Style format does not work

  • Thread starter Thread starter SB Mull
  • Start date Start date
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SB Mull

I am having several problems with applying styles in Word 2007, but the most
troublesome one is that when I try to apply a Quick Style to highlighted
text, it doesn't change the text. Specifically, I have a header style
defined with 48 spaces before and 72 spaces after - when I apply it to an
unformatted text phrase, I get a result that is 0 spaces before and 48 spaces
after. The style I am trying to use is standard for a manuscript and I have
successfully used it many times before.
 
Recent versions of Word suppress the smaller of spacing below for a
paragraph and spacing above for the following paragraph.

To prevent Word 2007 from suppressing the spacing, check the "Don't use HTML
paragraph auto spacing" option (found under "Layout Options" in Office
button | Word Options, Advanced category).

--
Stefan Blom
Microsoft Word MVP


in message
news:D[email protected]...
 
Thanks for the quick response - I will try that for the paragraph issue;
however i am still having a lot of other problems because when I apply a
style to text, it either doesn't "take" or it reverts back to previous style
in the next operation.
 
Note that *paragraph* styles must be applied by selecting whole paragraphs.
And if you are applying a style to a single paragraph, you don't need to
select at all; it suffices to place the insertion point inside the
paragraph.

To clear any direct formatting from the selection, try pressing
Ctrl+SpaceBar (removes direct character formatting, including character
styles) and Ctrl+Q (removes direct paragraph formatting).

--
Stefan Blom
Microsoft Word MVP


in message
 
Thanks. Before I contacted the group, I cleared all formatting from the text
and reset it with an existing paragraph style that works properly. However,
none of that solved the problem and I continue to lose the "before" line
spaces in some documents but not in others. As an observation, I am finding
the formatting quirks to be more annoying in 2007 than in 2002, although I
have always had my share of problems with this feature of Word. I would
think I just need education if I hadn't already read numerous articles and
books on the subject. Can you think of anything else that would cause this
particular problem?
 
Note that the "Don't use HTML paragraph auto spacing" option is
document-specific. You can save the setting in the Normal template by
clicking the "All New Documents" option in the "Compatibility options for"
list.

Another thing to consider: Is the "Don't add space between paragraphs of the
same style" option checked for the problem style? If so, clear it. (You'll
find the option in Modify Style dialog box, Format, Paragraph.)

Also note that for the *first* paragraph on a page, spacing before will be
suppressed unless the style definition includes "Page break before" or if
the paragraph is immediately preceded by a section break.

--
Stefan Blom
Microsoft Word MVP


in message
 
Your last paragraph will solve one of my specific problems with formatting
for line spacing - thanks so much. A related issue I have had is that the
"automatically update" box is checked by default and I often overlook it when
modifying a style - is there any way to change the option so that the box is
not automatically checked? That feature is a disaster waiting to happen!
 
Clear the "Automatically update" setting from each style and then click the
"New documents based on this template" option; that way, the modification
will be transferred to the attached template.

--
Stefan Blom
Microsoft Word MVP


in message
 
Thanks - I have been doing that for each individual document. I had hoped
that, since the automatic update function is such an undesirable feature, MS
may have furnished a general option to deselect it for all files so I don't
have to remember to do it each time a work with a style.
Thanks
 
The Automatically Update option for styles isn't necessarily undesirable .
It's a feature when used correctly. :-) Consider wanting specific formatting
to update automatically throughout the document, such as in a Table of
Contents or in your Headings, which is how it's normally used -- sparingly
in specific styles.

But it's definitely not desirable when it's used in every style, or the
Normal style, in your documents! I'm fairly certain what you are
encountering is caused by a improperly coded macro in a template or add-in
since we see a lot of reports in the newsgroups about this. In Word 2007
they removed the Automatically Update option from the interface when
modifying the Normal style, (I suspect they did this as an attempt to
control the issue, thinking users were selecting it inadvertently), but it
can still be set for the Normal style using VBA which is what makes me think
it's a macro.

Would you mind taking a look at something for me? Click the Office Button,
click Word Options, and then click Add-ins. What add-ins do you have listed
(both active and inactive). And do you recall using any third-party
templates prior to encountering the issue?

We've been getting so many reports I'd like to see if we can track down the
underlying cause and your help would be greatly appreciated. :-)

Please post all follow-up questions to the newsgroup. Requests for
assistance by email cannot be acknowledged.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Beth Melton
Microsoft Office MVP

Coauthor of Word 2007 Inside Out:
http://www.microsoft.com/MSPress/books/9801.aspx#AboutTheBook

Word FAQ: http://mvps.org/word
TechTrax eZine: http://mousetrax.com/techtrax/
MVP FAQ site: http://mvps.org/
 
I have add-ins for Outlook Business Contacts, Financial Symbols,
Headers-footers-watermark, Hidden Text, Measurement Converter, PayPal Word
Add-in, Small Business Accounting (several documents) and Smart Documents
(several). All are inactive except the Outlook one. i don't know where they
all came from - I just upgraded to 2007 a week or so ago - but hope this is
helpful to you. I haven't installed any third-party add-ins that I know of,
but the PayPal one had to come from somewhere.
Thanks,
 
Thank you SO much for your add-ins list. Now is a matter of finding others
who encounter the same issue, get their list of add-ins and start
cross-referencing them. Hopefully we'll find a more precise answer to this
issue someday. I know it's one that can drive you nuts - especially when you
don't know how to correct it.

The Accounting add-ins stand out for some reason. Do you use it to create
invoices (or similar documents) in Word?

