Microsoft Style Guide

When writing Microsoft content, aim for simple grammar that is easy to read and understand, similar to a conversation. The guide recommends using basic grammar principles for most technical documentation.

This section provides guidance on the following grammatical topics:

• Verbs: Usage and verb forms.
• Person: Writing in first, second, or third person.
• Nouns and pronouns: Proper usage of nouns and pronouns.
• Words ending in –ing: Handling gerunds and present participles.
• Prepositions: Correct prepositional usage.
• Dangling and misplaced modifiers: Avoiding ambiguity in sentence structure.

For more exhaustive information beyond this guide, refer to The Chicago Manual of Style.

The Microsoft Style Guide provides several specialized guidelines to ensure content is accessible to people of all abilities. Use these resources to guide your writing, design, and media creation:

• Writing for all abilities: Guidance on how to write inclusive content.
• Colors and patterns in text, graphics, and design: Best practices for using color and patterns effectively and accessibly.
• Graphics, design, and media: Requirements for creating accessible visual and multimedia content.

For specific terminology, refer to the Accessibility term collection.

Punctuation is used to provide clarity and reader understanding. Follow these core principles:

• End Punctuation: Every English sentence requires end punctuation (e.g., a period, question mark, or exclamation point) unless the text is a title or a heading.
• Complexity Management: Avoid excessive punctuation. If a sentence contains more than one or two commas plus ending punctuation, rewrite it to be more crisp and clear.
• Exclamation and Question Marks: Use exclamation points and question marks sparingly.
• Quotation Marks: Use quotation marks for quotations only.

The Microsoft Style Guide provides principles and specific terminology to ensure documentation is simple, human, and consistent. Key entry points include:

• Brand Voice: Guidelines on maintaining a simple and human tone.
• Top 10 Tips: Essential best practices for Microsoft style and voice.
• Term Collections: Grouped terminology for specific domains like Accessibility, AI, Cloud Computing, and Security.
• A–Z Word List: Detailed guidance on how to use specific words and terms correctly.

The Microsoft Style Guide provides foundational principles for brand voice and specific terminology usage. You can access high-level guidance through the following sections:

• Microsoft's brand voice: Principles for being simple and human.
• Top 10 tips: Essential advice for Microsoft style and voice.
• Term Collections: Curated lists for specific domains such as Accessibility, AI and bot terms, Cloud-computing, and more.
• A–Z Word List: Granular guidance on how to use specific words and phrases correctly.

The Microsoft Style Guide provides specific rules for achieving high-quality typography in documentation. This section covers the following core principles:

• Sentence-style capitalization: Use sentence-style capitalization for headings and text.
• Left alignment: Use left alignment for text blocks.
• Line spacing: Avoid compressing line spacing to ensure readability.

To improve readability and comprehension in technical documentation, follow these core principles:

• Consistency: If you mean the same thing, use the same word throughout your content.
• Simplicity: Use simple words and concise sentences.
• Standardization: Use US spelling and avoid non-English words.
• Clarity: Avoid jargon and use technical terms carefully.
• Conventional Usage: Do not use common words in new or non-standard ways.
• Contractions: Use contractions to maintain a natural tone.

For specific word definitions or phrase guidance, refer to the A–Z word list in this guide or The American Heritage Dictionary.

The style guide contains an extensive A–Z word list organized into term collections. Each entry provides specific guidance on how to use a term, what alternatives to use, and how to maintain a consistent brand voice.

Key sections available in the TOC include:

• Term collections: Grouped by subject matter (e.g., Accessibility, AI, Cloud).
• A–Z word list: Individual entries for specific words or phrases (e.g., callback, command line, environment variable).

When writing for a general audience, avoid using bulk as an adverb (e.g., bulk add or bulk edit) unless the term is explicitly used in the User Interface (UI).

When writing for a technical audience, avoid using bulk as an adverb to describe actions performed on multiple objects. Instead, use the phrase in bulk or describe the action more precisely.

Additionally, do not use bulk in compound nouns and do not use a hyphen with it.

### Preferred Alternatives

**Instead of:** *bulk add*
**Use:** Add multiple users at the same time.

**Instead of:** *bulk edit*
**Use:** Replace a value across a large number of fields.

**Instead of:** *bulk update*
**Use:** Update multiple product attributes in a single operation.