Style modification

[Bruce]

I use some styles for a technical bulletin. They are
stored in a template. Sometimes I need to change some
element of the style, such as paragraph spacing. As I
understand it, if I modify the style that modification
will affect all new documents that use that style. Will
old documents based on the same template be changed if I
do not reapply the style?
Next part of the question: How do I modify the style for
a single document, and have the original (unmodified)
style be applied to all subsequent documents based on that
template? I know that I can reformat a paragraph and use
the format painter to copy the changed formatting to other
paragraphs, but is that the best way in the context of
using styles? Thanks.

 

[Margaret Aldis]

Hi Bruce

1. Yes, if you change the style *in the template*, new documents will use
that style.

2. Old documents will not be affected unless you either copy the style in
using the Organizer or use Tools > Templates and Add-ins to update styles.
(Go into the dialog again afterwards and uncheck again as it is not a good
idea to leave this box checked).

3. If you change a style *in a document* the style in the template is not
modified unless you check the 'Update template' box when you modify.

4. Do not touch the format painter if you are using styles. If you need to
apply the same format in several places, make a new style for it. Depending
on how purist you are (and how the document is to be maintained, by whom,
over how long ...) you might sometimes want to apply some direct formatting
to the odd paragraph - provided you do not have 'Automatically update'
checked in the modify style box that will not change the style.

Hope this helps

 

[Bruce]

Thank you for your help. I vistited the MVP web site and
found some more information about styles. Some things are
clearer, but let me make sure I understand something: If
I need to change, say, space after a paragraph for a
particular style in a single document, I can either apply
direct formatting to the paragraph, then click the down
arrow in the little Style window and choose "Update
style"; or, I can accomplish the same thing with Format >
Style, then make the appropriate changes and click Apply.
As long as I don't click "Add to Template", the style will
only be stored in the current document. Is my
understanding correct, or even close?
Second part: If I need to change the paragraph spacing on
just one page, for instance, is it a good idea to create a
new style?
My concern with creating new styles for unusual situations
has been the profusion of styles in my templates. I know
about the "Add to Template" check box in Format > Style;
is there another way to add a style to a template? Does
it happen automatically?
If I click "Add to Template", will the style be stored in
only the template upon which the current document is
based, or can it find its way into Normal.dot even if that
is not the active template?
Finally, what is the problem with using the format painter
to apply styles? It seems to work for me, and is a lot
more efficient than browsing through the drop-down list
over and over. If there was a way to select non-
sequential paragraphs (Word 2000) this would not be a
problem, but having to click the paragraph, then the drop-
down arrow in the style box, then scrolling through the
list of styles can be a drag if a style needs to be
applied to a large number of paragraphs (something I often
need to do when working with documents supplied by
others). Is there a shortcut other than Format Painter
for applying styles to non-sequential paragraphs?
Thanks again.

 

[Margaret Aldis]

Hi Bruce

Thank you for your help. I vistited the MVP web site and
found some more information about styles. Some things are
clearer, but let me make sure I understand something: If
I need to change, say, space after a paragraph for a
particular style in a single document, I can either apply
direct formatting to the paragraph, then click the down
arrow in the little Style window and choose "Update
style"; or, I can accomplish the same thing with Format >
Style, then make the appropriate changes and click Apply.
As long as I don't click "Add to Template", the style will
only be stored in the current document. Is my
understanding correct, or even close?

Spot on

Second part: If I need to change the paragraph spacing on
just one page, for instance, is it a good idea to create a
new style?
My concern with creating new styles for unusual situations
has been the profusion of styles in my templates.

It's really up to you. Even in a style-based set-up there are good reasons
for using some direct formatting - for instance, I use direct formatting for
special fixes to get final pagination neat - then I can just select all and
use Ctrl-Q to return everything to style for the next version. Conversely,
if I *don't* want the formatting to be blown away with a Ctrl-Q, I'd set up
a different style.

Other things to think about are copy and paste, modifications to styles, and
update styles from template - if you have direct formatting applied, the
changes to style may not be applied to the directly-formatted paragraphs -
that may or may not be what you want.

See also Shauna Kelly's explanations at
http://www.shaunakelly.com/word/styles/FormatOfTextChanges.html
See also


I know

about the "Add to Template" check box in Format > Style;
is there another way to add a style to a template? Does
it happen automatically?
If I click "Add to Template", will the style be stored in
only the template upon which the current document is
based, or can it find its way into Normal.dot even if that
is not the active template?

