Styles do not change when underlying template is changed

[GG]

I am using Word 2002. After changing and creating several
Styles in a document I saved it as a template in a user
folder (*.dot) Then I created several documents by double-
clicking this file. These documents I saved in the same
folder. After that I found out I need to change some of
these stiles in all my documents. I created a new
document the same way as before, changed corresponding
styles and saved the document as a template with the same
name as before.
Now when I open my other documets they have the old style
definition even though they are based on my template. I
have tried to update these styles by selecting
Tools/Templates and Add-ins/Organizer and copy style
definitions from my template to my documents but then all
my styles get mixed up.
Please advice me how can I update styles in a document
based on changes in underlying template

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Reattach the template with "Automatically update document styles" checked.
(Be sure to uncheck it immediately after doing this.) For future reference,
the way to update styles in a template is not to change them in a document
and save it as a template (a process that will lose any AutoText, macros,
toolbars, etc., that you have saved in the template). Instead, change the
style in the document and check the "Add to template" box in the Modify
Style dialog.

--
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.

 

[GG]

I tried what you suggested but all my styles get mixed up
and are not the same as their definition in my template
*.dot file

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Are you sure you actually redefined the styles and didn't just change the
formatting of the paragraphs?

--
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]

I am sure I redefined the style. After my last reply to
you I created a new folder with a new template and two
document files based on it. Then I changed styles within
these documents and it worked as you explained. I belive
there must be something corrupted inside my previous
template file. is there a possibility to somehow fix that
file? I have a lot of definitions inside it.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Try opening the template file directly and modifying the styles, then try
reattaching it. This is not an area I'm particularly strong in, so perhaps
some others will chime in with more suggestions.

--
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.

 

[Margaret Aldis]

Hi all

In my experience, the usual things to look for if styles from a template do
not 'take' in a document when you use the Organizer or Templates and Add-ins
are:

* Direct formatting in the document - that is, the styles have been imported
OK, but the document wasn't using styles cleanly. Try Ctl-Q (reset paragraph
to style). (I'm not sure of the effect of direct formatting if any of the
styles in the document are set to 'Automatically update' - make sure this is
off before the import of styles.)

* Cascading (based on) styles - when using the Organizer, you need to 'knock
3 times' - i.e. do the copy three times, or copy base styles first, then the
derived styles.

* Numbered styles have their own problems and can be hard to import
correctly - make sure they are set up as described in
http://www.shaunakelly.com/word/numbering/OutlineNumbering.html.

You might also want to look at

http://www.word.mvps.org/faqs/macrosvba/UpdateStyles.htm

 

[Jean-Guy Marcil]

Bonjour,

Dans son message, < Margaret Aldis > écrivait :
In this message, < Margaret Aldis > wrote:

||
|| * Numbered styles have their own problems and can be hard to import
|| correctly - make sure they are set up as described in
|| http://www.shaunakelly.com/word/numbering/OutlineNumbering.html.
||

Even so, numbered style are a real pain to copy.
The only way I have found that works every time is to copy a paragraph that
has the desired style from the source document to the target document.
Otherwise more often than not, tabs are reset, bullets are lost, etc.

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

 

[Margaret Aldis]

In this message, < Margaret Aldis > wrote:

||
|| * Numbered styles have their own problems and can be hard to import
|| correctly - make sure they are set up as described in
|| http://www.shaunakelly.com/word/numbering/OutlineNumbering.html.
||

Even so, numbered style are a real pain to copy.
The only way I have found that works every time is to copy a paragraph that
has the desired style from the source document to the target document.
Otherwise more often than not, tabs are reset, bullets are lost, etc.

Our mileage differs then I've found pasting numbered styles in 2002 and
2003 very unpredictable when I want to import and match target formatting
(varies from machine to machine, wind direction and the colour of my
underwear), so although pasting to a clean document appears to bring a
numbered style in I would tend not to trust it.

My own experience with using the Templates and Add-ins method of updating
numbered styles is good, though back with 97 it only worked if the list
template linking had been done using VBA. I've had bad experiences with
numbered styles and the Organizer (again with VBA-created numbering), but
many people seem to be happier with that.

Going the opposite way - writing styles back from a document to a template
using the Modify dialog - has wrecked templates for me several times, so
that's one I leave well alone!