Same styles for every document

[Ian]

I'm sure this is a frequently asked question, and wouldn't be surprised
at a link to a FAQ. At the moment, my styles *do* work for all
documents, which is a surprise, because in 2003 I could never achieve
that. It's a basic mis-understanding of how styles work. Does it have to
do with that auto-update (or whatever it's called) box that you can tick
when you modify the style? I'm using Word 2007, Win XP SP2. Even though
it works right now, it's a question I've had for a long time, and still
don't know the answer to. Thanks for any help.

Ian

 

[Stan Brown]

I'm sure this is a frequently asked question, and wouldn't be surprised
at a link to a FAQ. At the moment, my styles *do* work for all
documents, which is a surprise, because in 2003 I could never achieve
that. It's a basic mis-understanding of how styles work. Does it have to
do with that auto-update (or whatever it's called) box that you can tick
when you modify the style? I'm using Word 2007, Win XP SP2. Even though
it works right now, it's a question I've had for a long time, and still
don't know the answer to. Thanks for any help.

You want to save your styles in a template. The easiest way is in
NORMAL.DOT, the default global template; but this gets overwritten if
you update Word or even have to reinstall for any reason.

You can also have one or more personal global templates, and these do
*not* get overwritten so it's a better way IMHO. There's a really
good description of this, creates by one of the MVPs, but I don't
seem to have it in my bookmark file. Can someone supply the URL?

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Two misunderstandings here:

You want to save your styles in a template. The easiest way is in
NORMAL.DOT, the default global template; but this gets overwritten if
you update Word or even have to reinstall for any reason.

Normal.dot is never overwritten by an update or upgrade. Word makes every
effort to preserve your customizations. Normal.dot is overwritten only if
*you* rename or delete it, in which case Word will create a new default
copy. Sometimes renaming or deleting Normal.dot is necessary to solve
problems, which is why it is often recommended that customizations be stored
in another global template.

You can also have one or more personal global templates, and these do
*not* get overwritten so it's a better way IMHO. There's a really
good description of this, creates by one of the MVPs, but I don't
seem to have it in my bookmark file. Can someone supply the URL?

But global templates don't provide styles or formatting--only macros,
AutoText, toolbars, menus, and other UI components. What you need to store
styles and formatting is specific document templates. See
http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/Customization/WhatTemplatesStore.htm.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA

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[Ian]

Thanks for the responses and the help.

Ian