Formatting changed in Word documents

G

Guest

I have several Word document that are stored in "My Documents". They all
reside in the same folder, but in different subfolders.

Recently, I opened some of them to discover that the formatting had changed
and the fonts had changed. Not all of the fonts changed, and I have verified
that I still have the font on my system. Some of the spacing between lines
has disappeared.

Any thoughts on the cause and a solution?

Thanks!!

Keith
 
S

Shauna Kelly

Hi Keith

In one of the problem documents, do Tools > Templates and Add-ins. Is the
box named "Automatically update styles" ticked? If so, then that may be the
cause of your problem, as explained here:

What happens when I send my document to someone else? Will Word mess up my
formatting?
http://www.ShaunaKelly.com/word/sharing/WillMyFormatChange.html

If that doesn't explain it, post back and let us know what font is the
problem one, and, let us know what version of Word you have.

Hope this helps.

Shauna Kelly. Microsoft MVP.
http://www.shaunakelly.com/word
 
G

Guest

Thank you Shauna. That box is NOT checked.

I am using Word 2003. The problem font is: TW Cen MT

In addition to the font problem, however, the spacing is missing between
some paragraph headings and the text of the paragraph.

Thanks again.
 
S

Shauna Kelly

Hi Keith

Here are several things to investigate:

1. File > Print. Have you chosen an appropriate printer? Word relies on the
printer driver to know how to lay out the document and what fonts are
available.

2. Do View > Print Layout, just to be sure.

3. View > Toolbars > Reviewing. Click the "Next" button (with the blue
arrow) to see if there are any tracked changes or comments in the document.

4. Tools > Options > Compatibility. Click Font Substitution and make sure
that the fonts aren't being substituted with something wrong. And set the
recommended options to Word 2003, unless you have good reason to choose some
other options.

In spite of suggesting that you use the Word 2003 options, in the same
Compatibillity dialog, try ticking or un-ticking the option named "Don't use
HTML paragraph auto spacing".

Note that the compatibility options are document-specific. Making a change
in one document will not affect any other document, for good or ill.


Hope this helps.

Shauna Kelly. Microsoft MVP.
http://www.shaunakelly.com/word
 
G

Guest

Shauna,

Thanks. None of those options helped solve the problem.

I'll add that I have a back up of the affected document that was made before
these alterations were noted. When I open the backup, it looks the same as
the affected file, which leads me to believe it is a MS Word program problem
and not a problem with the document itself. It is odd though that I am only
having trouble with these documents. All of the affected documents follow
the same format. One document was created with the formatting and then all
of the documents that followed are created by opening the original, using
"save as" to change the name and then editing the document with the changes.

Any other ideas?
 

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