Styles & Formatting

[Doc]

I have many technical manuals that need to be reformatted with new styles so
they are consistent. How can I delete the styles and formatting in the tech
manual document, (not the actual document, but also in the Styles &
Formatting column on the right. I want to put my own styles in and not have
a list of built in or styles that were created by others that worked on the
manual. Thanks for any help you can give me on styles. This seems to be a
big job.

 

[Peter T. Daniels]

You don't say what version of Word you're using, but when you go into
the Organizer, you'll find the window on the left listing all the
styles in the open document. You can select & delete any or all of
them (and then Word will notify you, one by one, that any built-in
styles, such as Normal, that you've chosen can't be deleted, and you
have to say OK to each message).

 

[Stefan Blom]

Here's one way to accomplish what you want: Create the styles in a new,
blank document, and save that document as a template. Create a new document
based on that template. The next step is to copy the original text and Paste
Special as "Unformatted Text" into the newly created document. Finally,
apply the styles as appropriate.

Note that it might be a good idea to first make a printout of the original
document, so that you can see the original look.

 

[Doc]

I have version Word 2002 right now but hoping to get upgraded soon.

Thank you all for your help. I will try working with these suggestions.

 

[Pamelia Caswell via OfficeKB.com]

Since this is a technical document, you may have manual formatting in it
that you must keep--supers and subs and italics on variables, for example.
Completely clearing all manual formatting with Ctrl+A, Ctrl+space could
introduce errors and cause more work in the long run. Instead, do the
cleanup making good use, when appropriate, of the styles pane feature to
select all instances of a style or formatting, .

I usually start with the headings. If you have lots of heading 1s that look
different from each other, select them all and reapply the heading 1 style.
Change user-defined styles being used as heading 1 by selecting all and
applying heading 1. Then look for normal or body text formatted and used as
heading 1 styles. Do these steps for all headings. It's kind of surprising
how quickly you can get through this. There will be some headings missed or
miss marked, but they can be found or adjusted later.

I visually search the document for lists and apply the appropriate numbering
or bullet styles. I look for and apply styles to table and figure captions,
and other special paragraphs I find in the document (block quotes, alerts,
pull quotes, etc.). Then I tackle the regular text paragraphs by selecting
all instances of regular text styles (such as para, body text, and normal),
in turn, and reapplying my regular text style (usually body text).

I use outline view to check and correct heading levels and the style area
pane to check the styles applied more quickly.

HTH,
Pam

I have version Word 2002 right now but hoping to get upgraded soon.

Thank you all for your help. I will try working with these suggestions.

You don't say what version of Word you're using, but when you go into
the Organizer, you'll find the window on the left listing all the

[quoted text clipped - 12 lines]

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

This is pretty much the approach I use when I typeset books from existing
manuscripts. I find that, in the long run, a tabula rasa or "scorched earth"
approach avoids many problems. But I do make sure I have a printed copy so I
can see what the writer intended in the way of formatting (not that I feel
bound by it).

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