Btw, I think the PayPal add-in came from Microsoft Accounting. Additionally,
if you upgraded then any add-ins you used in the previous version are
carried over which might explain why you are seeing them even though you
just installed Office 2007.

Please post all follow-up questions to the newsgroup. Requests for
assistance by email cannot be acknowledged.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Beth Melton
Microsoft Office MVP

Coauthor of Word 2007 Inside Out:
http://www.microsoft.com/MSPress/books/9801.aspx#AboutTheBook

Word FAQ: http://mvps.org/word
TechTrax eZine: http://mousetrax.com/techtrax/
MVP FAQ site: http://mvps.org/
 
I've been running into something similar.

My particular problem is that I repeatedly assign styles to paragraphs and
they just don't take.

For example I took some things from an intranet blog for a class and was
going to rework them for a hard copy.

I tagged the headings "Heading 1" via search and replace (there was common
wording) and then changed "Normal" to a different font, and justified.

That's all I wanted to do.

If I follow this thread right I have to remove the formatting of the whole
document and basically start from scratch to reformat it. And the way to do
that is a keyboard command that I just found out about.

I've been a Word user since 2.0 (1991?) and I've been working with Word
Processors since 1981, so I'm hardly new to this. (And getting very
frustrated by the process.

So I guess my questions are:

Is there a way to force it to reapply an updated style to all occurances in
a document?
Is there a way to clear formating for an entire document (or at least "paste
without formatting")?

It seems to me that if styles will sometimes not be updated, then what's the
point of styles anyway?

And in the for what it's worth category ...

I'm back to grad school, I bought the Student Version of Office 2007 because
I didn't want to "mess with it" and there were rumors that older versions of
Office would not work well with Vista. What a *shock*. More of a shock than
2.0 to 6.0.

I'm currently digging around for my Office '97 disks to see if it will run
with Vista because:

1) I'm presently keeping my old Win98 desktop with Word '97 running so that
I can track down the old menu shortcuts *because it's quicker to figure it
out in the old Word on the other computer and then use the keyboard shortcuts
in 2007 than to try and figure out how to do things I've been doing for years
with the ribbon.
2) If I have serious document work to do I'm going back to that old machine
because I can rework a serious writing project faster and easier with '97.
(Yes, I have prepared a rough on my 4 week old laptop, in Word 2007, saved it
in the compatible format, and transferred it back to the Win98 box with
Word'97 to finish up because it's more efficient.)
3) RMR does not seem to exist for Word 2007 and no one will talk about it
except one post where someone says "it works mostly". Maybe I'm one of the
few who used it, but I'm working on becoming a teacher, and I can make
documents that Reader can *read* (text to voice or whatever it's called ) to
people with vision imparements. I've had people who have speech impairments
use it to make presentations. It's *useful* ... and I can do it on my old
machine but not my new one.
4) I just don't have time to sort out the "easier, more efficent ribbon". I
spent about 4 hours working through the tutorials and some FAQs ... I'm not
an idiot. But I need to spend more time actually writing my documents than
figuring out how to make them look like they used to.

Sorry for the rant, but I don't know where else to post that.

Tim
 
I just solved my own problem.

Who would have thought that instead of making changes to the style and
selecting "automatic update, you need to go to the ribbon?

First you select the text you want to reformat, apply a style, or create a
new style and apply that, then you have to change the formatting to what you
really want it to be, and, finally, right click on the style in the ribbon
and pick "Update Style to Match Selection".

It would not change the formating when I told it to reapply the style, or
when I edited the style and told it to update. But from that right click menu
it will change all the Heading 1's to what I want.

I got this tip from another grad student: there are two of us who are trying
to find disks of older versions so we can go back and focus on our mid-terms.

Tim
 
If you have "Update automatically" checked in the style before making the
changes, the style should be updated. Also, if you want to be prompted to
update the style when you reapply it, you need to check "Prompt to update
style" in Office Button | Word Options | Advanced: Editing options.
 
"Prompt to update style" was and is selected in the Options.

"Update automatically" needs to be selected before you make the changes?
That seems different. Although I suspect I clicked it just before I clicked
"OK" when I was all done with the font and paragraph changes.

I know for a fact that I changed Normal to use Bookman and be justified and
it would not apply those changes through the document. I got repeated pop ups
asking if I wanted to update to reflect the current selection or revert, and
at that point I wanted it to revert. It didn't revert or reapply the style
until I went to the style on the ribbon and right clicked and told it to
reapply.

I'll do it again and document it more carefully if you like.

Tim
 
When you modify a paragraph style, the changes should immediately be
reflected in the document. If that doesn't happen, you can reset the
paragraphs by selecting them and clicking Ctrl+Q (clears paragraph
formatting, such as line spacing and spacing before/after) and Ctrl+SpaceBar
(clears character formatting such as font and size).

The "Update automatically" option works a bit different: when enabled,
direct formatting that you apply to text will be added to the style
definition. This is not always desirable, but it is very useful for the TOC
styles, for example, where it is enabled by default.

--
Stefan Blom
Microsoft Word MVP



in message
 
Just as a follow up now that I'm done with my term ...

I never got modifications to styles to work consistently.

I think this may be rooted in other problems as I've been experiencing any
number of Word crashes the last six weeks.

I've elaborated them elsewhere and am taking time now to check on replies.

Suffice it to say that I have:

1) Spent a lot of time formating and reformating with Word 2007. Much more
than I ever spent with '97 or 2000.

2) I absolutely cannot trust Word 2007 with documents larger than 15 pages.
(About 48 hours lost on two projects: I had to ask for an extension on a
class because of Word.)

Suffice it to say that due to reliablity on this and several other issues
I'm no longer using Word 2007 as my primary Word processor.
 
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