Keeping formatting and styles consistent when sharing documents

[GTS]

I’m copyediting and formatting a huge government document (in Word 2003) that
is authored and edited by government officials, consultants, sub-consultants
and other various and sundry personalities. Because it’s a government
document, it will go through dozens of revisions by many different people
(one chapter has had over 30 revisions).

Here’s my basic question: How do I keep track of all the styles and
formatting without losing my mind?

The original project team had approved a certain “look and feel†for the
document. I set up a custom template and styles to conform. But every time it
goes out for review, someone decides they want a different font, size,
format, (whatever) and changes it. Some of the people changing formatting
know a little about styles and change the style formatting. Some (sometimes
high-level executives) will play with fonts and formatting until they get
something they like. Sometimes, someone decides to copy and paste from one of
their own documents, bringing in more styles, which they then apply their own
creative formatting to get the text to look like a style that already exists.

When I finally get the document back after it’s been around the block, I
look at the styles and want to cry. I have mystyle + bold, mystyle + bold +
italics, mystyle + bold + italics + green, mystyle + arial + bold + italics +
green, hisstyle, histyle+arial, etc. ) I don’t know how to keep control of
the document when there are so many people reviewing it between the time I do
the initial formatting and the time it comes back to me.

I’m not part of the main project team – I’m just responsible for making the
document clean when it’s finally delivered. So I can’t really control how the
review process goes, or how people deal with changes.

Any ideas on how I can clean up the mess and/or keep control of the document?

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Ignore the problems until you have the document ready for final delivery and
then go through and reapply the correct styles (yours). Believe me, I do
sympathize even though I've experienced this only going back and forth with
a single client, and that's bad enough. There is just no limit to the havoc
that can be wreaked by people who don't know how to use styles in Word (but
think they know how to use Word), and I have to confess that sometimes I'm
confused by the styles in some of my own documents when I open them up again
after a long interval.

The simpler you try to make the process by making the styles "easy to use,"
the more complexity you actually introduce, I find. Unless you can lock the
document down so that no one can use any styles but the ones you permit (and
I doubt that you can do that), there's really nothing you can do but just
wait and "fix" it all at once.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
http://word.mvps.org

 

[Mike]

I’m copyediting and formatting a huge government document (in Word 2003) that
is authored and edited by government officials, consultants, sub-consultants
and other various and sundry personalities. Because it’s a government
document, it will go through dozens of revisions by many different people
(one chapter has had over 30 revisions).

Here’s my basic question: How do I keep track of all the styles and
formatting without losing my mind?

The original project team had approved a certain “look and feel” for the
document. I set up a custom template and styles to conform. But every time it
goes out for review, someone decides they want a different font, size,
format, (whatever) and changes it. Some of the people changing formatting
know a little about styles and change the style formatting. Some (sometimes
high-level executives) will play with fonts and formatting until they get
something they like. Sometimes, someone decides to copy and paste from one of
their own documents, bringing in more styles, which they then apply theirown
creative formatting to get the text to look like a style that already exists.

When I finally get the document back after it’s been around the block, I
look at the styles and want to cry. I have mystyle + bold, mystyle + bold+
italics, mystyle + bold + italics + green, mystyle + arial + bold + italics +
green, hisstyle, histyle+arial, etc. ) I don’t know how to keep controlof
the document when there are so many people reviewing it between the time I do
the initial formatting and the time it comes back to me.

I’m not part of the main project team – I’m just responsible for making the
document clean when it’s finally delivered. So I can’t really controlhow the
review process goes, or how people deal with changes.

Any ideas on how I can clean up the mess and/or keep control of the document?

Try doing this. Your message leads me to believe your "Keep Track of
Formatting" option may be on.

Close the problem document.

Open a new blank document.

Click on Tools, then Options.

Click the Edit tab.

Look for the Keep Track of Formatting option. If there is a check
mark on it, click it to remove the check mark. Click OK.

Now go and open the problem document and look at your Styles list....
did the list get much shorter? If so this was the cause. If not,
then that wasn't the problem.

Mike

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

You don't have to close the document and reopen it to see the effect of
disabling "Keep track of formatting," but this is not really the issue;
turning that off just disguises the problem, which is still there.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
http://word.mvps.org

I’m copyediting and formatting a huge government document (in Word 2003)
that
is authored and edited by government officials, consultants,
sub-consultants
and other various and sundry personalities. Because it’s a government
document, it will go through dozens of revisions by many different people
(one chapter has had over 30 revisions).

