How to Sort Word Style Pane by Frequency of Use Instead of Alphabetical

The Style Pane in Word shows a list of styles that you can apply to text, headings, and paragraphs. By default, Word sorts this list alphabetically, which can make it hard to find the styles you use most often. If you work with many custom styles or long templates, scrolling through an alphabetical list slows you down. Word offers a sorting option that organizes styles by how frequently you use them, putting your most common styles at the top. This article explains exactly how to enable that setting and how it changes your workflow.

How the Style Pane Sort Order Works in Word

The Style Pane is the floating or docked panel that lists all available styles in your document. When you first open it, Word shows styles in alphabetical order by default. This order is consistent across documents and templates, but it does not reflect which styles you actually use. If you have a template with 50 styles but only use 5 regularly, you must scroll past 45 styles to reach the one you need.

Word stores a usage count for each style in the current document. Every time you apply a style to a paragraph or selection, Word increments that count. The sort option “As recommended (based on usage)” takes this count and reorders the list so that styles with the highest usage count appear first. This is not a global setting — it applies only to the current document. When you create a new document, the sort order resets to alphabetical unless you change it again.

The frequency-based sort also affects the order of styles in the Quick Style Gallery on the Home tab. When you enable this option, Word updates the gallery to show your most used styles first. This makes the gallery more useful for documents where you repeat the same formatting tasks.

Word does not show the actual usage count anywhere in the user interface. The sort order is purely internal. You cannot see a number next to each style. The only indication is the order of the styles themselves. If two styles have the same usage count, Word sorts them alphabetically within that group.

Steps to Change the Style Pane Sort Order to Frequency of Use

The following steps work in Word for Microsoft 365, Word 2021, Word 2019, and Word 2016. The interface is identical across these versions.

1. Open the Style Pane
   On the Home tab, locate the Styles group in the ribbon. Click the small diagonal arrow in the bottom-right corner of the Styles group. This is called the dialog launcher. The Style Pane opens on the right side of the Word window. Alternatively, press Alt + Ctrl + Shift + S on your keyboard to open the pane directly.
2. Open Style Pane Options
   At the bottom of the Style Pane, click the link labeled Options. This opens the Style Pane Options dialog box with several settings for how the pane displays styles.
3. Change the sort order
   In the Style Pane Options dialog, locate the dropdown menu labeled Select how list is sorted. By default, it shows Alphabetical. Click the dropdown and select As recommended (based on usage).
4. Apply the setting
   Click OK at the bottom of the dialog box. The Style Pane immediately reorders its list. Your most frequently used styles move to the top of the list. Styles you have never used in this document appear near the bottom or may be hidden entirely depending on your other pane settings.
5. Verify the new order
   Apply a style to some text in your document. Open the Style Pane again if it closed. The style you just applied should now appear higher in the list. Repeat this a few times with different styles to confirm the sort order updates dynamically.

Things to Know About the Frequency-Based Sort

“As recommended (based on usage)” does not show styles I never used

By default, the Style Pane only shows styles that are in use in the current document plus a few recommended styles. To see all styles including those you have never used, open Style Pane Options and set Select styles to show to All styles. Then change the sort order to As recommended (based on usage). The list will show all styles, with unused styles sorted alphabetically at the bottom.

The sort order resets when I open a different document

This is by design. The usage count is stored per document. When you open a new document, the usage counts are zero for all styles. The sort order reverts to alphabetical. To apply the frequency-based sort to every new document, save your setting as the default. In Style Pane Options, check Save in template before clicking OK. This writes the setting to the Normal.dotm template, which Word uses for all new blank documents.

Styles in the Quick Style Gallery do not reorder immediately

The Quick Style Gallery on the Home tab shows a subset of styles. When you change the sort order in the Style Pane, the gallery updates its order as well, but it may take a few seconds. If the gallery does not update, close and reopen the document. The gallery will then reflect the frequency-based order.

I cannot see which styles I use most frequently

Word does not expose the usage count. The only way to gauge frequency is by the position of the style in the sorted list. If you need exact statistics, you must use a macro or add-in that reads the internal style usage data. No built-in feature provides this information.

Item	Alphabetical Sort	Frequency-Based Sort
Default behavior	Always on for new documents	Must be enabled per document or saved in template
Order stability	Never changes within a document	Changes as you apply styles
Best for	Documents where you need to find a specific style by name	Documents where you reuse the same few styles repeatedly
Quick Style Gallery impact	Shows styles in their defined order from the template	Shows most used styles first
Learning curve	None	Requires one-time setup and understanding that order changes

Switching to frequency-based sorting in the Style Pane reduces the time you spend searching for styles. After you enable it, apply a few styles to build up usage counts. The pane will adapt to your workflow. If you work with documents that have many styles but a small active set, this setting alone can cut your formatting time in half. For advanced users, saving the setting in the Normal.dotm template makes it permanent across all new documents.