copy styles to another doc using organizer

[Diana]

I'm copying styles from one document to another. The
styles have outline numbering assigned to them.

Why doesn't the exact tab/indent spacing/positioning for
each outlined style and the text that follows, get copied
over. I spent a lot of time setting it up, so that it
could be easily transferred and applied to subsequent
documents. It all works fine in the original document.

I'm mystified on why this information isn't transferring
over in its entirety.
Diana

 

[Margaret Aldis]

Hi Diana

The Organizer doesn't work well, if at all, for numbered styles.

If you've set the styles up as explained in
http://www.shaunakelly.com/word/numbering/OutlineNumbering.html
(note that tabs and indents must be set in the numbering, not in the
Paragraph settings), then you *may* find that doing the copy three times
works for you.

However, a better approach is to store the styles in a template. Use the
template to create new documents (they then start off with the right
styles). If you want to apply the styles to an existing document, use Tools

Templates and Add-ins to attach the document to the template. Check the

box for 'Automatically update styles' to bring the styles into the document.
Then open the dialog again and uncheck the 'Automatically update' box.
(Otherwise, Word will attempt to update every time the document opens -
there is no Undo and if you send the document elsewhere the effects are
unpredictable.)

 

[Diana]

Thanks for the response Margaret,

The problem I'm running into is that, although I can
create a template, I'm not sure how to get others to
access it in a network environment without messing the
default location to where they usually find templates. If
it was just for me ... I'd have done it that way from the
get-go.

Perhaps there's an easy way (that I don't know about) to
access a template over a network. I was hoping that the
organizer would copy over everything, but as you say, it
doesn't do it very well with numbered (outline) styles.
I'm quite comfortable in working with styles and outlines
(although I wish it behaved differently - it's not an
efficient process and changing styles mid-way, as you
know, causes nightmares).

Thanks. Diana

-----Original Message-----
Hi Diana

The Organizer doesn't work well, if at all, for numbered styles.

If you've set the styles up as explained in
http://www.shaunakelly.com/word/numbering/OutlineNumbering ..html
(note that tabs and indents must be set in the numbering,

not in the Paragraph settings), then you *may* find that
doing the copy three times

works for you.

However, a better approach is to store the styles in a

template. Use the template to create new documents (they
then start off with the right styles). If you want to
apply the styles to an existing document, use Toolstemplate. Check the box for 'Automatically update styles'
to bring the styles into the document.

Then open the dialog again and uncheck the 'Automatically
update' box. (Otherwise, Word will attempt to update
every time the document opens - there is no Undo and if
you send the document elsewhere the effects are
unpredictable.)

 

[Margaret Aldis]

Hi Diana

Well - you can attach a document to any template, wherever it is located.
But it's true there are some possible downsides to leaving documents
attached to non-default paths like that, especially across a network.

My preferred solution would normally be to copy templates to the workgroup
templates directory on every machine - is that not an option for you?

You could provide a macro to attach and update styles from any particular
template, and reattach to the original template afterwards, but then of
course you still have to distribute the add-in with the macro in it, so if
getting stuff onto users machines is the issue that doesn't get you any
further forward.

How were you getting users to use the Organizer and locate the document
containing the styles anyway? Whatever level of access/distribution and
instruction/automation you had in mind there should be equally adaptable to
the template approach, surely?