Here’s my basic question: How do I keep track of all the styles and
formatting without losing my mind?

The original project team had approved a certain “look and feel” for the
document. I set up a custom template and styles to conform. But every time
it
goes out for review, someone decides they want a different font, size,
format, (whatever) and changes it. Some of the people changing formatting
know a little about styles and change the style formatting. Some
(sometimes
high-level executives) will play with fonts and formatting until they get
something they like. Sometimes, someone decides to copy and paste from one
of
their own documents, bringing in more styles, which they then apply their
own
creative formatting to get the text to look like a style that already
exists.

When I finally get the document back after it’s been around the block, I
look at the styles and want to cry. I have mystyle + bold, mystyle + bold
+
italics, mystyle + bold + italics + green, mystyle + arial + bold +
italics +
green, hisstyle, histyle+arial, etc. ) I don’t know how to keep control of
the document when there are so many people reviewing it between the time I
do
the initial formatting and the time it comes back to me.

I’m not part of the main project team – I’m just responsible for making
the
document clean when it’s finally delivered. So I can’t really control how
the
review process goes, or how people deal with changes.

Any ideas on how I can clean up the mess and/or keep control of the
document?

Try doing this. Your message leads me to believe your "Keep Track of
Formatting" option may be on.

Close the problem document.

Open a new blank document.

Click on Tools, then Options.

Click the Edit tab.

Look for the Keep Track of Formatting option. If there is a check
mark on it, click it to remove the check mark. Click OK.

Now go and open the problem document and look at your Styles list....
did the list get much shorter? If so this was the cause. If not,
then that wasn't the problem.

Mike

 

[GTS]

Thank you so much! I had resigned myself to doing it all at the end, but I
wanted to check it out with some more experienced formatters to see if there
was another way.

Wish me luck!
--
GTS

Ignore the problems until you have the document ready for final delivery and
then go through and reapply the correct styles (yours). Believe me, I do
sympathize even though I've experienced this only going back and forth with
a single client, and that's bad enough. There is just no limit to the havoc
that can be wreaked by people who don't know how to use styles in Word (but
think they know how to use Word), and I have to confess that sometimes I'm
confused by the styles in some of my own documents when I open them up again
after a long interval.

The simpler you try to make the process by making the styles "easy to use,"
the more complexity you actually introduce, I find. Unless you can lock the
document down so that no one can use any styles but the ones you permit (and
I doubt that you can do that), there's really nothing you can do but just
wait and "fix" it all at once.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
http://word.mvps.org

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Good luck! FWIW, I perfectly understand the urge to keep fixing everything
you see (and I'd probably end up doing it), but if you do this you can
certainly be confident that you'll be doing it again later!

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
http://word.mvps.org

Thank you so much! I had resigned myself to doing it all at the end, but I
wanted to check it out with some more experienced formatters to see if
there
was another way.

Wish me luck!

 

[GTS]

Yes, I have been chasing that puppy down the sidewalk for a while.

One more thing -- When I go back to do the final sweep, what's the best way
to approach it--
1. Go through the styles and delete all the extraneous ones, and then apply
my styles to the paragraphs that fall apart?
2. Go paragraph-by-paragraph applying the proper styles, and then ask Word
to delete all the unused styles?
3. Go paragraph-by-paragraph applying the proper styles and then turn off
the Keep Track of Formatting option?
4. Another, better approach that I haven't thought of?

Thanks again.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Any or all of the above (or below). Here's what I do with manuscripts I get
for the first time. If hard copy has not been provided, I will usually print
out the document I was sent so that I have a visual reference. I then make a
copy of the original file and apply my base style (Body Text, say, or Body
Text First Indent--whichever will be the dominant style in the book) to the
entire document. I remove any section breaks. Then I insert the file into a
new document based on the template I intend to use. Then I go through
applying the non-Body Text styles as needed (creating new styles as required
for special formatting). Then I do the copy editing before applying myself
to the final formatting. A lot depends of the specific book/manuscript,
however.

In your case, a lot of this work will already have been done, and you don't
necessarily want to blow it away. Probably your best bet is to attach or
reattach your template, apply the appropriate styles as required, and then
paste the whole shebang into a new document based on your template, thus
leaving the unused ("user-defined") styles behind.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
http://word.mvps.org