Accidentally modifying styles and losing the unaltered vsn

[christophercbrewster via OfficeKB.com]

2003 XP: Word's treatment of styles gives me problems. Sometimes a format
change sneaks into a style, and Word creates a new pseudo-style as in
"Heading 2 + 16 Pt". I need to make these back into the unmodified style, so
I select all examples of the modified style and select the unmodified version.
But often the original version is no longer shown in the style list so I
can't select it. Any explanations would be appreciated: why does it create
the new one, why does it lose the old one, why do we have to use Word!?

--
Christopher Brewster
Lockheed Martin, Eagan MN

Message posted via OfficeKB.com
http://www.officekb.com/Uwe/Forums.aspx/word-docmanagement/200710/1

 

[Jay Freedman]

2003 XP: Word's treatment of styles gives me problems. Sometimes a
format change sneaks into a style, and Word creates a new
pseudo-style as in "Heading 2 + 16 Pt". I need to make these back
into the unmodified style, so I select all examples of the modified
style and select the unmodified version. But often the original
version is no longer shown in the style list so I can't select it.
Any explanations would be appreciated: why does it create the new
one, why does it lose the old one, why do we have to use Word!?

First the biggie: Those "style + formatting" things are not styles. You'll
never even see them if you go to Tools > Options > Edit and uncheck the
option for "Keep track of formatting".

Second: Selecting any or all of the text that is formatted like that --
direct formatting on top of a style -- and pressing Ctrl+spacebar will
return that text to the base style. You can temporarily turn on "Keep track
of style" in order to select all instances of it, remove or change the
formatting, and then turn off the option again.

Why 1: So you can see what's direct formatting vs. what's style formatting.
Why 2: I don't see that behavior; the base style is always there along with
the "+ formatting" item.
Why 3: I dunno... you tell me. ;-)

--
Regards,
Jay Freedman
Microsoft Word MVP
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

 

[christophercbrewster via OfficeKB.com]

This was very helpful-- thanks. One more question: sometimes the name changes
to something like "Heading 3,Heading 3". (I'm looking at that very thing
right now.) Like so much in Word, this makes no sense to me. It worries me
because it promises more bizarre behavior in the future. Maybe if I hang
around this forum long enough, it will all become clear.

2003 XP: Word's treatment of styles gives me problems. Sometimes a
format change sneaks into a style, and Word creates a new

[quoted text clipped - 4 lines]

Any explanations would be appreciated: why does it create the new
one, why does it lose the old one, why do we have to use Word!?

First the biggie: Those "style + formatting" things are not styles. You'll
never even see them if you go to Tools > Options > Edit and uncheck the
option for "Keep track of formatting".

Second: Selecting any or all of the text that is formatted like that --
direct formatting on top of a style -- and pressing Ctrl+spacebar will
return that text to the base style. You can temporarily turn on "Keep track
of style" in order to select all instances of it, remove or change the
formatting, and then turn off the option again.

Why 1: So you can see what's direct formatting vs. what's style formatting.
Why 2: I don't see that behavior; the base style is always there along with
the "+ formatting" item.
Why 3: I dunno... you tell me. ;-)

 

[Jay Freedman]

When you see two (or more) names for a style separated by a comma, the
second (or more) is an "alias". You can assign one yourself in the New
Style or Modify Style dialog for a user-defined style, just by typing
it into the Name box.

Built-in styles can't be renamed, but if you try to rename one, Word
assigns the "new name" as an alias. Have you tried to rename any
built-in styles, or do you maybe have a macro or add-in that might do
that?

To get rid of the existing alias, right-click the style's name in the
Styles & Formatting pane, choose Modify, and edit the Name box back to
the original built-in name -- remove the comma and everything after
it.

If you set one up yourself, the alias would logically be a shorter
version of the main name. The purpose is to be able to go into the
Style dropdown on the toolbar and type in the alias, to apply the
style quickly. For example, if you made a style named
ConstitutionalAmendmentBody, you could add an alias of CAB. To apply
the style quickly, press Ctrl+Shift+S to get into the dropdown, type
CAB, and press Enter.

This was very helpful-- thanks. One more question: sometimes the name changes
to something like "Heading 3,Heading 3". (I'm looking at that very thing
right now.) Like so much in Word, this makes no sense to me. It worries me
because it promises more bizarre behavior in the future. Maybe if I hang
around this forum long enough, it will all become clear.

2003 XP: Word's treatment of styles gives me problems. Sometimes a
format change sneaks into a style, and Word creates a new

[quoted text clipped - 4 lines]

Any explanations would be appreciated: why does it create the new
one, why does it lose the old one, why do we have to use Word!?

First the biggie: Those "style + formatting" things are not styles. You'll
never even see them if you go to Tools > Options > Edit and uncheck the
option for "Keep track of formatting".

Second: Selecting any or all of the text that is formatted like that --
direct formatting on top of a style -- and pressing Ctrl+spacebar will
return that text to the base style. You can temporarily turn on "Keep track
of style" in order to select all instances of it, remove or change the
formatting, and then turn off the option again.

Why 1: So you can see what's direct formatting vs. what's style formatting.
Why 2: I don't see that behavior; the base style is always there along with
the "+ formatting" item.
Why 3: I dunno... you tell me. ;-)