proliferating styles

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C

calarts

Every time I change a feature (such as font color) in any style, Word
2010 adds a new style to my list thereof. How can I disable this
"feature"??

cal
 
In this group calarts wrote in message
Every time I change a feature (such as font color) in any style, Word
2010 adds a new style to my list thereof. How can I disable this
"feature"??

Word doesn't create styles on its own -- it just looks that way. To solve
the
problem, do Tools > Options > Edit. Un-tick "Keep track of formatting".

For a full explanation of what you're observing, see
How the Styles and Formatting pane works in Word 2002 and 2003
http://www.ShaunaKelly.com/word/sfpane/StylesAndFormattingPane.html

(should apply to Word 2010 as well)
 
Every time I change a feature (such as font color) in any style, Word
2010 adds a new style to my list thereof. How can I disable this
"feature"??

On a somewhat related topic -- if I import a document from another word
processor into Word, Word gives it a whole lot of new styles. Is there any way
of replacing them with existing styles?

I suppose I'm looking for a kind of "search and replace" for styles - where
you find "Style 10" substitute "Heading1".
 
You can use Replace to find and replace styles. Just click More in the
Replace dialog, then use Format | Style to select the desired style for
"Find what" and "Replace with." Leave both boxes empty.

Even simpler, if you have "Keep track of formatting" enabled and are using
Word 2002 or above. In the Styles and Formatting task pane, for a given
style, right-click and choose "Select All n Instances." When they're
selected, click on the other style you want to use to replace them.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
http://word.mvps.org
 
You can use Replace to find and replace styles. Just click More in the
Replace dialog, then use Format | Style to select the desired style for
"Find what" and "Replace with." Leave both boxes empty.

Even simpler, if you have "Keep track of formatting" enabled and are using
Word 2002 or above. In the Styles and Formatting task pane, for a given
style, right-click and choose "Select All n Instances." When they're
selected, click on the other style you want to use to replace them.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USAhttp://word.mvps.org









- Show quoted text -

The solution to my problem: in the Styles Pane Options, turn off all
"Select formatting to show as styles" boxes. I'm curious, though, why
& how Word stores all the permutations?
 
The initial idea behind this, apparently, was to persuade users, even if
they wouldn't use styles, to at least use quasi-styles, or at least to make
it obvious that direct formatting had been applied to a style (gently
suggesting that creation of a new style might be in order). This does at
least make it a one-click option to reapply a constellation of formatting
(which we power users do with styles).

FWIW, I think a stronger education effort wrt styles might have been more
successful. At one time I was teaching a free "Introduction to Word" course
at our public library. The participants ranged from doddering seniors who
barely knew how to turn on a computer to sharp young people who came hoping
to learn something they didn't already know. What I offered attempted to
bridge the gap but left both extremes dissatisfied. But there was one
memorable aha! moment when I was discussing styles. A young woman who worked
in an office said, "You mean that if I define a style to have a certain font
and size and bold formatting and specific paragraph formatting, then I can
just apply that style instead of having to apply all those properties
separately?" I confirmed that this was the case. She was ecstatic.

In a similar instance when I was giving a Word workshop at a seminar for
writers, one writer (the president of the writers' group, who had engaged me
to give the workshop) brought to me a laminated sheet on which he had listed
all the steps he took to set up a document to meet the requirements for a
short story manuscript. He set different margins, line spacing, and I don't
know what all. He asked if I thought the settings he had chosen were
appropriate. I had some opinions about his margins, but mostly I pointed out
that he could do all these things once, save the result as a template, and
never have to go through the steps again. A revelation!

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
http://word.mvps.org

You can use Replace to find and replace styles. Just click More in the
Replace dialog, then use Format | Style to select the desired style for
"Find what" and "Replace with." Leave both boxes empty.

Even simpler, if you have "Keep track of formatting" enabled and are using
Word 2002 or above. In the Styles and Formatting task pane, for a given
style, right-click and choose "Select All n Instances." When they're
selected, click on the other style you want to use to replace them.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USAhttp://word.mvps.org









- Show quoted text -

The solution to my problem: in the Styles Pane Options, turn off all
"Select formatting to show as styles" boxes. I'm curious, though, why
& how Word stores all the permutations?
 
You can use Replace to find and replace styles. Just click More in the
Replace dialog, then use Format | Style to select the desired style for
"Find what" and "Replace with." Leave both boxes empty.

Even simpler, if you have "Keep track of formatting" enabled and are using
Word 2002 or above. In the Styles and Formatting task pane, for a given
style, right-click and choose "Select All n Instances." When they're
selected, click on the other style you want to use to replace them.

Thanks very much.

I've just realised that that wasn't really my problem, since they all come
across in "Normal" style, but with some parts in bold and some in italics.

