Problems with Word 2003

[Chloe]

Please advise in the following situation.

I am using Word 2003. I have some documents that where
created in Word 97 and Word 2000. Those documents are
suppose to follow a macro that opens a master document
which specifies the styles and format all my documents
have to follow.

Since I upgrade to Word 2003, all my documents have lost
their format. I have tried to reformat them manually but
they are long documents and I have many of them.

I look forward for some help to recover my styles and
format in my documents. Thanks!

 

[Dayo Mitchell]

If the macro is failing you might want to post in a group with VBA in the
name, and see if there is an error in your code.

But, why do you have a macro for formatting at all? The usual way to
accomplish this is to use styles and templates, e.g., in template 1 Heading
1 is 18pt, but in template 2 Heading 1 is 36 pt. When you suddenly decide
you want different formatting, you could insert the file into a new doc
based on template 2, and it will use the style definitions from template 2
(assuming you didn't change the style names for each template)

I don't think you give enough information for anyone to really solve the
problem, because it isn't clear (to me, at least) what is going on. But a
shorter workaround than manually reformatting each doc, *assuming you used
styles* to create the old doc, would be to turn your "master document" into
a template and then attach that template to the old documents, or do an
Insert File of the old doc into a doc based on the new template. Still a
hassle, though...

Just had a thought--if what the macro does is attach the master template to
the existing document, which is done via Tools | Templates and Add-ins, I
believe that box for "automatically update doc styles" needs to be checked
for attaching a template to change the formatting.

For more information on styles and templates, start here:
http://www.shaunakelly.com/word/styles/TipsOnStyles.html
http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/Customization/CreateATemplatePart1.htm
But both those general sites have tons more info.

Are you in the same office with Fabiola and Martha who are also having this
problem?

DM

 

[Chloe]

Thank you for the info Dayo.

You got me right. This is the way I am doing it right
now. The macro attaches the master template to
the existing document, via Tools | Templates and Add-ins.
Apparently, the macro is having problems following the
master template.

How can I do the instructions you gave me ... "Turn
your "master document" into a template and then attach
that template to the old documents, or do an
Insert File of the old doc into a doc based on the new
template".

Please advice.

Yes, we work in the same company and are looking forward
to get some help. You have been the only that understood
the problem. I understand that we probably have not been
explaining the situation correctly.

Thanks,

 

[Dayo Mitchell]

I'm sorry I didn't post before, then, I was a bit confused by the messages
so didn't risk confusing the issue more with my interpretation.

Well, it sounds like your "master doc" is already a template with the .dot
extension. I would suggest trying it out manually and making sure it works.
If so, perhaps then record a macro of doing that, and compare the code to
see if something went wrong.

So, I'm not actually very familiar with attaching templates (for occasional
usage I use Insert File and create a new doc), but you would open the doc,
go to Tools | Templates and Add-ins, click on Attach, select the master
template, check the "automatically update" box, and say OK. See below, I've
pasted the relevant Help from my version.

If you are not familiar with macros, see these links:

Creating a macro with no programming experience using the recorder
http://word.mvps.org/faqs/macrosvba/UsingRecorder.htm

To see the existing macro, use Tools | Macros, Macros, select the macro and
click edit.

Hope that helps,
Dayo

_______
From Help:

What happens to my document if I change its attached template?
Changing the template that's attached to a document ‹ either by modifying
the currently attached template or by attaching a different template ‹ has
the following effects:
€ Macros, AutoText entries, and custom toolbar and command settings in a
modified template are available for use in any document based on the
template, including existing documents. If you attach a different template
to a document, items stored in the newly attached template are then
available to the document.
€ If you add or modify styles in a template, styles in an existing document
based on that template are not immediately updated to match the template
styles.
€ To have Word update styles in an existing document to match the styles in
its attached template, first open the document. On the Tools menu, click
Templates and Add-Ins, and then select the Automatically update document
styles check box. If the document text is formatted with styles that have
the same names as styles in the attached template, Word updates the text
formatting to match the template's style formats.
€ If you change the boilerplate text and graphics in a template or change
document formats ‹ for example, page margins and page size, headers and
footers, or the number of columns per page ‹ these changes affect only new
documents that you subsequently base on the template. Existing documents
based on the template aren't affected.
_____

 

[Word Heretic]

G'day "Chloe" <[email protected]>,

So,

you do an ActiveDocument.AttachedTemplate = blah blah

Then what is the code that is appearing to not work? You would have to
update the style instances manually if they aren't set to autoupdate.


Steve Hudson - Word Heretic
Want a hyperlinked index? S/W R&D? See WordHeretic.com

steve from wordheretic.com (Email replies require payment)


Chloe reckoned: