Here is what I posted in reply to your same question in the MacRumors forum. Not much to add to what Barry said except that you can import your custom-configured styles from one document into any other.
To change the text fonts you need to redefine all of the paragraph & character styles to have your desired font. Then save this document as a template & set it as your default in preferences.
Styles are a per-document setting so these new styles won't affect existing documents, templates or any 'foreign' documents you open. You can import the styles from one document to another in Format > Import Styles… & replace existing styles.
Jan 1, 2011 4:24 PM
Change the Default Font in Word for Mac To get started with changing the default font in Microsoft Word for Mac, first launch the app and then select Format Font from the menu bar at the top of the screen. Alternatively, you can use the keyboard shortcut Command-D. A new “Font” window will appear. Through some google searches I've figured out how to set the default font by creating a new template. However, I wanted to also set the default font for footnotes/endnotes, but have had no luck. I've put an endnote in a blank document, set the endnote font to Times New Roman, deleted the endnote, saved as template, etc., but that hasn't worked.
Change Default Footnote Font Word For Mac X
- The default font and line spacing may not be what you would like for all of your documents. To change these settings for all future documents follow the below steps. Click on File and Style. Select Normal and click Modify. Change your font, pt, line spacing, etc. I changed the Font to Times New Roman, 12 pt, and line spacing to single.).
- Apr 02, 2012 Now right-click the name of the Footnote Text style and click Modify. The Modify Style dialog box will be displayed. Change the font size to the required size, click New documents based on this template and click OK. Find details of our Microsoft Word training in the London area or our Microsoft Word training in Dorset, Wiltshire and Hampshire.
- You can change the size or font of the note reference mark, footnote, or endnote exactly as you would any other text. Select the note reference mark, footnote, or endnote, and then on the Home tab, under Font, apply the formatting changes that you want.