Rearrange Style List

[Lawrence_H._Song]

OS X Tiger (10.4.11), MS Word 2008.

In formatting Palette, style lists are arranged in alphabet order.
Clear formatting, Footnote text... Heading... Normal.

I want a specific item to be on the top.
Is there a way to do that?

Thank you,

 

[John McGhie]

No. Please use Hel>Send Feedback to request that.

The arrangement is actually "By Type, then By Outline Level, Then
Alphabetically" which is very confusing.

However, the current arrangement has been settled on after many many years
of arguing about this It seems to be the one that keeps the beginning
users happiest.

However, for people who actually use Styles a lot, it's a pain

On the Ribbon (PC Office) the styles are on a tab on the Ribbon and the user
and move them around and fine-tune the thing.

One would assume that you want a specific style up the top because you want
to get to it quickly. May I suggest that you make a toolbar of your own,
and drag the styles you use to it?

That's the approach I use. For me, the Formatting Palette is not useful. I
liked the Styles Task Pain in Word 2003 (they finally got it right, then
they killed it...) and I use that constantly.

But the Formatting Palette in Word 2008 has several useability issues that
mean that I eventually found that it was just simpler to close it and not
use it.

* The Styles section is a fixed size, and it's not big enough to show the
styles I use regularly without scrolling. Stopping to scroll is simply to
slow.

* The other junk that appears there is a nuisance. A styles-based user
won't use them, and needs to get them out of the way.

* The list of visible styles can't be customised.

* The document can't be locked to permit only specified styles to be used.

Basically, I believe the Formatting Palette has potential, and could be
developed to be a useful tool. But currently, it "isn't"

Cheers

OS X Tiger (10.4.11), MS Word 2008.

In formatting Palette, style lists are arranged in alphabet order.
Clear formatting, Footnote text... Heading... Normal.

I want a specific item to be on the top.
Is there a way to do that?

Thank you,

--
Don't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/

Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie, Consultant Technical Writer
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
http://jgmcghie.fastmail.com.au/
Sydney, Australia. S33°53'34.20 E151°14'54.50

 

[Clive Huggan]

Adding to what John has said: Unless Word 2008 has done away with this too
(I don't have it in use yet), I would recommend using keyboard shortcuts for
your most frequently used styles.

You can amend style titles by amending the style name with a suffix, then in
future simply typing the suffix following the keyboard shortcut for styles.
For example, the suffix can be simply the Heading style numeral in a default
heading style ("1" in Heading 1). Follow the heading name with a comma, no
space, and the numeral again. Hence, the default "Heading 1" becomes
"Heading 1,1". Thereafter, to apply a "Heading 1,1" style you simply key
Command-Shift-s => 1 => Return key. Very quick, and foolproof.

If you'd like more information, see page 96 of some notes on the way I use
Word for the Mac, titled "Bend Word to Your Will", which are available as a
free download from the Word MVPs' website
(http://word.mvps.org/Mac/Bend/BendWordToYourWill.html).

[Note: "Bend Word to your will" is designed to be used electronically and
most subjects are self-contained dictionary-style entries. If you decide to
read more widely than the item I've referred to, it's important to read the
front end of the document -- especially pages 3 and 5 -- so you can select
some Word settings that will allow you to use the document effectively.]

Cheers,
Clive Huggan
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