Erin Wright Writing

Writing-Related Software Tutorials

How to Change the Font Style for Citations in Word for Mac

By

Illustrated library book shelves with text overlay "How to Change the Font Style for Citations in Word for Mac"We recently looked at how to change the font style for citations in Microsoft Word for the PC. Today, we are going to change the font style for citations in Word for Mac.

First, we will change the font style for all the citations. Then, we will change the font style for individual citations.

Table of Contents:

Font style includes the font, size, color, and underlining.

Watch all the steps shown here in real time!

Explore more than 150 writing-related software tutorials on my YouTube channel.

The images below are from Word for Microsoft 365 for Mac. The steps will be similar in Word 2021 for Mac, Word 2019 for Mac, and Word 2016 for Mac. These steps don’t apply to Word for the Web.

How to Change the Font Style for All Citations

Important Note: Complete these steps after you have inserted all the citations into your document. If you add citations later, you will have to repeat these steps because the new citations will not inherit the previously created font changes.
  1. Press Fn + Option + F9 on your keyboard to reveal your field codes. (In Word, citations are inserted as field codes.)

Alternative: If you prefer not to use function keys, you can reveal your field codes by selecting Word > Preferences > View > Field Codes instead of values.

Citation field code in Word for Mac
Figure 1. Citation field code
  1. Select the Edit menu.
Edit menu in Word for Mac
Figure 2. Edit menu
  1. Select Find in the drop-down menu.
Find option in the Edit menu in Word for Mac
Figure 3. Find option
  1. Select Advanced Find and Replace from the submenu.
Advanced Find and Replace option in Word for Mac
Figure 4. Advanced Find and Replace option
  1. Select the Replace tab in the Find and Replace dialog box.
Replace tab in the Find and Replace dialog box in Word for Mac
Figure 5. Replace tab
  1. Type ^d CITATION into the Find what text box. (Ensure that you have one space between the ^d and CITATION.)
Find What text box in the Find and Replace dialog box in Word for Mac
Figure 6. Find what text box
  1. Place your cursor in the Replace with text box. (Be careful not to type anything.)
Replace With text box in the Find and Replace dialog box in Word for Mac
Figure 7. Replace with text box
  1. Select the More button.
More button in the Find and Replace dialog box in Word for Mac
Figure 8. More button
  1. Select the Format button.
Format button in the Find and Replace dialog box in Word for Mac
Figure 9. Format button
  1. Select Font from the drop-down menu.
Font option in the Format menu in the Find and Replace dialog box in Word for Mac
Figure 10. Font option
  1. Select your new font, font style, size, font color, underline style, and underline color from the Font tab in the Replace Font dialog box.
Font options in the Replace Font dialog box in Word for Mac
Figure 11. Font options
  1. Select the OK button.
OK button in the Replace Font dialog box in Word for Mac
Figure 12. OK button

Note that your replacement font choices should appear under the Replace with text box.

Replace font styles in the Replace With text box in the Find and Replace dialog box in Word for Mac
Figure 13. Replacement font styles
  1. Select the Replace All button.
Replace All button in the Find and Replace dialog box in Word for Mac
Figure 14. Replace All button
  1. Select the OK button in the dialog box reporting the number of replacements.
OK button in the replacement dialog box in Word for Mac
Figure 15. OK button
  1. Select the Close button.
Close button in the Find and Replace dialog box in Word for Mac
Figure 16. Close button
  1. Press Fn + Option + F9 on your keyboard to hide the field codes.

Your citations should now feature your new font style.

Citation with custom font style in Word for Mac
Figure 17. Citation with custom font style

How to Change the Font Style for Individual Citations

  1. Select the entire citation, Control-click, and then select Font from the shortcut menu.
Font option in the citation shortcut menu in Word for Mac
Figure 18. Font option
  1. Select your new font, font style, size, font color, underline style, and underline color from the Font dialog box.
Font options in the Font dialog box in Word for Mac
Figure 19. Font options
  1. Select the OK button.
OK button in the Font dialog box in Word for Mac
Figure 20. OK button

The individual citation should be changed to your new font style.

Related Resources

How to Adjust Paragraph Spacing in Word for Mac

How to Add Page Numbers in Word for Mac