Changing the default color of basic shapes

[Szabo, Ronald J]

Is there any way to change the default color of the basic lines and
shapes from the default blue to basic black???

Thanks

Ron

 

[CyberTaz]

Hi Ron -

Not directly on a global basis, but once you format one in a document you
can Control/Right+Click it & set as the default for the document.

You can also add formatted shapes to the Scrapbook.

HTH |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

 

[MacFan]

That's a bummer. Any reason why they chose that awful blue as the
default??

Ron

 

[CyberTaz]

Wellll, if you hate it that much Open your Normal.dotm template, create
a shape, format it as you prefer, then set as default per my previous reply.
Delete the shape, save & close Normal.dotm - your future AutoShapes will be
as you set the default.

As to why the blue? Most likely because market research found it to be
soothing ;-)

Regards |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

 

[Szabo, Ronald J]

Thanks Bob, It worked, well almost. The Normal.dotm file saved all
the parameters except for the fill. I still get the blue gradient.

Any thoughts?


Ron

 

[CyberTaz]

Hi Ron -

I don't know what to suggest - when I tried It I'd set the fill to an orange
color & that's how it continued to work from then on. Maybe try again?

Regards |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

 

[MacFan]

I tried it on two separate machines and I still get the gradient. The
fill on the gradient changes to the color I want, but I want to fill
with a solid color!! I seem to have a similar glitch with removing the
shadow. It comes back.

ROn

 

[CyberTaz]

How are you changing the fill color? What works for me is:

Create a shape in Normal.dotm
Dbl+Click it (Format AutoShape)
Open the Fill Color List
Pick one of the solids from the palette or one of the More Colors pickers
Control/Right+Click the shape > Set AutoShape Defaults
Delete the shape
Save Normal.dotm
Close Normal.dotm

When I then create a new document & draw a shape it has the same
color/border as saved in Normal.dotm regardless of what colors I used. If
you're doing basically the same process I don't see why it shouldn't hold
for you unless there's a problem with your Normal template.

If the above doesn't work out, try quitting all Office apps, drag
Normal.dotm to the Desktop (or anywhere other than where it's supposed to be
as long as you remember where it is), then launch Word so it will create a
new one. Try making the changes in it & see if it works better. If so it
suggests that the original Normal.dotm has a problem.

As far as the shadow - I have no idea how to remove it & it seems I heard
somewhere along the line that it *can't* be removed :-( However, what I've
done is to add the Shadow Color button to my Drawing Toolbar so I can at
least change the color of the shadow to match the background. Still a PITA
if the shape you want un-shadowed spans a multicolor background since there
is no option in the Shadow Color choices for No Fill or None.

HTH |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

 

[Szabo, Ronald J]

Bob

I really appreciate you taking all this time trying to assist me. I am
following your instructions to the letter and am still having little
success. The olly thing I am doing differently is in the opening and
saving of the Normal.dotm file. I get the following

First when I open the Normal.dotm file from User,library,application
support,Microsoft,Office User templates it comes in as Document 1. I
figured that that was normal.

I follow your procedure
Create a shape in Normal.dotm

Dbl+Click it (Format AutoShape)
Open the Fill Color List
Pick one of the solids from the palette or one of the More Colors pickers
Control/Right+Click the shape > Set AutoShape Defaults
Delete the shape
Save Normal.dotm

Then go to save, Change document 1 to Normal and select Word-Macro
Enabled template from the FORMAT drop-down menu and the computer wants
to put this into the My Templates folder NOT the User Templates folder.
If I switch this I get "Word cannot give a document the same name as an
open document. Type a different name for the document you want to save
(Normal.dotm). (Now my open document is called document and the
document I want to save is called Normal.dotm. How are they the same
name??

Anyway I change the name to Normal1.dotm and save. Then I go in ,
Trash Normal.dotm and rename Normal1 to Normal.

Then I quit Word and reopen it. When I draw the figure I get all the
changes EXCEPT the gradient is still on. (Also the shadow.)

Can you see what I am doing incorrectly

Again Thanks for sticking with me on this.

