setting body text as the default style

[Thomas Campitelli]

Howdy Folks,

I would like to make it so that Word defaults to Body Text instead of
Normal for the default style. I read that using something besides Normal
can be wise for a long document, but I would like to make it more
automatic than having to specify Body Text all the time. i did some
googling but did not come up with anything. Is this advisable? Is this
possible? Thanks in advance.

Thomas Campitelli

 

[Jean-Guy Marcil]

Thomas Campitelli was telling us:
Thomas Campitelli nous racontait que :

Howdy Folks,

I would like to make it so that Word defaults to Body Text instead of
Normal for the default style. I read that using something besides
Normal can be wise for a long document, but I would like to make it
more automatic than having to specify Body Text all the time. i did
some googling but did not come up with anything. Is this advisable?
Is this possible? Thanks in advance.

One way of doing this would be to open your Normal.dot template (Get its
location from Tools > Options... > File Locations tab > path listed next to
User Templates), assign the Body Text style to the lone paragraph mark (¶)
that appears when you show all non printable characters (the ¶ on the
standard toolbar), and then save/close the Normal.dot template.

--
Salut!
_______________________________________
Jean-Guy Marcil - Word MVP
(e-mail address removed)
Word MVP site: http://www.word.mvps.org

 

[Charles Kenyon]

See http://addbalance.com/word/defaultfont.htm
--

Charles Kenyon

Word New User FAQ & Web Directory: http://addbalance.com/word

Intermediate User's Guide to Microsoft Word (supplemented version of
Microsoft's Legal Users' Guide) http://addbalance.com/usersguide

See also the MVP FAQ: http://www.mvps.org/word which is awesome!
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[Thomas Campitelli]

Thank you both for your responses. I should be more clear. I am less
interested in chaning the behavior of normal.dot and more interested in
changing the behavior of the document on which I am working. I would
also like to apply the default style as body text to a template that can
be distributed throughout my office. If I have to change the normal.dot
on everyone's machine to get this to work, that does not seem feasible.
I'm not quite sure how to apply the advice in addbalance.com to my
current document.

So, within a given document or template, is it possible to default to
Body Text? Is normal.dot the only place that this can be accomplished?
Thanks again.

Thomas Campitelli

 

[Jean-Guy Marcil]

Thomas Campitelli was telling us:
Thomas Campitelli nous racontait que :

Thank you both for your responses. I should be more clear. I am less
interested in chaning the behavior of normal.dot and more interested
in changing the behavior of the document on which I am working. I

Do a Find/Replace to replace all text formatted with Normal to be changed to
Body Text.

would also like to apply the default style as body text to a template
that can be distributed throughout my office. If I have to change the
normal.dot on everyone's machine to get this to work, that does not
seem feasible. I'm not quite sure how to apply the advice in
addbalance.com to my current document.

So, within a given document or template, is it possible to default to
Body Text? Is normal.dot the only place that this can be accomplished?
Thanks again.

It depends on the template content.

If you apply Body Text to every body text paragraph in the template, you
will have defaulted it to the Body Text style. Also. if you create
AutoTexts, make sure they are based on Body Text when you create them if
they contain paragraph marks (¶).

Of course, if someone copies/pastes text from another document, and part of
that pasted text was formatted with the Normal style, you will end up with
Normal in your document as well.
Also, some functions default to Normal and I do not think you can change
that (For example, if you delete a style, any paragraph that had been
formatted with the deleted style will be formatted with the Normal style).
There is no real default style as there is a default font (The default font
is just the font formatting of the Normal style). I maybe wrong but this has
been my experience...

--
Salut!
_______________________________________
Jean-Guy Marcil - Word MVP
(e-mail address removed)
Word MVP site: http://www.word.mvps.org

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

To add to what Jean-Guy has said, you can accomplish the same thing in a
specific template that you can in Normal.dot: that is, you can format the
default empty paragraph as Body Text. But you'll still run into Normal in
some instances. For example, labels (created using the Tools | Envelopes and
Labels command) and text boxes default to Normal style.

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

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[Guest]

Your best option is to create a Global Template to be used in the place of
"Normal.dot". That is the only way you can have full control of styles.

