop client.

Create a new or import document. Create a new blank document, or import an existing .docx file. If the school provides a template, import the template first.
Set page and layout. Set the paper size, margins and center range according to school requirements. This step must be done first, because subsequent paging and page numbers depend on it.
Define the title style. Set the font, font size, distance before and after paragraphs, and select the numbering method for the first-level, second-level, and third-level titles respectively. Then apply a style to the title instead of manually bolding and enlarging it.
Define the text style. Set the font, font size, line spacing and first line indent of the text, and then apply the text style to all text paragraphs.
Section. Insert section breaks between cover, abstract, table of contents, and body text. Each section can be formatted with page numbers, such as using Roman numerals for the abstract and starting from 1 for the main text.
Insert header and footer. Write the paper title or school name in the header, insert page numbers in the footer, and set the starting page number of each section.
Insert charts, formulas and captions. Use uniform numbers for table captions, and use numbering when citing in the text, instead of typing "Figure 3-1" by hand. In this way, when the order is adjusted later, the numbers will change synchronously.
Generate the directory and finally update it. The table of contents is generated based on the title style. After all modifications are completed, update the table of contents and page numbers again to avoid inconsistencies caused by mid-stream changes.

Check each item after completion

After typesetting is completed, do not submit it directly. Check it item by item according to the list below.

Check items	How to see	What to do if there is a problem
Title level	Check the navigation or outline to see if the chapters are complete and the hierarchy is correct.	Change wrong-level titles to corresponding styles
page number	Turn to the first page of the abstract, table of contents, and text respectively to see the page number and starting number.	Check whether the section is broken and reset the starting page number of the section
Table of contents	The table of contents entries correspond to the text titles one-to-one, and the page numbers are consistent with the actual ones.	Re-update the directory after modification
Figure numbers and references	"Figure 3-1" in the text is consistent with the actual number of the figure	Updated captions and cross-references after adjustments
Fonts and line spacing	Randomly check several paragraphs of text and footnotes	Reapply body styles and clear manual formatting
Export version	After exporting the PDF, open it on another device and check the fonts and pagination.	If the font is missing, use a common font and re-export it.

❓ Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

1. The table of contents page number is wrong. What is the problem?

There are usually two reasons: the page number does not restart after sectioning, or the table of contents is not updated after the content is modified. First check the page number setting of the main text homepage, and then update the table of contents.

2. Which free tutorials on paper formatting are enough?

First, watch a tutorial that explains the style, sectioning, page numbers, and captions, and then practice using the school template. When choosing a free tool, also look at file size limits, whether exports are watermarked, privacy terms, and whether formatting is preserved.

3. What should I do if the format of the imported Word document is messed up?

First check whether there are manual bolding, using spaces instead of indents, using carriage returns to force line breaks, etc. These formats are replaced with style settings. It is recommended to deal with it chapter by chapter instead of starting over from scratch.

4. Can the scanned PDF be typeset directly?

Scanned PDFs need to use OCR to recognize text before text editing can be performed. After identification, check page by page, especially formulas, superscripts and subscripts, and tables. The results of machine recognition cannot be completely relied on, and important content needs to be confirmed manually by comparing it with the original text.

📝 Summary

The key to using paper formatting software is to first define the style, then set the page numbers in sections, and finally generate a table of contents and check it item by item. If you do it in this order, you only need one change and at least a minimum of rework. Use the school template as a starting point and practice it two or three times, and you will be able to master the basic operations.

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