Replace-all with a style

[Paul]

Using Word 2000, I can select a whole whack of contiguous text, and
use replace-all to replace all occurances of a word with a new word.

I would like to select a whole whack of contiguous text, replace all
occurances of a style with a new style. Is there a way to do this?

While it is not the main part of this question, it just so happens
that the new style has the same name as the old style to be replaced,
but the paragraphs don't appear like other paragraphs that have that
style (the whack of contiguous text was pasted in from elsewhere).

 

[Stefan Blom]

In this case, since the text already has the correct style, there is no need
to find & replace. Instead, in order to reset text formatting to that of the
underlying style, just select the text and press Ctrl+Q (resets paragraph
formatting) and Ctrl+SpaceBar (resets font formatting).

 

[grammatim]

In 2003 you can -- Find/Replace > More > Format > Style. Was that
available in 2000?

 

[Paul]

It is available in Word 2000, but it was not working as expected
yesterday. It was replacing entire paragraphs with null strings.
Today, it works... not sure if the reason for yesterday's behaviour
was because of augmentation formatting on top of the named style.
Today, in my first crack, it replaced all styles throughout the
document, but I think it was finger trouble. Second try, it worked as
expected and only replaced within the swath of selected text. Thanks
for the prod to try again.

 

[Paul]

That is quite some useful trivia there. When I pressed ctrl-Q on a
proper-looking paragraph, it reverted to the look of the improperly
formatted paragraph having the same style name. That tells me that
the underlying style was not properly set, which was the cause of the
anomalous behaviour. Easy to fix handraulically. However, I was
wondering if there was a way to conveniently have the style name of
interest take on the formatting of a paragraph of interest without
going into the style definition and manually setting up the details?
I already have "Automatic Update" turned on.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

<<However, I was
wondering if there was a way to conveniently have the style name of
interest take on the formatting of a paragraph of interest without
going into the style definition and manually setting up the details?
I already have "Automatic Update" turned on.>>

In Word 2002 and above, you can select a formatted paragraph, click the
arrow beside the style of interest in the Styles & Formatting task pane, and
choose Update to Match Selection. But if the paragraph is actually *in* the
style in question, you should be able to reselect the style in the Style
dropdown, which will trigger a dialog asking if you want to update the style
to match the selection. But if you have "Automatically update" enabled for
the style (that is, in the Modify Style dialog), this should be happening
automatically.

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

That is quite some useful trivia there. When I pressed ctrl-Q on a
proper-looking paragraph, it reverted to the look of the improperly
formatted paragraph having the same style name. That tells me that
the underlying style was not properly set, which was the cause of the
anomalous behaviour. Easy to fix handraulically. However, I was
wondering if there was a way to conveniently have the style name of
interest take on the formatting of a paragraph of interest without
going into the style definition and manually setting up the details?
I already have "Automatic Update" turned on.

 

[Stefan Blom]

Note that a possible source of trouble when you first tried this could have
been "left-over" settings in the
Find and Replace dialog box. When starting a new find & replace it is best
to clear the current settings (text and formatting).

--
Stefan Blom
Microsoft Word MVP


It is available in Word 2000, but it was not working as expected
yesterday. It was replacing entire paragraphs with null strings.
Today, it works... not sure if the reason for yesterday's behaviour
was because of augmentation formatting on top of the named style.
Today, in my first crack, it replaced all styles throughout the
document, but I think it was finger trouble. Second try, it worked as
expected and only replaced within the swath of selected text. Thanks
for the prod to try again.

 

[Paul]

<<However, I was
wondering if there was a way to conveniently have the style name of
interest take on the formatting of a paragraph of interest without
going into the style definition and manually setting up the details?
I already have "Automatic Update" turned on.>>

In Word 2002 and above, you can select a formatted paragraph, click the
arrow beside the style of interest in the Styles & Formatting task pane, and
choose Update to Match Selection. But if the paragraph is actually *in* the
style in question, you should be able to reselect the style in the Style
dropdown, which will trigger a dialog asking if you want to update the style
to match the selection. But if you have "Automatically update" enabled for
the style (that is, in the Modify Style dialog), this should be happening
automatically.

In Word 2000, I've never seen a style pane along the right side like
in 2003. Neither have I found a way to activate such a pane. There
is only style drop-down menu at the top. The styles that show there
have no down-arrow that generates a list of actions that include
updating the style to match the selection. This is when I select a
paragraph style other than that of the selected paragraph.

However, if I choose open the style drop-down menu and select the same
style name as the one for the selected paragraph, I am indeed asked
whether I want to update the style definition, or re-apply the
formatting of the style to the paragraph.

One out of two ain't bad -- thanks!

 

[Paul]

I'm pretty sure I erased anything that was in the text box, and
clicked on the button to remove all formatting....but I agree that
such a suspected cause would be the first candidate that comes to
mind.

 

[Stefan Blom]

In Word 2000, I've never seen a style pane along the right side like
in 2003. Neither have I found a way to activate such a pane. There
is only style drop-down menu at the top. The styles that show there
have no down-arrow that generates a list of actions that include
updating the style to match the selection. This is when I select a
paragraph style other than that of the selected paragraph.

However, if I choose open the style drop-down menu and select the same
style name as the one for the selected paragraph, I am indeed asked
whether I want to update the style definition, or re-apply the
formatting of the style to the paragraph.

Yes, that's the way to do it in Word 2000.

FWIW, task panes were introduced in Word 2002. In Word 2000 (and 97) there
was the Style box on the toolbar and the Format | Style dialog box.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

You'll note that I began with "In Word 2002 and above," which pretty much
eliminates Word 2000.