What does reformatting mean?
Reformatting is the process of changing how information is arranged, presented, or encoded without necessarily changing its underlying content. Writers and editors commonly use it when converting a document into a new layout, standardizing headings, margins, spacing, fonts, or citations. In digital work, it may also mean converting a file from one format into another, such as changing a video's codec or a document's file type. A further computing sense refers to erasing a storage device's filesystem and recreating it, a potentially destructive operation. The word is most natural when a clear structural or technical change is intended; minor proofreading or simple correction of wording would normally be described as editing or revising. Reformatting is useful in discussions of publishing, design, office software, data conversion, and device maintenance because it distinguishes changes to presentation or encoding from changes to the content itself.
The process or act of changing the arrangement, presentation, or encoded form of information.
"The reformatting of the report made it much easier to read."
The process is usually treated as uncountable, though it can be modified as a countable event: "the first reformatting of the disk."
Changing the arrangement, presentation, or encoded form of something.
"They are reformatting the manuscript in preparation for publication."
This participial use may describe an ongoing action or a process that is being completed.
Usually uncountable; the form remains unchanged when used as a plural, as in "several complete reformatting."
"The team scheduled the reformatting for the end of the week."
Reformatting a document merely rearranges its appearance, but reformatting a drive can erase everything stored on it.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does reformatting come from?
The word combines the Latin-derived prefix re-, meaning again, with format, which comes through French from Latin forma, meaning shape or form. The prefix indicates that an existing arrangement is being changed, so reformatting literally means giving something a new form or arrangement again. The same Latin root also underlies formation and informative, while format retains form as its direct lexical base.
Related word forms
How reformatting is actually used
In document and publishing contexts, the word normally implies that the substance remains unchanged while its layout or styling is revised. In computing, it can also refer to converting a file or destroying and recreating a disk's filesystem, so the intended operation should be clear from context.
Easily confused with reformatting
Editing changes the wording or treatment of existing content, whereas reformatting primarily changes its arrangement or technical format.
Rewriting produces new wording, while reformatting generally preserves the content and changes how it is presented or encoded.