quick styles and style sets

[RPMitchal]

Word 2007

Hello Gurus:

Somehow I am missing the concept of using the *Quick Styles* and *Quick
Style Sets*. Having read many of the various posts contained within this
forum, the *Help Files* and my third-party manuals, the lack of explanation
has led me to believe that the concept MUST be relatively simple – and I am
just not getting the idea and perhaps putting too much thought into it.

I understand and have used *styles* extensively throughout many versions of
Word, but seem unable to discern the difference or the advantage of using
“Quick Styles†in lieu of the styles which would be part and parcel of any
applicable template.

In order to take advantage of the ability to change the appearance of a
document using one style set over another mean that the styles within each of
the various style sets have to be identically named? And wouldn’t that
further necessitate creating identically named styles within each and every
style set that one would ever hope to use on a particular document?

How do the *quick styles* and *style sets* apply to the underlying template;
do they remain embedded within the template so as to be available for any
other document based on the same template?

It seems as though saving a new style set actually saves it as a template.
Does the saved style set template then have to be applied to a new document
along with the document template?

I am so baffled by the idea that I cannot be sure that I am even correctly
asking the above question(s) – so please bear with me in that regard.

Any light shed upon this situation or a *point* in the right direction would
be greatly appreciated.

Much appreciation in advance – Rod

 

[Pamelia Caswell via OfficeKB.com]

Have you read this:
http://blogs.msdn.com/microsoft_off...yles-doc-defaults-style-sets-and-themes.aspx?



Pam

 

[RPMitchal]

Have you read this:
http://blogs.msdn.com/microsoft_off...yles-doc-defaults-style-sets-and-themes.aspx?



Pam

No. I have not yet read the link that you supplied. However, you may count
on the fact that I will - directly.

Thank you for your response. It is appreciated.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

To add to what Pam has said, someone recently commented here that anyone
with a good understanding of how to use styles needn't bother with quick
styles and style sets. I would like to endorse that view since I am as much
at sea about QS and SS as you are. I think I sort of understand the concept,
but I can't envision ever needing to use the functionality myself.

One of the chief frustrations of quick styles is that, in order to
substitute user-defined styles for any of the quick styles that appear at
the top of the gallery, one must work through resetting the priority order
of the relevant styles, both built-in and user-defined, to promote the
latter.

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

 

[Stefan Blom]

To add to what Pam has said, someone recently commented here that anyone
with a good understanding of how to use styles needn't bother with quick
styles and style sets. I would like to endorse that view since I am as
much at sea about QS and SS as you are. I think I sort of understand the
concept, but I can't envision ever needing to use the functionality
myself.

The concept isn't so difficult: quick styles are the styles displayed in the
Styles group of the Home ribbon tab. If you change to a different style set,
the styles of that set will replace the current ones in the Styles group
(and reformat text, if styles with the same names has been applied to text).

One of the chief frustrations of quick styles is that, in order to
substitute user-defined styles for any of the quick styles that appear at
the top of the gallery, one must work through resetting the priority order
of the relevant styles, both built-in and user-defined, to promote the
latter.

It will be easier to *replace* existing quick styles than to add to them.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

In my case, if I want to promote, say, List Bullet and List Number to where
they're easily seen in the gallery, I have to go through this process of
changing the priority.

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

 

[Beth Melton]

As Stefan noted, A Quick Style is a style that appears in the Quick Styles
gallery on the Ribbon. For Word 2007 templates I develop, those styles that
need to be applied by the user are included in the Quick Style gallery.
Other styles, such as header/footer/TOC styles/those that are applied
automatically, aren't added to the Quick Styles Gallery.

I think of a Quick Style Set as a "package" of styles. The mechanics are
essentially the same as using the Organizer to copy styles between
documents. But instead of digging through the Organizer, opening the
document/template to be used as the source, selecting various styles to be
copied, one can select a Quick Style Set to copy the styles to the
document/template with a few clicks of the mouse.

I recently developed a project that included a Quick Style Set because the
corporate styles changed. The Quick Style Set is utilized to update the
styles in any document based on any template and the users prefer the Quick
Style Set over the Organizer, which is what they used in past versions of
Word.

