When to use or not to use "Automatically Update Styles"

[LawTrainer]

What are the main reasons why we would turn off the "Automatically apply
document styles" in the Templates and Add-Ins dialog box in Word 2003? Even
when this is turned off in the dialog box, styles are still being changed in
documents.

I'm always getting questions as to why a document when closed and then
reopened is changing styles. What are some reasons why it is doing this?

Thanks for your help?

 

[Herb Tyson [MVP]]

There are two sources of the automation. The first is the "Automatically
update document styles" option in the Templates and Add-ins dialog. This can
be enabled at the template level for the creation of new documents (but, I
don't think the setting holds in Normal.dot). It can also be turned on/off
in individual documents.

Some organizations use this feature to try to rigidly enforce template-based
formatting. Many give up, however, since it's very difficult to keep staff
from using direct formatting... and the "Automatically update..." setting
can play havoc when people resort to brute force formatting, and things they
"fixed" get immediately re-broken each time the document is opened.

This setting can be set in the template itself or in individual documents.
So, turning it off in the template is not sufficient and does not affect
existing documents that have the setting turned on.

The second source of automation is in individual styles themselves, in the
Modify Styles dialog box--the "Automatically update" setting, which can
affect not only the style being modified, but all styles based on that
style, as well.