Ron

 

[CyberTaz]

OK - I see where your problem is... Twofold, I think.

If you're navigating to the folder in a Finder window & dbl-clicking it you
are *not* opening Normal.dotm - you're just creating a new blank doc based
on it, which is why the title bar reads as Document1. You must use File>
Open to open the [any] template itself.

That will resolve the second problem which is that you can't save a file to
overwrite Normal.dotm and just changing the name won't cut it either.

Remove any current Normal.dotm while no Office apps are running, then launch
Word & let it create a new one. Use file> Open to open it, make & save your
changes, then close the file. Make a new blank doc & see how it works then.

HTH |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

 

[MacFan]

Sorry to report but no luck either method.

By using Open then Normal.dotm I was able to do the change and save the
file. But when I quit Word and reopened it I still had the gradiant
not the solid fill.

As for the other method of trashing the Normal.dotm file first Word
Opens up but does not create a Normal.dotm file until after you save
the document1 file. I still get that error messaage that I can't use
the same name, etc

This is very frustrating, especially since you said that you were
successful.

The only solutions I have found is 1) use the format painter and 2)
Place a copy in the scrapbook. BUT I will keep on trying as long as
you hang in there.

Maybe if I change the topic the problem will resolve itself. So here
it goes. In older versions of Word if you took a clipping from the
clip art collection you could select ungroup and take out unwanted
pieces or change the fill of the individual parts. This does not seem
to work in 2008, although the graphic collection appears to be the
same. Any thoughts on that?? I liked the ability to customize the
clip art collection!!

Thanks again

ROn Szabo
(e-mail address removed)

OK - I see where your problem is... Twofold, I think.

If you're navigating to the folder in a Finder window & dbl-clicking it you
are *not* opening Normal.dotm - you're just creating a new blank doc based
on it, which is why the title bar reads as Document1. You must use File>
Open to open the [any] template itself.

That will resolve the second problem which is that you can't save a file to
overwrite Normal.dotm and just changing the name won't cut it either.

Remove any current Normal.dotm while no Office apps are running, then launch
Word & let it create a new one. Use file> Open to open it, make & save your
changes, then close the file. Make a new blank doc & see how it works then.

HTH |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

Bob

I really appreciate you taking all this time trying to assist me. I am
following your instructions to the letter and am still having little
success. The olly thing I am doing differently is in the opening and
saving of the Normal.dotm file. I get the following

First when I open the Normal.dotm file from User,library,application
support,Microsoft,Office User templates it comes in as Document 1. I
figured that that was normal.

I follow your procedure
Create a shape in Normal.dotm

Then go to save, Change document 1 to Normal and select Word-Macro
Enabled template from the FORMAT drop-down menu and the computer wants
to put this into the My Templates folder NOT the User Templates folder.
If I switch this I get "Word cannot give a document the same name as an
open document. Type a different name for the document you want to save
(Normal.dotm). (Now my open document is called document and the
document I want to save is called Normal.dotm. How are they the same
name??

Anyway I change the name to Normal1.dotm and save. Then I go in ,
Trash Normal.dotm and rename Normal1 to Normal.

Then I quit Word and reopen it. When I draw the figure I get all the
changes EXCEPT the gradient is still on. (Also the shadow.)

Can you see what I am doing incorrectly

Again Thanks for sticking with me on this.

Ron

 

[CyberTaz]

Well if it's any consolation I've determined that what you're finding is to
be expected after all. It appears that there is something that resets the
gradient fill whenever you re-launch Word - as long as the program's running
the complete set of formatting holds. On re-launching the fill turns into a
gradient based on the color selected & saved combined with the omnipresent
blue... Evidently you can't eliminate the shadow either. Bummer!

Sorry to have given you false hopes, but I could have sworn we had made some
progress. Rest assured that I will make a point of the limitation - although
it may already be on a list to be changed. It may fall under the umbrella of
customization features that didn't make it to the Mac version this trip.

