Character styles and super/subscripts

[Matthew Wedgwood]

I'm trying to define a character style based on a chemical formula I've
written in a document. It's in a specific font with a colored background. I
can create a style based on it, and everything looks ok, but when I apply it
to other formulas, the subscripts and superscripts are converted to normal
text.

In the style's details, under font settings, the superscript and subscript
checkboxes are checked and hashed out (in other words, they're not checked,
nor are they unchecked), which usually means that that particular option will
remain unaffected when the style is applied.

Is this a bug, or is there something I need to do to use character styles on
text with super/subscripts?

-MW

 

[Charles Kenyon]

Superscript and subscript are font formatting and will be picked up in a
character style.

Try taking a formula before you apply your formatting to it and recording a
macro setting that format. Then edit the macro to take out any unneeded or
problem settings. Not as easy or nice as a character style but it should
work.
--
Charles Kenyon

Word New User FAQ & Web Directory: http://addbalance.com/word

Intermediate User's Guide to Microsoft Word (supplemented version of
Microsoft's Legal Users' Guide) http://addbalance.com/usersguide


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[Matthew Wedgwood]

Thanks for the macro tip. I'll use it, but unfortunately if I want to change
the style of the reaction text, I have to do it at each individual place it
appears.

Perhaps the problem is that I'm misinterpreting the font setting dialog of
the style. There are four states that each checkbox can have:
(1) Checked
(2) Cleared
(3) Checked with dot-pattern overlay
(4) Checked but gray (disabled)

I (perhaps incorrectly) assumed that state (3) meant something along the
lines of "mixed" or "undefined," similar to Excel's behavior when adjusting
cells with different formats. I don't understand what state (3) is intended
to indicate. If a style setting is to be affected when the character style is
applied, it should be be indicated with state (1) or (2).

It's also confusing because if I create the style as a *paragraph* style, it
gets applied correctly (but to the whole paragraph). Also, if I apply the
character style and then *type* subscripts, word still recognizes the text as
having the unadulterated style (as opposed to things like font size changes,
which are reflected in the style field as "Stylename + 14pt" etc.).

If there's no fix, I'll just chalk it up to inconsistent design (or a bug)
and hope it gets addressed.

-MW