The short answer is 99% of the time. However, even the style purists admit that the use of manual overrides does apply in certain formatting circumstances. The table below gives examples of when to use manual overrides and when to use styles.
Unless you enjoy document editing masochism or you are content to just use Word on a superficial level, you will want to learn to apply styles to your document content. Since there is no escape from styles, it’s best to surrender to this fact and adopt the use of styles instead of jumping through direct formatting hoops to avoid them.