As to your Clip Art question: I'm afraid I can't even pretend to offer any
good news there. As I understand it the bitmap editor was excluded from 2008
based on an Apple indicator that OS X was deprecating the technology. Right
or wrong the bitmap editor is gone. There has been a lot of displeasure
about that so if you want to add your voice on any issue don't hesitate to
use Help> Send Feedback to make your preferences known. It's best to submit
each point as a separate message on its own merits.

Regards |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

Sorry to report but no luck either method.

By using Open then Normal.dotm I was able to do the change and save the
file. But when I quit Word and reopened it I still had the gradiant
not the solid fill.

As for the other method of trashing the Normal.dotm file first Word
Opens up but does not create a Normal.dotm file until after you save
the document1 file. I still get that error messaage that I can't use
the same name, etc

This is very frustrating, especially since you said that you were
successful.

The only solutions I have found is 1) use the format painter and 2)
Place a copy in the scrapbook. BUT I will keep on trying as long as
you hang in there.

Maybe if I change the topic the problem will resolve itself. So here
it goes. In older versions of Word if you took a clipping from the
clip art collection you could select ungroup and take out unwanted
pieces or change the fill of the individual parts. This does not seem
to work in 2008, although the graphic collection appears to be the
same. Any thoughts on that?? I liked the ability to customize the
clip art collection!!

Thanks again

ROn Szabo
(e-mail address removed)

OK - I see where your problem is... Twofold, I think.

If you're navigating to the folder in a Finder window & dbl-clicking it you
are *not* opening Normal.dotm - you're just creating a new blank doc based
on it, which is why the title bar reads as Document1. You must use File>
Open to open the [any] template itself.

That will resolve the second problem which is that you can't save a file to
overwrite Normal.dotm and just changing the name won't cut it either.

Remove any current Normal.dotm while no Office apps are running, then launch
Word & let it create a new one. Use file> Open to open it, make & save your
changes, then close the file. Make a new blank doc & see how it works then.

HTH |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

Bob

I really appreciate you taking all this time trying to assist me. I am
following your instructions to the letter and am still having little
success. The olly thing I am doing differently is in the opening and
saving of the Normal.dotm file. I get the following

First when I open the Normal.dotm file from User,library,application
support,Microsoft,Office User templates it comes in as Document 1. I
figured that that was normal.

I follow your procedure
Create a shape in Normal.dotm
Dbl+Click it (Format AutoShape)
Open the Fill Color List
Pick one of the solids from the palette or one of the More Colors pickers
Control/Right+Click the shape > Set AutoShape Defaults
Delete the shape
Save Normal.dotm

Then go to save, Change document 1 to Normal and select Word-Macro
Enabled template from the FORMAT drop-down menu and the computer wants
to put this into the My Templates folder NOT the User Templates folder.
If I switch this I get "Word cannot give a document the same name as an
open document. Type a different name for the document you want to save
(Normal.dotm). (Now my open document is called document and the
document I want to save is called Normal.dotm. How are they the same
name??

Anyway I change the name to Normal1.dotm and save. Then I go in ,
Trash Normal.dotm and rename Normal1 to Normal.

Then I quit Word and reopen it. When I draw the figure I get all the
changes EXCEPT the gradient is still on. (Also the shadow.)

Can you see what I am doing incorrectly

Again Thanks for sticking with me on this.

Ron



How are you changing the fill color? What works for me is:

Create a shape in Normal.dotm
Dbl+Click it (Format AutoShape)
Open the Fill Color List
Pick one of the solids from the palette or one of the More Colors pickers
Control/Right+Click the shape > Set AutoShape Defaults
Delete the shape
Save Normal.dotm
Close Normal.dotm

When I then create a new document & draw a shape it has the same
color/border as saved in Normal.dotm regardless of what colors I used. If
you're doing basically the same process I don't see why it shouldn't hold
for you unless there's a problem with your Normal template.

If the above doesn't work out, try quitting all Office apps, drag
Normal.dotm to the Desktop (or anywhere other than where it's supposed to
be
as long as you remember where it is), then launch Word so it will create a
new one. Try making the changes in it & see if it works better. If so it
suggests that the original Normal.dotm has a problem.