I suppose I could just leave them like that, but I prefer to use styles. I'll
just have to modify the export program from the database to use styles, but
that will require some thought.
 
The initial idea behind this, apparently, was to persuade users, even if
they wouldn't use styles, to at least use quasi-styles, or at least to make
it obvious that direct formatting had been applied to a style (gently
suggesting that creation of a new style might be in order). This does at
least make it a one-click option to reapply a constellation of formatting
(which we power users do with styles).

FWIW, I think a stronger education effort wrt styles might have been more
successful. At one time I was teaching a free "Introduction to Word" course
at our public library. The participants ranged from doddering seniors who
barely knew how to turn on a computer to sharp young people who came hoping
to learn something they didn't already know. What I offered attempted to
bridge the gap but left both extremes dissatisfied. But there was one
memorable aha! moment when I was discussing styles. A young woman who worked
in an office said, "You mean that if I define a style to have a certain font
and size and bold formatting and specific paragraph formatting, then I can
just apply that style instead of having to apply all those properties
separately?" I confirmed that this was the case. She was ecstatic.

In a similar instance when I was giving a Word workshop at a seminar for
writers, one writer (the president of the writers' group, who had engagedme
to give the workshop) brought to me a laminated sheet on which he had listed
all the steps he took to set up a document to meet the requirements for a
short story manuscript. He set different margins, line spacing, and I don't
know what all. He asked if I thought the settings he had chosen were
appropriate. I had some opinions about his margins, but mostly I pointed out
that he could do all these things once, save the result as a template, and
never have to go through the steps again. A revelation!

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USAhttp://word.mvps.org








The solution to my problem: in the Styles Pane Options, turn off all
"Select formatting to show as styles" boxes. I'm curious, though, why
& how Word stores all the permutations?- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Thanks, Suzanne, for that explanation. So it's MS' gentle nudge toward
their idea of conformity?

My only other question, and I suppose I'll be able to answer it when I
get back to work (not a problem on 2007 here at home), is will it
apply the basic style that I set up in my template and ignore all
those unwanted permutations?
 
When you apply a style, you always get the style you want to apply. The
point of showing the formatting is that you can also apply that by clicking
a button if you want to. I guess this at least insures consistency. The
advantage of a style is that, if you decide you want to change the
formatting, you can modify the style and all paragraphs in that style are
update. In the case of the formatting, you can Select All n Instances and
apply the change. My approach is to create or apply a style whenever I've
had to apply formatting for a similar function more than once or twice. For
example, if I need some spacing before a paragraph (following a table, say),
I may just press Ctrl+0, but if I see I'm going to run into that situation
frequently, I go ahead and define a Body Text Space Before style (this
actually happens in most of my documents, so I guess I really should save
that style to my templates).

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
http://word.mvps.org

The initial idea behind this, apparently, was to persuade users, even if
they wouldn't use styles, to at least use quasi-styles, or at least to
make
it obvious that direct formatting had been applied to a style (gently
suggesting that creation of a new style might be in order). This does at
least make it a one-click option to reapply a constellation of formatting
(which we power users do with styles).

FWIW, I think a stronger education effort wrt styles might have been more
successful. At one time I was teaching a free "Introduction to Word"
course
at our public library. The participants ranged from doddering seniors who
barely knew how to turn on a computer to sharp young people who came
hoping
to learn something they didn't already know. What I offered attempted to
bridge the gap but left both extremes dissatisfied. But there was one
memorable aha! moment when I was discussing styles. A young woman who
worked
in an office said, "You mean that if I define a style to have a certain
font
and size and bold formatting and specific paragraph formatting, then I can
just apply that style instead of having to apply all those properties
separately?" I confirmed that this was the case. She was ecstatic.

In a similar instance when I was giving a Word workshop at a seminar for
writers, one writer (the president of the writers' group, who had engaged
me
to give the workshop) brought to me a laminated sheet on which he had
listed
all the steps he took to set up a document to meet the requirements for a
short story manuscript. He set different margins, line spacing, and I
don't
know what all. He asked if I thought the settings he had chosen were
appropriate. I had some opinions about his margins, but mostly I pointed
out
that he could do all these things once, save the result as a template, and
never have to go through the steps again. A revelation!

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USAhttp://word.mvps.org








The solution to my problem: in the Styles Pane Options, turn off all
"Select formatting to show as styles" boxes. I'm curious, though, why
& how Word stores all the permutations?- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Thanks, Suzanne, for that explanation. So it's MS' gentle nudge toward
their idea of conformity?

My only other question, and I suppose I'll be able to answer it when I
get back to work (not a problem on 2007 here at home), is will it
apply the basic style that I set up in my template and ignore all
those unwanted permutations?
 
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