What's the difference between "Available Style" and "AvailableFormatting"

[word editor]

When using the Styles and Formatting function in Word, what is the
difference between showing the "Available Styles" and showing the
"Available Formatting"? And what determines if a style is saved under
the Available Styles view or Available Formatting view?
Is it better to always use one view or the other?

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

"Formatting" is just that. If you don't have "Keep track of formatting"
enabled on the Edit tab of Tools | Options, you won't even see the
pseudo-styles such as Normal + Bold, Heading 1 + 14 point, etc. This was a
dubious innovation in Word 2002 to allow users to apply consistent
formatting to paragraphs without having to apply or define a style. Using a
style is preferable, however.