Word should let me automatically delete all unused styles.

[Guest]

Word should have a function to delete all unused styles from a document
except the standard, non-deletable ones, in a single operation. I know you
can use a macro, but none of them are completely reliable. I also know you
can show all used styles and delete them manually, one-by-one (this takes far
too long). Most users do not know how to use styles in detail and I have to
create content based on input with a massive random mixture of unnecessary
styles. I use Word 2003 with XP Professional and all the latest updates.
An enhancement like this would help me a lot. I have seen previous questions
like this but the replies just suggest using macros, which is too error prone.

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[Guest]

I think I should mention that Word considers styles to be in use if they have
ever appeared in a document, regardless of whether there are still any
instances of those styles in the document. What I would like to do is delete
all styles that are not used in the text, including those which are
considered to be in use because they were used before but not now.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

I agree this would be helpful. It would be helpful just to be able to find
out whether a style was actually in current use or not. Sometimes when I'm
revising a document that has been in use for quite some time, I don't
remember which styles I've used. If I want to modify the style in one place,
I worry that it may affect text in another place; if I knew for sure that
this was the only instance of the given style, I wouldn't be concerned.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA

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[Guest]

You can get a list of used styles then click the right mouse on any one of
them, then you the option of selecting all instances of it in the doc. You
can also delete one at a time on the right mouse menu, but there must have
been at least a hundred that were no longer used in the doc and it took me
far too long, hence my request for the ability to delete en-masse.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

In order to use Select All Instances, I'd have to enable "Keep track of
formatting," and then I'd still have to scroll through several hundred pages
of text to find the style. It would be easier/quicker to use Find to search
for the style. But it would still be better to be able to delete unused
styles from the list of Styles in Use.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA

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