Next Paragraph Style Doesn't Work

[Heaviside]

When I use a given paragraph style which has the "following paragraph style"
defined, the following paragraph is not in the expected style---but is the
same as the one I have just used. (In other words, there is not change.)

I have gone to the "modify styles" dialog and unchecked the box which says
update automatically. I have chanaged the following paragraph to the desired
style, then gone back to the dialog box and used the "modify style," etc,
etc, but nothing works.

I have been using "full screen" mode a lot and a number of things don't work
there, but this problem seems to be whether I am in that mode or not.

Can anyone help?

Ollie

 

[Peter A]

When I use a given paragraph style which has the "following paragraph style"
defined, the following paragraph is not in the expected style---but is the
same as the one I have just used. (In other words, there is not change.)

I have gone to the "modify styles" dialog and unchecked the box which says
update automatically. I have chanaged the following paragraph to the desired
style, then gone back to the dialog box and used the "modify style," etc,
etc, but nothing works.

I have been using "full screen" mode a lot and a number of things don't work
there, but this problem seems to be whether I am in that mode or not.

Can anyone help?

Ollie

Setting "following paragraph style" works only when you get to the end
of the first para and then press Enter to create a new para (which will
be in the "following" style). It does not automatically change existing
paras to the specified "following" style.

 

[Klaus Linke]

Setting "following paragraph style" works only when you get to the
end of the first para and then press Enter to create a new para
(which will be in the "following" style). It does not automatically
change existing paras to the specified "following" style.

And if you want to have it in an existing document, you can accomplish it
pretty quickly with three replacements:

Say you want "Heading 1" always to be followed by "Body Text",
-- Search for ^p in "Heading 1", replace with ^&<BodyText>
-- Search for <BodyText>, replace with the "Body Text" style
-- Search for <BodyText>, replace with nothing.

Regards,
Klaus

 

[Heaviside]

--
Ollie

And if you want to have it in an existing document, you can accomplish it
pretty quickly with three replacements:

Say you want "Heading 1" always to be followed by "Body Text",
-- Search for ^p in "Heading 1", replace with ^&<BodyText>
-- Search for <BodyText>, replace with the "Body Text" style
-- Search for <BodyText>, replace with nothing.

Regards,
Klaus

Klaus,

Thanks a lot---but that is precisely the problem. When I hit "enter" the
paragraph style does not change. When I check the style, it is set so that
"next paragraph" is the appropriate one. It jus doesn't work.

Art

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

In a previous instance of this reported problem, when the user sent me the
problem document, it turned out that the style in question had been applied
as a character style, and the underlying paragraph style was Normal or
something else. The behavior when Enter was pressed therefore followed the
behavior defined for the underlying paragraph style. Try selecting the
paragraph and pressing Ctrl+Spacebar to remove any direct font formatting
(including character styles) and see if the style shown in the Style box is
still the paragraph style you were expecting. If it is, press Ctrl+Q.

Also, make sure that when you place the insertion point at the end of the
text, there are not spaces following it (display nonprinting characters so
you can see them). Unless you have the insertion point immediately before
the paragraph mark, the next style will not be applied; otherwise Word
considers that you are splitting the existing paragraph.

 

[Heaviside]

Suzanne,

Thanks so much for the help. The "command-spacebar" and "control Q" didn't
change the paragraph style, but showing the formatting symbols and placing
the cursor before the end of paragraph symbol worked like a charm.

I do appreciate your help.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

One more illustration of why displaying nonprinting characters can be a
valuable troubleshooting tool. I keep them on almost all the time to prevent
such problems (by avoiding having extra spaces at the ends of paragraphs,
paragraphs at the end of the document, etc.).

 

[Stefan Blom]

Note that the "Style for following paragraph" is only applied if you press
Enter at the end of the paragraph. If you press Enter elsewhere in a
paragraph, it is assumed that you are trying to split the existing paragraph
instead.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

And where this becomes important is that if you have one or more spaces at
the end of the paragraph and place your insertion point after the last word
and press Enter, you are in effect splitting the paragraph. Display
nonprinting characters so you can see any trailing spaces; then either
delete them or make sure to place the insertion point just before the
paragraph mark, after the spaces.

 

[Stefan Blom]

Having nonprinting marks displayed at all times is probably the best cure;
but not everybody wants that, since they find them distracting. For me, it's
the other way around: I feel lost without them.

For those who don't have the nonprinting marks displayed, using the End key
to make sure that the insertion point is really at the end of the line
(before pressing Enter) might be helpful.

--
Stefan Blom
Microsoft Word MVP


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