On another project, I created a template for developing audience handouts to
accompany a presentation. The handouts are for various companies and each
company has its own branding. The template also contains Building Blocks for
quick insertion of various tables used for formatting and layout, along with
a header for each company. Quick Style Sets (and Themes) enabled me to
create a single template whereas in past versions of Word I would have
created numerous templates. If the handouts are for company X then Theme X
and Quick Style Set X is used. If it's for company Y then Theme Y and Quick
Style Set Y is used. Occasionally the company changes in the middle of the
project and all the user needs to do is change the Theme, Quick Style Set,
and insert the correct header.

I don't find setting the recommended order for styles to be too difficult,
the Move Up/Move Down buttons make short work it.

~Beth Melton
Microsoft Office MVP

 

[Pamelia Caswell via OfficeKB.com]

Susanne, I agreed with you when I first used W2007 because I use templates
and the styles pane. But always thought quick styles would be a good way to
show users the styles to use. And sure enough, most questions have come from
people who are developing templates for other users. Although Word
developers need to learn and be comfortable with the concepts of document
defaults, style set templates, manage styles, and recommend, their users can
benefit from having customized quick styles and style sets available. I
don't yet have a business need for them, and most of my initial knowledge was
"book learnin' ". Fortunately, the questions of those who do, prompted me to
learn more about them and put them to personal use.

Pam

To add to what Pam has said, someone recently commented here that anyone
with a good understanding of how to use styles needn't bother with quick
styles and style sets. I would like to endorse that view since I am as much
at sea about QS and SS as you are. I think I sort of understand the concept,
but I can't envision ever needing to use the functionality myself.

One of the chief frustrations of quick styles is that, in order to
substitute user-defined styles for any of the quick styles that appear at
the top of the gallery, one must work through resetting the priority order
of the relevant styles, both built-in and user-defined, to promote the
latter.
[quoted text clipped - 6 lines]

Thank you for your response. It is appreciated.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

If I ever get up the gumption to use Word 2007 for production work, I'm sure
my experience will be different. I'm still using Word 2003 for that, though,
because that's what my clients are using.

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

Susanne, I agreed with you when I first used W2007 because I use templates
and the styles pane. But always thought quick styles would be a good way
to
show users the styles to use. And sure enough, most questions have come
from
people who are developing templates for other users. Although Word
developers need to learn and be comfortable with the concepts of document
defaults, style set templates, manage styles, and recommend, their users
can
benefit from having customized quick styles and style sets available. I
don't yet have a business need for them, and most of my initial knowledge
was
"book learnin' ". Fortunately, the questions of those who do, prompted me
to
learn more about them and put them to personal use.

Pam

To add to what Pam has said, someone recently commented here that anyone
with a good understanding of how to use styles needn't bother with quick
styles and style sets. I would like to endorse that view since I am as
much
at sea about QS and SS as you are. I think I sort of understand the
concept,
but I can't envision ever needing to use the functionality myself.

One of the chief frustrations of quick styles is that, in order to
substitute user-defined styles for any of the quick styles that appear at
the top of the gallery, one must work through resetting the priority order
of the relevant styles, both built-in and user-defined, to promote the
latter.

Have you read this:
http://blogs.msdn.com/microsoft_off...yles-doc-defaults-style-sets-and-themes.aspx?

[quoted text clipped - 6 lines]

Thank you for your response. It is appreciated.

 

[Stefan Blom]

Well, the Recommend tab of the Manage Styles dialog box displays a lot of
styles, even if you choose to hide all but the recommended ones, which
contributes to making the task time-consuming.

What I meant to say was that if you keep the number of quick styles small,
the order between the styles in the gallery isn't a big problem. For
example, the built-in style sets do contain some styles, such as Subtle
Emphasis and Intense Emphasis, which I don't find useful.

 

[RPMitchal]

My appreciation to each and every one of you for your imput.

I didn't realize that so much had been contributed in response to my initial
posting, as I am still unable to use the e-mail link that comes with a
response to get directly to the replies as they arrive. I must go into the
forum and do a search on my name in order to see if any comment or input has
been added. Sometimes that works and sometimes it does not.

Pam C - I did read the article that you suggested at the outset and was it
helpful if for no other reason than to realize, as Jonathan Bailor put it,
[The Style Set is not "in" your document. ]

I believe that the full impact of the pros and cons in this regard, as with
so many other things concerning Word, is that I will have to put it into
practice on a regular basis and hopefully learn through trial and error.

Suzanne - I was dragged into 2007 "kicking and screaming". I continue to
kick and scream a bit - but not nearly as much as I did initially! By the
same token, my "production" is not what is was with 2003 either. Perhaps in
time...

Thanks - Rod