What does format a document mean?

Answer 1

Formatting a document is a very basic thing. Many are unaware of the power and use of using styles during the creation of documents. Rigorous use of styles ensures that the document is formatted correctly and that all "downstream" users (including hardware - printers, software - other editing tools, and other people who view the document) see what you want them to see.

Formatting is setting margins, tab positions, headers and footers for the entire document. It also entails defining heading styles, body text styles, spacing, justification, succeeding paragraph styles, text flow, etc. for all the styles in use in the document.

My basic premise when creating a document is "Less is More": there should not be any unnecessary characters, spaces, tabs, line breaks, paragraph breaks, page breaks, or other formatting.