Word 2007: how do I customize sort order of Quick Styles gallery?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Jewel Style
  • Start date Start date
J

Jewel Style

If I alphabetize using the Styles window Options or Manage Style functions my
Styles window list follows those commands but the Quick Styles gallery
remains sorted in Recommended order. Thanks!
 
The Styles List & the QuickStyles Gallery are separate & independent
mechanisms. I don't know of any way to have the Gallery organized
differently than by its default groupings.

Happy Holidays |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac



On 12/25/08 1:29 PM, in article
(e-mail address removed), "Jewel Style" <Jewel
 
The sort order of styles displayed in the Quick Style gallery is determined
by the priority value assigned to the style. The priority value of the styles
is set in the Recommend tab of the Manage Styles dialog box

Therefore, to change the sort order in the gallery, change the priority
value of the style. Styles with the same priority value will be displayed in
alphabetical order.
 
Good Point!

I found that later but it still amounts to a PITA relative to what the
poster actually asked for - there is no simple "Sort A-Z" button :-)

The styles remain grouped based on the assigned value & are arranged alpha
within each group. To get the Gallery in pure alpha order every style would
have to be assigned the same value, right? And if I read it right the bottom
option for "All documents based on this template" would also have to be
selected for the order to hold the setting.

Regards |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac
 
To get the Gallery in pure alpha order every style would
have to be assigned the same value, right?
Unfortunately, you're right. This wreaks havoc with the Styles task pane,
Apply Styles task pane and the classic style gallery when only recommended
styles are selected for display and the sort order is set to As Recommended.
in the Style Pane Options dialog box.
And if I read it right the bottom
option for "All documents based on this template" would also have to be
selected for the order to hold the setting.
Yes, it does hold the settings for new document.

Despite these limitations, I find that I am using the Quick Style gallery
far more frequently, especially given its easy access from the Mini Toolbar.

Happy Holidays!

Aeneas
 
Actually, you can change the priority order fairly easily.

1. Go to the %APPDATA%\Microsoft\QuickStyles folder (or wherever you saved your QuickStyle template). Find the .dotx file that you want to change.
2. Using WinRAR or any archiving utility that recognizes zip files, open the dotx file and extract the contents (somewhere).
3. Within that extracted archive should be an XML file called styles.xml under the "word" directory. Upload that to an XML formatter of your choice. I just googled "Free Online XML Formatter" and found one. That will make it easier to read. Save the file from the XML formatter back to where you uploaded it from (or copy the output to your clipboard to paste into the styles.xml, replacing all the stuff that was already there).
4. Open it in notepad or any text editor, and look for a section that starts with "<w:latentStyles". Within that section you should see all the styles for that template. They'll look something like this:
<w:lsdException w:name="heading 1" w:semiHidden="0" w:uiPriority="9" w:unhideWhenUsed="0" w:qFormat="1" />
5. The priority numbers are shown in the "w:uiPriority" values. Change them to any order you want, or set them all to 0 if you want the styles to be sorted alphabetically.
6. If you want to backup your old dotx template, do that now.
7. Now make a new zip archive containing the same files and their directory structure and save it to your %APPDATA%\Microsoft\QuickStyles folder, making sure to change the extension from zip to dotx.

Done.
 
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