I'm fairly sure the 'add to template' box never stays checked, so in order
to update the style in the template you need to open the dialog and
explicitly check it (the 'update style' method won't therefore update the
template style as well). The template affected is the one curently attached
to the document (be careful if you have multiple copies.) Normal.dot will
not be changed, so long as the document is attached elsewhere. (But note
that a document whose template can't be found is temporarily attached to
Normal.dot.)

You can also change styles in a template by opening the template itself
(.dot file) and modifying the style there.

Finally, what is the problem with using the format painter
to apply styles? It seems to work for me, and is a lot
more efficient than browsing through the drop-down list
over and over. If there was a way to select non-
sequential paragraphs (Word 2000) this would not be a
problem, but having to click the paragraph, then the drop-
down arrow in the style box, then scrolling through the
list of styles can be a drag if a style needs to be
applied to a large number of paragraphs (something I often
need to do when working with documents supplied by
others). Is there a shortcut other than Format Painter
for applying styles to non-sequential paragraphs?

You can add styles as toolbar buttons or menu items to a custom toolbar. You
can also set up keyboard shortcuts. Applying a style once and then using F4
(repeat last action) will apply the same style to the new selection.

If you find the Format Painter works cleanly for you, by all means use it.
But I've always found it fiddly and difficult to be certain what you are
applying to what. I find users often end up thinking they've applied a
paragraph style, but actually only applying the character formatting part of
the style (something Word is woefully ambiguous about anyway). I normally
remove it from custom toolbars to prevent these problems <g>.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Margaret has saved me the trouble of responding to most of what you wrote,
but I'd add one note about Format Painter. Although I never use the Format
Painter *button*, I do use the equivalent Copy Format/Paste Format, which is
actually more flexible. Using the Format Painter, if I understand it
correctly, you actually have to paint the format onto the text, and if you
want to do it more than once, you have to double-click the button to keep it
active. By contrast, here's how Copy/Paste Format works:

1. Click in a paragraph or select text and press Ctrl+Shift+C. This copies
the formatting.

2. Click in another paragraph or select text and press Ctrl+Shift+V. This
pastes the formatting.

The formatting is saved to a special sort of Clipboard and remains available
for further pasting until you Ctrl+Shift+C to select different formatting.

The interesting part of the way this works is the variation you can achieve.
If you just click in a paragraph or select the entire paragraph, you
copy/paste the style of the paragraph (both font and paragraph formatting,
plus any direct paragraph formatting). If you select part of the text
(either in copying or in pasting) you get just the font formatting (both
style and direct). The handling of direct formatting is interesting: if you
happen to click in a word that has direct font formatting (italics) for
example, then the word you click in to paste will also get that formatting
(and if you select the entire paragraph, it will be applied to all), so it's
best to be careful where you click in a paragraph that has direct font
formatting applied to some of the words. Using this method, you can paste
the font formatting of one paragraph to another without applying the style
(or the paragraph formatting).

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://www.mvps.org/word
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

 

[Margaret Aldis]

Hi Bruce

Numbered styles don't transfer completely reliably between documents and
templates, by any of the methods (Organizer, template attachment, update
template.) And basing one numbered style on another can also produce odd
effects.

You can probably get away with your Level2end based on Level2 if you set it
up in the template, and don't touch its own numbering definition.

Another possibility would be to use a separate paragraph at the end of level
2 items to provide the extra space. This leaves all your level 2 items with
the same style (useful if you move them around) with a special paragraph
marking the end. (Since it is an empty paragraph, I would give it a colour
so that the paragraph end marker shows up as special, and you can see the
paragraph is really wanted, as opposed to an accidental blank paragraph.)

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

I would be reluctant to use empty paragraphs for this purpose. I often just
apply direct formatting, though this does require more upkeep if the list
order changes. But this is what the HTML paragraph spacing ("Don't add space
between paragraphs of the same style") is supposed to handle. Suppose you
have a list style with 6 pts Before and 6 pts After; you'll get just 6 pts
total between the list items but the full paragraph spacing before the first
item and after the last. This is something you could experiment with (I
haven't, so I can't tell you much more than the theory on that).

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://www.mvps.org/word
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

 

[Bruce]

Thanks again to both of you. I think I will just accept
the quirks of outline numbering, which is a little ragged
anyhow, and use direct formatting in the situation I
described. I am not inclined to use empty paragraphs to
create space, but I like the idea of coloring them if they
are unavoidable some day.>-----Original Message-----