As far as the shadow - I have no idea how to remove it & it seems I heard
somewhere along the line that it *can't* be removed :-( However, what I've
done is to add the Shadow Color button to my Drawing Toolbar so I can at
least change the color of the shadow to match the background. Still a PITA
if the shape you want un-shadowed spans a multicolor background since there
is no option in the Shadow Color choices for No Fill or None.

HTH |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac



On 7/24/08 4:28 PM, in article 240720081628109667%[email protected],

I tried it on two separate machines and I still get the gradient. The
fill on the gradient changes to the color I want, but I want to fill
with a solid color!! I seem to have a similar glitch with removing the
shadow. It comes back.

ROn

Hi Ron -

I don't know what to suggest - when I tried It I'd set the fill to an
orange
color & that's how it continued to work from then on. Maybe try again?

Regards |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac



On 7/22/08 11:21 AM, in article 220720081121398725%[email protected],
"Szabo,

Thanks Bob, It worked, well almost. The Normal.dotm file saved all
the parameters except for the fill. I still get the blue gradient.

Any thoughts?


Ron



That's a bummer. Any reason why they chose that awful blue as the
default??

Ron

Hi Ron -

Not directly on a global basis, but once you format one in a document
you
can Control/Right+Click it & set as the default for the document.

You can also add formatted shapes to the Scrapbook.

HTH |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac


On 7/21/08 11:56 AM, in article 210720081156239885%[email protected],
"Szabo,

Is there any way to change the default color of the basic lines and
shapes from the default blue to basic black???

Thanks

Ron

 

[MacFan]

Thanks for following up so many times on this point. At least I know
now that I am not crazy, well at least totally crazy!!!!

I will put in a 'complaint' to Microsoft. Hopefully it will do some
good.

Hope we have an opportunity to chat again in the future. Any many
thanks again.

Ron

Well if it's any consolation I've determined that what you're finding is to
be expected after all. It appears that there is something that resets the
gradient fill whenever you re-launch Word - as long as the program's running
the complete set of formatting holds. On re-launching the fill turns into a
gradient based on the color selected & saved combined with the omnipresent
blue... Evidently you can't eliminate the shadow either. Bummer!

Sorry to have given you false hopes, but I could have sworn we had made some
progress. Rest assured that I will make a point of the limitation - although
it may already be on a list to be changed. It may fall under the umbrella of
customization features that didn't make it to the Mac version this trip.

As to your Clip Art question: I'm afraid I can't even pretend to offer any
good news there. As I understand it the bitmap editor was excluded from 2008
based on an Apple indicator that OS X was deprecating the technology. Right
or wrong the bitmap editor is gone. There has been a lot of displeasure
about that so if you want to add your voice on any issue don't hesitate to
use Help> Send Feedback to make your preferences known. It's best to submit
each point as a separate message on its own merits.

Regards |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

Sorry to report but no luck either method.

By using Open then Normal.dotm I was able to do the change and save the
file. But when I quit Word and reopened it I still had the gradiant
not the solid fill.

As for the other method of trashing the Normal.dotm file first Word
Opens up but does not create a Normal.dotm file until after you save
the document1 file. I still get that error messaage that I can't use
the same name, etc

This is very frustrating, especially since you said that you were
successful.

The only solutions I have found is 1) use the format painter and 2)
Place a copy in the scrapbook. BUT I will keep on trying as long as
you hang in there.

Maybe if I change the topic the problem will resolve itself. So here
it goes. In older versions of Word if you took a clipping from the
clip art collection you could select ungroup and take out unwanted
pieces or change the fill of the individual parts. This does not seem
to work in 2008, although the graphic collection appears to be the
same. Any thoughts on that?? I liked the ability to customize the
clip art collection!!

Thanks again

ROn Szabo
(e-mail address removed)

OK - I see where your problem is... Twofold, I think.

If you're navigating to the folder in a Finder window & dbl-clicking it you
are *not* opening Normal.dotm - you're just creating a new blank doc based
on it, which is why the title bar reads as Document1. You must use File>
Open to open the [any] template itself.

That will resolve the second problem which is that you can't save a file to
overwrite Normal.dotm and just changing the name won't cut it either.

