Formatting with Styles

[Guest]

When I change a style in Word 2003 from, say, Heading to Subtitle, why does
it still call it by it's old style name in the 'formatting of selected text'
in the Styles & Formatting pane?

For example, I have a heading that is formatted with 'Heading 5'. I create a
new style by using 'Title' in the styles list, which I then customized. But
when I click on and off the text, I would expect it to say 'Title' for the
name of the formatted text but it still says Heading 5. It's very confusing.
Can anyone help?

 

[Margaret Aldis]

When I change a style in Word 2003 from, say, Heading to Subtitle, why
does
it still call it by it's old style name in the 'formatting of selected
text'
in the Styles & Formatting pane?

For example, I have a heading that is formatted with 'Heading 5'. I create
a
new style by using 'Title' in the styles list, which I then customized.
But
when I click on and off the text, I would expect it to say 'Title' for the
name of the formatted text but it still says Heading 5. It's very
confusing.
Can anyone help?
--


Many thanks
JD

 

[Margaret Aldis]

Have you applied the new style to the text? It can be confusing, but just
creating the new style doesn't automatically apply it to the selected text.

On the other hand, if you change the *name* of the style then everything
called oldname will become newname. This doesn't apply to built-in styles
(like Heading 5) because you can't change the name .

 

[Guest]

I am sure I applied the new style to the text. But I do have some more
information that could be relevant:

Each time I open this particular template, it has my 'Style 1' showing in
the window at the top of the page. When I try to select Heading 1 (or any
other heading for that matter), it stubbornly refuses to change and I get the
dialogue box asking me if I want to update the style or reapply the
formatting. Surely I should be able to choose another style without this
happening?

 

[Margaret Aldis]

Yes, I think what you've noticed is relevant.

My best guess is that you've probably fallen foul of the way Word applies
paragraph styles. If you select only part of a paragraph and apply a style,
Word applies only the character formatting of the style - effectively a
character style with the same name as the paragraph style. The new style
name shows in the dropdown, but the paragraph as a whole retains its
original paragraph style. This feature can make a pig's breakfast out of a
document! To avoid, always select the whole paragraph, or click in the
paragraph without selecting anything.

Another possibility is that you created a new style as a list style or
character style, not a paragraph style at all. These styles are applied
"over the top" of the paragraph style. You can see this by looking at the
Modify dialog for "Style1" or whatever you've called the new style.

The dialog you are getting shows the Word thinks the selection already has
the paragraph style you are trying to apply. You can select the "reapply"
choice, but if you don't want to see the dialog (once you've finished
designing styles) then turn off the "Prompt to update style" option.

 

[Guest]

That's very useful information, Margaret. I have a feeling I am guilty of
doing both! Not selecting the whole paragraph and setting up a character
style.

I wonder, then, is it a bad idea to create a character style if it causes
this confusion for Word? Or is there a way around it?

 

[Margaret Aldis]

Creating a character style, if it's just character formatting for odd bits
of text that you need, is a good clean solution. The problem is that Word
doesn't play clean, but has a secret character style linked to every
*paragraph style * which it uses if it decides that it should apply
character formatting rather than paragraph formatting (that is, when you
select just part of a paragraph). The only way around it is to be particular
with your selection before applying a paragraph style.

By far the most common need for styles though is for paragraph styles -
defining not only the font etc. for the whole paragraph, but also space
before and after, line spacing, indents and other paragraph formatting -
maybe numbering too. If that's what you want, be sure to create a new
paragraph style.

 

[Guest]

Right. So if I want to italicise a word for emphasis, film titles etc would
you recommend using direct formatting and just applying italics in the usual
way i.e. without doing it through styles?

I read somewhere that is it never a good idea to use direct formatting

 

[Margaret Aldis]

It really depends on the application. Some good reasons for using character
styles are:

* Allows you to distinguish between emphasis, titles and foreign phrases,
for instance, and then if necessary change the formatting for one but not
another
* Allows you to set language as well as combinations of font formatting.
Useful if, for example, you don't want to spell check the foreign phrases
* Allows you to protect document for styles, to lock formatting down (Word
2003)

On the other hand, if all you want is bold and italic, the toggling toolbar
buttons are useful and the styles may be overkill.

 

[Guest]

Thanks for the tips, and for all your help with my queries. I appreciate it.

 

[Margaret Aldis]

Thanks for the thanks You get lots of help (not just from me, I notice)
because you think before you post and ask good clear questions, and then you
think about what's been said and come back to tell us what worked and what
you still need to know. Can see your Word expertise developing before my
very eyes ;-)

Hope other posters use you as a model

 

[Guest]

Thanks for saying that but I do think perhaps I rely too much on the
newsgroup. It's such a fantastic source of help though...

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

I don't think you need to worry about overreliance as long as you continue
to post in the constructive way Margaret has described. Hang around long
enough and you'll find that you know the answers to more questions than
you're asking, and pretty soon you'll start answering questions, and then...
<g>

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

Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

 

[Daiya Mitchell]

Thanks, Margaret. I've been semi-wondering about that one too.
DM