In the Global Template, set style names that do not match those in
"Normal.dot". This prevents "collisions" with Word's "built-in" styles. You
can then set the font, size, spacing, leading, widow/orphan control, etc. to
match your needs. My headers are all set "keep with next" to ensure that
they follow the following paragraph if it spills to a new page. The
paragraph spacing is automatic, as is the spacing of headers from preceding
and following text.

The Global Template can (and should) also carry toolbars to permit "point
and click" application of styles. This GREATLY simplifies the ease of
application of Word styles - and makes it far easier to use the approved
styles than it is to create one's own.

(My Global Template is locked and password protected as read only.)

You would then create a "General Template" (for which I use the term "base
document" - as it is the document used to create other documents). In that
document (a ".doc" file), you set the default style.

Distribute both to be placed in:
C:\Documents and Settings\username\Application Data\Microsoft\Templates

All styles will now match, and "Normal.dot" never enters the picture. If
you want to change or add a style, simply distribute a new Global Template!

 

[Thomas Campitelli]

Thank you all again for your help. I did a find and replace to remove
all instances of "Normal." However, when I hit a carriage return after a
heading, it is back to Normal again. I am assuming the that the find and
replace should have changed the default empty paragraph.

I'd like to see Microsfot implement this feature at some point. Perhaps
I will express my views to them. The next verison of Office is something
like 1.5 years away. I bet they could get it in there by then.

Thomas Campitelli

 

[Thomas Campitelli]

Howdy LarryranTX,

In the Global Template, set style names that do not match those in
"Normal.dot".

Does that mean not using the built in headings styles? If so, that might
cause more problems than it would solve. Am I reading this correctly?

You would then create a "General Template" (for which I use the term "base
document" - as it is the document used to create other documents). In that
document (a ".doc" file), you set the default style.

I guess I am confused about how to affect setting a default style. If I
could set a default style based on a global template style, why then
could I not use "Body Text" or some other style? It seems that this is
the root of my problem. Your idea of using a global template does have
me thinking. I wonder if I could develop a macro to run either in a
global or a document template that would automatically set a default style.

Distribute both to be placed in:
C:\Documents and Settings\username\Application Data\Microsoft\Templates

In order fo this work, I assume that the base template would link to the
global tempate as an Add-In. Is that correct, or will MS Word
automatically recognize the global template in that directory and apply
it to everything? I am more familiar with attaching global templates to
documents via the Add-In feature or putting it in the startup directory
for word.

Thanks again for all the ideas.

Thomas Campitelli

 

[Charles Kenyon]

The setting here is not the default empty paragraph but the style for
following paragraph in the Heading style definition.
--

Charles Kenyon

Word New User FAQ & Web Directory: http://addbalance.com/word

Intermediate User's Guide to Microsoft Word (supplemented version of
Microsoft's Legal Users' Guide) http://addbalance.com/usersguide

See also the MVP FAQ: http://www.mvps.org/word which is awesome!
--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
This message is posted to a newsgroup. Please post replies
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from my ignorance and your wisdom.

 

[Charles Kenyon]

Except through the use of macros, global templates other than normal.dot
have no effect on styles. Only attached document templates carry styles into
documents. (Normal.dot acts as both an attached template and a global in
many cases.)

I do use a global with macros to set styles, but normally it is just easier
to use document templates with the styles that I want.
--

Charles Kenyon

Word New User FAQ & Web Directory: http://addbalance.com/word

Intermediate User's Guide to Microsoft Word (supplemented version of
Microsoft's Legal Users' Guide) http://addbalance.com/usersguide

See also the MVP FAQ: http://www.mvps.org/word which is awesome!
--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
This message is posted to a newsgroup. Please post replies
and questions to the newsgroup so that others can learn
from my ignorance and your wisdom.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

A global template other than Normal.dot does not provide styles at all. See
http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/Customization/WhatTemplatesStore.htm

--
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.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Go to Format | Style for the heading style and change the "Style for
following paragraph" from Normal to Body Text.

--
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.

 

[Thomas Campitelli]

You rock, Suzanne. That did the trick. Thank you for all of your help.

Thomas Campitelli