Word 2007 Linked Styles

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I am trying to create a new style - not a quick style - and would like to
know what a Style Type of "Linked (paragraph and character)" is and why I
would want to use it.

If anyone has a clue, I would really appreciate the info.
 
Yes. The only thing I can find in Help is how to create a QuickStyle which
is basically creating a style by example. It does not give any info about the
Properties section of the New Style dialog box.
 
They're a new kind of style that was introduced in Word2002, and that can be
applied as a paragraph style (to a whole paragraph) or as a character style
(to part of a paragraph).
Basically, they are a big PITA, since one of them can be applied on top of
another, and the interface won't give you much of a clue (... you'd have to
go to the Style Inspector).

I know of no good reason why you would want to use them on purpose. From
what I heard, many users didn't get the concept of paragraph styles and
character styles, so Microsoft wanted to "simplify" things.

In Word2002/2003, Word created them automatically if you applied some
paragraph style to part of a paragraph.
In Word2007, many built-in style are linked styles out-of-the-box.
Also, in Word2002/2003, it was still possible to get rid of them with a bit
of VBA, whereas I've given up on trying that in 2007.
On the positive side, with the check box at the bottom of the styles pane
you now can at least keep Word from creating new ones on its own.

Regards,
Klaus
 
Klaus Linke said:
They're a new kind of style that was introduced in Word2002, and that can
be applied as a paragraph style (to a whole paragraph) or as a character
style (to part of a paragraph).
Basically, they are a big PITA, since one of them can be applied on top of
another, and the interface won't give you much of a clue (... you'd have
to go to the Style Inspector).
Click to expand...

I agree, the automatic linked "char" styles were a pain but I don't have a
problem determining which style is applied in Word 2007. Since they are now
a specific file type they are handled differently in the UI - it's really no
different than using a character style on top of a paragraph style as you've
always been able to do. Plus, I guess I don't see a problem with using the
Style Inspector if need be - it's part of the UI and that's why it was
designed. I think it's a pretty cool utility. :-)
I know of no good reason why you would want to use them on purpose. From
what I heard, many users didn't get the concept of paragraph styles and
character styles, so Microsoft wanted to "simplify" things.
Click to expand...

You're right, it did have to do with simplicity, but it was simplifying the
previous need to create two different styles for the same formats. There are
occasions in which one does want to use the character formats of a style
only and others in which they want to use both the paragraph and character
formats. For example, I may want the same font formatting to be applied to
all quotes in a document but if the quote is in its own paragraph then I
also want to include indents for the paragraph. Why should I need to create
a Quote character style and a Quote paragraph style? Why not have a style
type that can do both? Makes modifying them easier too - you only have to
change one.
In Word2002/2003, Word created them automatically if you applied some
paragraph style to part of a paragraph.
Click to expand...

I think this is where they went wrong - they should have started with the
linked style type in the first place and not tried doing it automatically
without giving the user much control over things. I suspect if they started
with how they are handled now, specific style type and control over
enabling/disabling them, then folks would like them better. :-)

Please post all follow-up questions to the newsgroup. Requests for
assistance by email can not be acknowledged.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Beth Melton
Microsoft Office MVP

Co-author of Word 2007 Inside Out:
http://www.microsoft.com/MSPress/books/9801.aspx#AboutTheBook

Word FAQ: http://mvps.org/word
TechTrax eZine: http://mousetrax.com/techtrax/
MVP FAQ site: http://mvps.org/
 
I agree, the automatic linked "char" styles were a pain but I don't have a
problem determining which style is applied in Word 2007. Since they are
now a specific file type they are handled differently in the UI - it's
really no different than using a character style on top of a paragraph
style as you've always been able to do.
Click to expand...

If Word shows "Body Text" in the styles pane, it could be...
-- a Body Text paragraph with no font formatting (Default Paragraph Font),
-- a Body Text paragraph with Body Text applied on top,
-- any other paragraph style with Body Text applied on top.

There are some rules about whether Word will show the character style or the
paragraph style (can't test now), depending on your selection (IP, some
text, whole paragraph, more than one paragraph), but they are complex and
don't help that much.
Plus, I guess I don't see a problem with using the Style Inspector if need
be - it's part of the UI and that's why it was designed. I think it's a
pretty cool utility. :-)
Click to expand...

It should not be necessary. It's a clumsy work-around to solve a problem
caused by bad design.

[...] For example, I may want the same font formatting to be applied to
all quotes in a document but if the quote is in its own paragraph then I
also want to include indents for the paragraph. Why should I need to
create a Quote character style and a Quote paragraph style? Why not have a
style type that can do both? Makes modifying them easier too - you only
have to change one.
Click to expand...

It's a scenario I have never encountered.
IMO, paragraph styles and character styles should have been separated into
two different style controls from the start, or later separated by a divider
in the styles pane.
Mixing them in the same control confused users. And the solution to that
confusion was to mix them even more.

:-( Klaus
 
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