styles?

[Dogwoodnc]

I think I'm not understanding Word 2007 styles very well.

Coming from a Word 2003/XP background, I thought that if I want a style to
be defined to/available in ALL documents by all users, I should save it
either in the Normal or custom "startup" template.

In Word 2007 (and Windows 7 OS, if that makes a difference), I've been
trying to use the same logic, with very irregular and undesirable results.
I've tried saving templates that I want all users to see/use in either the
Normal template, or the custom "startup" template, or both simultaneously.
In some cases, the styles are available in New documents (as expected), but
in most cases, they are not available (via either the Quick Styles or the
Styles Pane, on ANY tab) in existing documents that were created prior to the
new startup or Normal templates -- even though, when looking at the Organizer
(Macro>Organizer>Style), the styles ARE listed under both Normal and startup
templates.

So, my question is -- where do I need to place the new custom styles in
order for them to be available (visible and usable) with ALL docs? The only
choices I'm aware of are a) Normal template, b) startup template, c)
individual document template -- but I've tried these, so I'm guessing that
I'm missing something!

Thanks in advance.

 

[Doug Robbins - Word MVP]

If you want a style to be used by all users for all documents, you should
set up a template containing the style(s) and distribute that to all of the
users with the instruction that they create documents by using that
template.

You should not rely on the Normal.dot (or dotm in the case of Word 2007)
template for this purpose.

For distributiong the template, see the article "Distributing macros to
other users†at:

http://www.word.mvps.org/FAQs/MacrosVBA/DistributeMacros.htm


--
Hope this helps.

Please reply to the newsgroup unless you wish to avail yourself of my
services on a paid consulting basis.

Doug Robbins - Word MVP, originally posted via msnews.microsoft.com

 

[Dogwoodnc]

Thanks! We have typically distributed templates containing macros/styles with
instructions to place them in the startup folder, so they'll be available to
all documents. (Just like described in the article referenced:
"...Copy the code into a fresh template, along with any additional menu
items, toolbars and keyboard shortcuts that you want to set up to make it
easier to access the macros. Once you are sure that it is all working, you
can distribute that template. This one wants to go into the Word Startup
folder...." http://www.word.mvps.org/FAQs/MacrosVBA/DistributeMacros.htm)

So, for Word 2007, are you saying that for all docs to use customized
styles, the docs all need to have the same specific document template? I.e.,
the template selected specifically when you create a new doc via File>New?
If so -- then what is the purpose of the Startup template? Historically,
I've always tried to avoid distributing templates etc via Normal.dot(m); on
the other hand, I've also tried to not include them in each and every
non-startup template, since that necessitates making the same changes in
multiple templates.

I guess I don't have a clear understanding of the current W07 logic -- and
which template elements (styles, macros, etc) can go in the startup file, and
which must go in the (non-global) document template, assuming that you want
these elements to be available to all docs.

Any clarification is appreciated! Thanks!

 

[Peter T. Daniels]

In any case, if new styles are placed in an old template, or a new
template is put into an appropriate place, won't the new styles be
available to old documents only if they're copied over using the
Organizer? (Which Dogwoodnc knows how to access.)

 

[Pamelia Caswell via OfficeKB.com]

For old documents, the new template styles would only take effect if, in the
Templates and Add-ins dialog, you check the box before "Automatically update
document styles" (but you should immediately uncheck it) or if the styles
are copied into the document via the organizer, as Peter commented. This
behavior is the same in previous Word versions.

Pam

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

The Normal template is the only one that provides both document formatting
(including styles) and macros, keyboard shortcuts, and other customizations.
Other templates in the Startup folder provide only customizations, not
document layout or styles; the latter are provided by the attached document
template, which will be Normal by default or another specific template if
selected. This is true in all Word versions.

Consequently, you cannot distribute styles the same way you distribute
macros. You must create specific document templates that include the styles
and desired layout (margins, header/footer, other boilerplate content, etc.)
as well as any customizations specific to that particular kind of document.
Users then save these templates in their Templates folder (or they can be
placed in the folder identified as the Workgroup Templates folder) and use
the New... command to create new documents based on them.

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