Remove any current Normal.dotm while no Office apps are running, then
launch
Word & let it create a new one. Use file> Open to open it, make & save your
changes, then close the file. Make a new blank doc & see how it works then.

HTH |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac



On 7/25/08 8:25 AM, in article 250720080825577561%[email protected], "Szabo,

Bob

I really appreciate you taking all this time trying to assist me. I am
following your instructions to the letter and am still having little
success. The olly thing I am doing differently is in the opening and
saving of the Normal.dotm file. I get the following

First when I open the Normal.dotm file from User,library,application
support,Microsoft,Office User templates it comes in as Document 1. I
figured that that was normal.

I follow your procedure
Create a shape in Normal.dotm
Dbl+Click it (Format AutoShape)
Open the Fill Color List
Pick one of the solids from the palette or one of the More Colors pickers
Control/Right+Click the shape > Set AutoShape Defaults
Delete the shape
Save Normal.dotm

Then go to save, Change document 1 to Normal and select Word-Macro
Enabled template from the FORMAT drop-down menu and the computer wants
to put this into the My Templates folder NOT the User Templates folder.
If I switch this I get "Word cannot give a document the same name as an
open document. Type a different name for the document you want to save
(Normal.dotm). (Now my open document is called document and the
document I want to save is called Normal.dotm. How are they the same
name??

Anyway I change the name to Normal1.dotm and save. Then I go in ,
Trash Normal.dotm and rename Normal1 to Normal.

Then I quit Word and reopen it. When I draw the figure I get all the
changes EXCEPT the gradient is still on. (Also the shadow.)

Can you see what I am doing incorrectly

Again Thanks for sticking with me on this.

Ron



How are you changing the fill color? What works for me is:

Create a shape in Normal.dotm
Dbl+Click it (Format AutoShape)
Open the Fill Color List
Pick one of the solids from the palette or one of the More Colors pickers
Control/Right+Click the shape > Set AutoShape Defaults
Delete the shape
Save Normal.dotm
Close Normal.dotm

When I then create a new document & draw a shape it has the same
color/border as saved in Normal.dotm regardless of what colors I used. If
you're doing basically the same process I don't see why it shouldn't hold
for you unless there's a problem with your Normal template.

If the above doesn't work out, try quitting all Office apps, drag
Normal.dotm to the Desktop (or anywhere other than where it's supposed to
be
as long as you remember where it is), then launch Word so it will create
a
new one. Try making the changes in it & see if it works better. If so it
suggests that the original Normal.dotm has a problem.

As far as the shadow - I have no idea how to remove it & it seems I heard
somewhere along the line that it *can't* be removed :-( However, what
I've
done is to add the Shadow Color button to my Drawing Toolbar so I can at
least change the color of the shadow to match the background. Still a
PITA
if the shape you want un-shadowed spans a multicolor background since
there
is no option in the Shadow Color choices for No Fill or None.

HTH |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac



On 7/24/08 4:28 PM, in article 240720081628109667%[email protected],

I tried it on two separate machines and I still get the gradient. The
fill on the gradient changes to the color I want, but I want to fill
with a solid color!! I seem to have a similar glitch with removing the
shadow. It comes back.

ROn

Hi Ron -

I don't know what to suggest - when I tried It I'd set the fill to an
orange
color & that's how it continued to work from then on. Maybe try again?

Regards |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac



On 7/22/08 11:21 AM, in article 220720081121398725%[email protected],
"Szabo,

Thanks Bob, It worked, well almost. The Normal.dotm file saved all
the parameters except for the fill. I still get the blue gradient.

Any thoughts?


Ron



That's a bummer. Any reason why they chose that awful blue as the
default??

Ron

Hi Ron -

Not directly on a global basis, but once you format one in a
document
you
can Control/Right+Click it & set as the default for the document.

You can also add formatted shapes to the Scrapbook.

HTH |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac


On 7/21/08 11:56 AM, in article 210720081156239885%[email protected],
"Szabo,

Is there any way to change the default color of the basic lines and
shapes from the default blue to basic black???

Thanks

Ron