Edit Paste Special - formatting problem

[Guest]

Hi Everyone,

I'm having trouble with formatting when using Edit/Paste/Special/RTF. I
want to copy one document exactly into another (as a link), complete with
formatting, tabs, fonts etc. This seems to work sometimes, but not others.
The usual problems are things like: tabs not transferring across; font
changing from Trebuchet to Univers; font size increasing or decreasing. I
think I've tried just about every option available under Edit/Paste/Special,
and am just about to pull my hair out.

I've tried setting up my blank destination document with absolutely no
formatting (ie no automatic tabs etc), but this only works occasionally.

Surely there has to be a way of getting an exact replica document linked to
the original? (By the way, I'm using Word 2003, Windows XP).

Any suggestions or comments would be gratefully received. Thanks in advance.

Megan

 

[John McGhie [MVP - Word and Word Macintosh]]

Hi Megan:

The problem is the styles. If the styles in the source document have the
same names as styles in the destination document, the incoming text will
adopt the formatting of the destination document.

To get an exact copy, you must first re-name the styles in one of the
documents. Regrettably, some styles (such as Normal and the Heading styles)
can't be re-named.

Word will try to deal with this, if you have "Show paste options buttons"
enabled in Tools>Options>Edit...

When you paste, a little floating toolbar will appear. If you hover over
it, one option should be "Keep source formatting". If you choose that, Word
will convert the formatting to direct formatting.

Hope this helps

Hi Everyone,

I'm having trouble with formatting when using Edit/Paste/Special/RTF. I
want to copy one document exactly into another (as a link), complete with
formatting, tabs, fonts etc. This seems to work sometimes, but not others.
The usual problems are things like: tabs not transferring across; font
changing from Trebuchet to Univers; font size increasing or decreasing. I
think I've tried just about every option available under Edit/Paste/Special,
and am just about to pull my hair out.

I've tried setting up my blank destination document with absolutely no
formatting (ie no automatic tabs etc), but this only works occasionally.

Surely there has to be a way of getting an exact replica document linked to
the original? (By the way, I'm using Word 2003, Windows XP).

Any suggestions or comments would be gratefully received. Thanks in advance.

Megan

--

Please reply to the newsgroup to maintain the thread. Please do not email
me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie <[email protected]>
Microsoft MVP, Word and Word for Macintosh. Business Analyst, Consultant
Technical Writer.
Sydney, Australia +61 (0) 4 1209 1410

 

[Guest]

Thank you John ... this has been a great help!


Megan

Hi Megan:

The problem is the styles. If the styles in the source document have the
same names as styles in the destination document, the incoming text will
adopt the formatting of the destination document.

To get an exact copy, you must first re-name the styles in one of the
documents. Regrettably, some styles (such as Normal and the Heading styles)
can't be re-named.

Word will try to deal with this, if you have "Show paste options buttons"
enabled in Tools>Options>Edit...

When you paste, a little floating toolbar will appear. If you hover over
it, one option should be "Keep source formatting". If you choose that, Word
will convert the formatting to direct formatting.

Hope this helps

Hi Everyone,

I'm having trouble with formatting when using Edit/Paste/Special/RTF. I
want to copy one document exactly into another (as a link), complete with
formatting, tabs, fonts etc. This seems to work sometimes, but not others.
The usual problems are things like: tabs not transferring across; font
changing from Trebuchet to Univers; font size increasing or decreasing. I
think I've tried just about every option available under Edit/Paste/Special,
and am just about to pull my hair out.

I've tried setting up my blank destination document with absolutely no
formatting (ie no automatic tabs etc), but this only works occasionally.

Surely there has to be a way of getting an exact replica document linked to
the original? (By the way, I'm using Word 2003, Windows XP).

Any suggestions or comments would be gratefully received. Thanks in advance.

Megan

--

Please reply to the newsgroup to maintain the thread. Please do not email
me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie <[email protected]>
Microsoft MVP, Word and Word for Macintosh. Business Analyst, Consultant
Technical Writer.
Sydney, Australia +61 (0) 4 1209 1410