Setting default fonts/sizes

[Kraftsims]

I'm using Word 2007. New to this version, used to Word '97.

I'm wanting to set the default font and size of the font for each document
that opens. How do I do that?

I also have this hunch that there are so many features that I just don't
know how to leverage the power of. One in particular, not even sure what it
is called, but where you can set the look of the docuement for bullets,
spacing, size of titles, that kind of thing. I guess it would be general
formatting for a specific document?

I've not been trained on these abilities. Is there any kind of online
video/training that is available?

Thanks

 

[Jay Freedman]

The old advice, which was valid up to Word 2003, was to modify the Normal
style in a new blank document to the desired font and size, and select the
option to apply the changes to all new documents based on the current
template (which would be Normal.dot).

This is not good advice for Word 2007, which has changed the rules. The
Normal style should not be modified in any way. Instead, press
Ctrl+Alt+Shift+S to open the Styles pane; click the Manage Styles button
(one of the three nearly identical buttons at the bottom); and click the Set
Defaults tab of the Manage Styles dialog. Set your default font and
paragraph settings there, select the "New documents based on this template"
option at the bottom, and click OK.

Note that the first two items in the Font list are "+Body" and "+Headings".
These allow the font to be selected through the Themes settings on the Page
Layout tab of the ribbon. That's the "general formatting" you referred to.

Check out the training materials on http://office.microsoft.com.

--
Regards,
Jay Freedman
Microsoft Word MVP
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

The +Body part is what I don't understand. If you change the default font
from +Body to a specific font and size, then you lose the ability to use
themes, right? So is there a way to modify or create a theme that has the
fonts you want? I know you can select the Office Classic font set and make
that the default (same with Word 2003 style set); does that accomplish what
is wanted?

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

 

[Jay Freedman]

I have to say that I think Stuart & Co. aimed for flexibility and all they
really got was incomprehensible complexity. But if you can stick with it for
a bit...

You're right that setting a default font of a specific font does kill the
Themes; and you might actually want to do that for a specific template so
that "adventurous" users can't experiment on the corporate letterhead. But
if you do want Themes to be available, and you want a custom theme:

- On the Page Layout > Themes button, choose a theme reasonably close to
what you want.
- Use the three buttons next to the Themes button to choose a different
color scheme, font, and/or graphics effect. This modifies the theme you
chose in the first step.
- On the Page Layout > Themes button again, choose Save Current Theme. The
dialog automatically puts you in the Document Themes subfolder of the
Templates folder, and sets the Save As type to Office Theme (*.thmx). Supply
a name for the file, which becomes the name of the new theme.
- The new theme will appear in a "Custom" section at the top of the Themes
gallery.

I think choosing a specific font *size* in the Defaults dialog takes effect
whether or not you're using any particular theme. Themes are concerned only
with the font name, not its size.

The interaction of a theme and a Quick Style Set is a separate issue. If the
styles in the style set are defined to use the +Body and +Heading fonts,
then choosing a different theme will change the fonts and colors of all the
styles -- this is where the excessive complexity really kicks in.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Thanks, Jay. I recall our discussions with Stuart about this and related
topics and certainly never envisioned anything this complex and confusing.
Luckily, I will probably need to do any of these things (not really into
themes much), but I'll save the info for future use as needed.

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

 

[Stefan Blom]

I'd like to thank you too, Jay, for your explanation in this thread.

It seems to me that themes make more sense in PowerPoint, where you
basically have headings (for page titles) and body text (for the rest of the
text). In Word, you really can't keep it as simple (as I imagine themes are
supposed to be). Many different styles and point sizes don't quite fit with
the idea of themes.