Style Aliases

[Guest]

Hi,

I am trying to create a custom template that includes different names for
headings. When I try to rename the heading styles, it creates an alias
because it is a built-in style. How is an alias different from a regular
style? I want to be able to apply this template to existing documents and do
an easy replace but if I have aliases, does that mean I need to manually
replace each Heading style with its new alias version?

Thanks, Tara

 

[Shauna Kelly]

Hi Tara

Just continue as normal. If you have a style named, for example, "Heading 1,
Chapter heading", then you can:
- use the built-in keyboard shortcut for Heading 1 (Alt-Ctrl-1) and it will
apply "Heading 1, Chapter heading"

- use the Styles and Formatting pane (which will show the 'real' name and
the alias)

- use the Styles box on the Formatting toolbar (which will show the 'real'
name and the alias)

- copy text in "Heading 1" style in another document into this one, and it
will acquire the alias

But...
- if you copy *from* this document, the receiving document will acquire the
alias (that's why you sometimes see a document with a style named, say,
"Heading 1, H1, H 1, Section heading, Chapter heading".

- if you're using VBA to write code to manipulate the document, always use
the built-in constant wdStyleHeading1. That will refer to the built-in style
no matter how many aliases it acquires.

For what it's worth, I like aliases and use them a lot. I often rename the
"Salutation" style for a letter template as "Salutation, Dear...." and
rename "Closing" to "Closing, Yours sincerely". It's also good if you've
used, say, Heading 5 for appendix headings to do something like "Heading 5,
Appendix Title" and "Heading 6, "Appendix Heading Level 1". Of course
whether this is appropriate depends on your audience and the purpose of your
template.

Hope this helps.

Shauna Kelly. Microsoft MVP.
http://www.shaunakelly.com/word

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Try a small experiment, attaching your new document template to an existing
document containing heading styles, with "Automatically update document
styles" checked. See what happens. (Remember to uncheck the "Automatically
update" box afterward.)

--
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.

 

[Guest]

Thanks Shauna - so, to clarify, if I apply this template to a document that
has built-in 'heading 1' style text, will it automatically update to my
heading 1 alias style?

Thanks!
Tara