Styles in Office XP

[Henry G.]

Hi:

I recently upgraded to Office XP from Office 2000. I used
the "Styles" feature by paragraph when I was on Office
2000. Now that I've moved to XP, I've had a lot of
difficulty with the same functions.

"Styles and Formatting" seems to add new Styles whenever
I modify a paragraph automatically instead of manually in
2000. I used to modify a paragraph, then highlight it,
then select the style name from the drop down to re-
define the style. That worked great. Now, everything
seems to be automatic, which is creating havoc for me.

I'm sure the problem is in the Preference settings, I
just can't seem to figure out what to change. Even better
would be an understanding of what the program is trying
to do. I've looked at the online help several times, but
it's not getting through to me...

Can anyone help? I am a longtime advanced user, so this
is very frustrating. Can someone relieve my misery?
Please?

Thanks!

 

[Margaret Aldis]

Hi Henry

There is a new General option in Word 2002 called 'Keep track of
formatting'. If you have that set on, the Styles and Formatting pane shows
Style + direct formatting information. Most of the time this isn't helpful,
though it is an absolute godsend when trying to tidy up a document that has
not used styles correctly. I always also check 'Prompt to update style', to
be sure to get the confirmatiion dialog giving you the option either to
update the style to match your change, or to reapply the style, overriding
direct formatting.

With these changes, I think you'll find you have your old functionality
back. There are plenty more new defaults to have fun with, however!

 

[Tom Smith]

I think the option Margaret is referring to is actually in Tools, Options,
Edit, rather than Tools, Options, General. Check and see. Also, Margaret,
please check to be sure I'm not steering this person wrong. . . Thx. Tom

 

[Henry]

Margaret:

Excellent beginning! Those two changes alone got me back
to my old Word self! I'll press on.

Thanks

 

[Margaret Aldis]

I think the option Margaret is referring to is actually in Tools, Options,
Edit, rather than Tools, Options, General. Check and see. Also, Margaret,
please check to be sure I'm not steering this person wrong. . . Thx.

Tom

Tom - you are right, I was cross-eyed!

Henry has been resourceful enough to find it anyway - this will stand him in
good stead <g>.