change defaults for text boxes in Word2003?

[grammatim]

I would like to insert Text Boxes (to be used for marginal notes) that
have Fill None and Border Line None. Can those be set somewhere once
and for all?

Also, there are several check boxes on the Layout | Advanced tab of
the Text Boxes pane, which don't seem to be described anywhere (such
as Fixed Anchor). Have they been written up somewhere?

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

The only way to change the defaults for text boxes is to change the default
for all AutoShapes (of which text boxes are a type). This can cause problems
if you use drawing objects at all because they will be invisible after
they're inserted. If you want to pursue this course, however, in a given
document (or template, including Normal.dot) format the text box or
AutoShape as desired, right-click, and choose Set AutoShape Defaults.

Another approach is to use a frame. Since a frame can be part of a style
definition (see http://sbarnhill.mvps.org/WordFAQs/MarginalText.htm), you
can format the frame as borderless in the style definition.

 

[grammatim]

Thanks -- I haven't had a reason to use AutoShapes for anything, so
that might not bother me. The *Using MS Office 2003 Word* book
explaines that Frames were largely replaced by Text Boxes and are less
flexible -- but you can change a Text Box to a Frame if you need a few
properties that they didn't give to Text Boxes. Seems like extra work.
(But if it automatically comes with its own style -- smaller and
italic, perhaps -- that would save a click.)

 

[Jay Freedman]

That business about "Frames were largely replaced by Text Boxes" seems to be the
Microsoft party line, but it isn't so. They're distinctly different and have
different uses.

As Suzanne pointed out, a frame can be defined as part of a style (not the other
way around). Read the MarginalText.htm page she pointed to; it describes
something you can do with a frame that can't be done with a text box.

Another difference is that a heading that you place in a text box won't be
picked up by the Table of Contents mechanism (although this has finally changed
in Word 2007), while a frame doesn't cause that problem.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

To add further, you don't have to create a text box and convert it to a
frame; you can add Frame to the Insert menu to insert one directly. Of
course, if you define a paragraph style that includes a frame, then you need
only apply the style to get the frame.

 

[grammatim]

Without experimenting yet, I've been trying to visualize how that
would work -- how do I apply a paragraph style to a stretch of text
(or access it before typing the stretch of text) within a paragraph,
without changing all the body text that already exists in the
paragraph being annotated to the Frame? (That is, the Anchor (assuming
that's what you call the point in the text at which the marginal note
is attached) needs to be within a paragraph so that the note travels
with the bit it belongs with as the document is edited.)

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

As you are typing, you apply the style to the paragraph before the one to
which you want to link the text. Or, after typing, you insert a new
paragraph before the one you want to anchor to, then apply the framed style.
The frame will then be anchored to that following paragraph and, by default,
positioned in alignment with the beginning of the paragraph. But you can
drag the frame to any position you like; it will still be anchored to the
paragraph, but its position relative to the paragraph (as seen in the Format
Frame dialog) will have changed.

Unlike a text box, however, a frame cannot be positioned relative to a
specific character or line.

The section of http://sbarnhill.mvps.org/WordFAQs/MarginalText.htm headed
"Use the style to insert marginal text" gives some instructions.

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

Without experimenting yet, I've been trying to visualize how that
would work -- how do I apply a paragraph style to a stretch of text
(or access it before typing the stretch of text) within a paragraph,
without changing all the body text that already exists in the
paragraph being annotated to the Frame? (That is, the Anchor (assuming
that's what you call the point in the text at which the marginal note
is attached) needs to be within a paragraph so that the note travels
with the bit it belongs with as the document is edited.)