Style descriptions in Word 2004

[Sol Apache]

I want to change the style attributes of Heading 1 and Heading 2 to those of
two already-created styles both of which are fairly complicated.

The print-out of the full style list only takes three lines of the style
description and helpfully adds an ellipsis, indicating that there is more to
the style. This is also on the style dialog box on screen.

Is there any way that I can get a FULL description of a style? Is this a bug
in Word?

Thanks


Sol

PS It would also be handy if we could simply rename or duplicate styles and
if there is already such a style, built-in or user-defined, if Word could
ask if we wanted to change the style attributes of Heading 1, etc.

 

[Michel Bintener]

There is an easy way of applying a specific formatting to another style in
Word 2004, but it requires the use of the formatting palette. Open the
palette and expand the Style section. Now select a paragraph with the
formatting which you would like to apply to Heading 1. Now go to the "Pick
style to apply" part of the Style section (still on the formatting palette)
and scroll up/down until you can see Heading 1. See that inverted "P", or
pilcrow, at the right end of the small box Heading 1 is in? Click on that
pilcrow and select "Update to match selection" in the menu that shows up.
Unless I totally misunderstood your post, this is what you were looking for.

 

[Sol Apache]

No you did not misunderstand what I wanted. I was not using the formatting
palette but the old-fashioned Style dialogs in the Format Menu.

I¹ve already changed the styles manually, but I¹ll check your information
out and many thanks for it.

 

[John McGhie [MVP - Word and Word Macintosh]]

Hi Sol:

It's a "Feature" The Style Name field should never exceed 46
characters, and various things don't work properly if it does.

They did a "quick and dirty" fix a few years ago that was designed to
prevent document corruption when the style name became too long. It is now
possible to create a style name more than a hundred characters long, but you
will get into trouble if you do

The easiest way to get a full description of a style is to record a macro
while making and un-making a small change to it. For example, set the Font
to Arial then back to what it was. You will also need to make a small
change in the Paragraph formatting area to ensure that the macro recorder
records that component as well, and if you are using numbering, make a small
change in the numbering.

Then switch off the Macro Recorder and have a look in the VBA Editor to see
what it recorded. That stores the precise specifications of every property
of the style in a readable format.

To make another style the same as the one you just recorded, simply edit the
name of the style in what the macro recorder recorded, then run the macro


Hope this helps

I want to change the style attributes of Heading 1 and Heading 2 to those of
two already-created styles both of which are fairly complicated.

The print-out of the full style list only takes three lines of the style
description and helpfully adds an ellipsis, indicating that there is more to
the style. This is also on the style dialog box on screen.

Is there any way that I can get a FULL description of a style? Is this a bug
in Word?

Thanks


Sol

PS It would also be handy if we could simply rename or duplicate styles and
if there is already such a style, built-in or user-defined, if Word could
ask if we wanted to change the style attributes of Heading 1, etc.

--

Please reply to the newsgroup to maintain the thread. Please do not email
me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie <[email protected]>
Microsoft MVP, Word and Word for Macintosh. Consultant Technical Writer
Sydney, Australia +61 4 1209 1410

 

[Klaus Linke]

The Style Name field should never exceed 46

characters, and various things don't work properly if it does.

The description can be much longer, though.

You can get the full text from the VBA editor:
? Selection.Style.Description

Regards,
Klaus

 

[Daiya Mitchell]

The description can be much longer, though.

Yeah, that bug with the curtailed descriptions seriously annoys me too.
Especially in View| Reveal Formatting.

You can get the full text from the VBA editor:
? Selection.Style.Description

Klaus, what does the question mark mean there? Would I just select text and
run that macro in the VBE Immediate window?

Daiya

 

[Klaus Linke]

You can get the full text from the VBA editor:

Klaus, what does the question mark mean there? Would I just select
text and run that macro in the VBE Immediate window?

Daiya go... you're becoming a pro at VBA fast!

For the rest of the class <s>:
There's a lot you can do with VBA that doesn't require a macro, but only
simple one-liners, like the one above.
"?" just prints the result of what follows in the immediate window (... it's
a shortcut for "Debug.Print", if you want to look it up in the help).

You can open the VBA editor (Option+F11), go into the immediate window
(Command+G), type the line, and hit the Return key.

Klaus

 

[Daiya Mitchell]

Daiya go... you're becoming a pro at VBA fast!

For the rest of the class <s>:
There's a lot you can do with VBA that doesn't require a macro, but only
simple one-liners, like the one above.
"?" just prints the result of what follows in the immediate window (... it's
a shortcut for "Debug.Print", if you want to look it up in the help).

You can open the VBA editor (Option+F11), go into the immediate window
(Command+G), type the line, and hit the Return key.

Very neat. Thanks, Klaus. Didn't realize I could get results in the
Immediate window at all.

Daiya