linked style type in Word 2007

[Guest]

What is a linked style type? I selected text and went to create a new quick
style and it indicated that the style type was "linked (paragraph and
character)".

 

[Guest]

Creating a linked style as a new Quick Style shouldn't cause you any problems.

A linked style is a hybrid of a paragraph style and a character style; it is
marked by a pilcrow followed by an "a" in the Styles task pane. Many built-in
styles in Word 2007 Quick Style sets are linked styles including all 9
heading styles, Quote, Title, Subtitle, etc.

If a linked style is applied to a selection that is less than an entire
paragraph, the selected text will take on the font formatting of the linked
style but the paragraph style applied to the paragraph will remain unchanged.
In so doing a hidden character style in the form “linked style name char†is
created; this character style does not appear in the Styles task pane or the
Style Inspector but does appear in the Reveal Formatting task pane.

One common use of linked styles (all heading styles are linked styles) is to
apply a heading style to the *beginning* word(s) in a paragraph; doing this
not only applies the font formatting from the heading style but also tags the
selected text so that it can appear in a table of contents (References tab,
Table of Contents group, Table of Contents); the tagging only works on the
beginning words in a paragraph.

To change formatting of the text to which this type of character style has
been applied, you must select the text and either apply a different true
paragraph style such as the Normal style to the selected text or simply press
CTRL+SPACEBAR (removes the font formatting).

If applied to a selection greater than an entire paragraph, both font
formatting settings and paragraph formatting setting will be applied from the
style and the linked style will replace the previous paragraph style in all
wholly or partially selected paragraphs.

If no text is selected and a linked style is applied to a paragraph, the
linked style will function just like a paragraph style and will replace the
previous paragraph style (or linked style).

To disable the linking feature of linked styles, thereby making them
function as paragraph styles, check the Disable Linked Styles check box in
the Styles task pane (Home tab, Styles group, Styles Dialog Box Launcher);
disabling the feature removes the likelihood that you will inadvertently
apply font formatting to selected text when you intended to apply the
paragraph style (actually the linked style) to the entire paragraph.

 

[Guest]

Thanks. Great explanation

 

[Guest]

You're welcome. Glad I could help.

Thanks. Great explanation

 

[djprius]

Thank you for your excellent explanation.

I do wonder if the following statement should be modified in one respect:

If a linked style is applied to a selection that is less than an entire
paragraph, the selected text will take on the font formatting of the linked
style but the paragraph style applied to the paragraph will remain unchanged.

<snip>

It appears that ONE aspect of "paragraph style" will apply: Outline
Level.

In fact, as you so well describe, that is the principal use of the
linked style: Applying a "heading" style (which include the "outline
level") to just a small part of a paragraph that otherwise has some
other style.

BTW, are you aware of any other use of a linked style?

David

 

[Guest]

Actually the outline level does not change from that of the applied paragraph
style; you can see this is you place the insertion point in the paragraph and
open the Reveal Formatting task pane or open the Indents and Spacing tab of
the Paragraph dialog box. The text marked by the linked style (for example,
Heading 2) is included in the table of contents because of the style applied
(heading 2) not because of the outline level.

 

[djprius]

Aeneas,

Thank you. I confirmed what you say in your last post. I had
thought, erroneously it appears, that text was put into a Table of
Contents based *solely* on whether it had an Outline Level *other than*
'body text'.

It thus appears that a Table of Contents is constructed from *either*
(i) an Outline Level of 1-9 OR (ii) a heading style. Does that sound
correct?

Are you aware of a use of a 'linked style' other than to construct a
Table of Contents?

David

**************************************************

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

*Any* style can be included in a TOC, either by coding the appropriate TOC
field switch manually (shudder) or by assigning it an outline level in the
TOC Options dialog. Similarly, a style that has a built-in outline level
(including the built-in heading styles) can be omitted by deleting the
outline number in the TOC Options.

--
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.

 

[djprius]

Suzanne,

Thanks. I was not aware of the Table of Contents Options dialog box.
I can now plainly see what can get pulled into a Table of Contents --
and how one can modify what gets pulled in. Very helpful.

David

*************************************************

 

[Guest]

But note that if you want to modify an existing table of contents, the
following articles will be helpful:
http://word.mvps.org/faqs/formatting/TOCSwitches.htm and
http://sbarnhill.mvps.org/WordFAQs/TOCTips.htm.