styles

[G.Miller]

hi, just upgraded to office 2008 from office x and am having issues
regarding text styles and getting word to remember my preferences.
we have thousands of docs, mostly 'word 97 - 2004' format. they are
relatively simple, maybe 1-4 pages each, mostly text, created by any
number of users, each with different preference settings.

why doesnt word remember preferences and apply them to the documents i
open?
ie, i open word, set the preferences (example, uncheck 'replace
internet and network paths with hyperlinks'), and if i open another
document, the preferences default to what they were before.

same thing with styles. if i modify the balloon text style (increase
font size), it only applies to that document. if i open another doc,
it defaults to the smaller text. this is a nuisance in that many
times, we use previous docs as a 'template' (ie, open the doc and
'save as...' and then edit it accordingly). i understand that i can
adjust the 'normal' template and my changes will be saves for new
documents that are created, but is there a way to apply my styles and
preferences to thousands of docs?

this also happening with my toolbar settings.

any suggestions?

 

[Daiya Mitchell]

hi, just upgraded to office 2008 from office x and am having issues
regarding text styles and getting word to remember my preferences.
we have thousands of docs, mostly 'word 97 - 2004' format. they are
relatively simple, maybe 1-4 pages each, mostly text, created by any
number of users, each with different preference settings.

why doesnt word remember preferences and apply them to the documents i
open?
ie, i open word, set the preferences (example, uncheck 'replace
internet and network paths with hyperlinks'), and if i open another
document, the preferences default to what they were before.

As designed. That preference is an AutoCorrect setting--it applies to
the creation of hyperlinks, but does not affect them once they have been
created. If they are links now, then they were links in Word X. Word
2008 has not made them links. However, if you are typing new internet
paths, the ones typed after you changed the preference should not be
turned into links.

If links are the ONLY fields in the document--you have no automatic
dates, tables of contents, cross-references, etc--there is a command
that will convert all fields to plain text that will wipe hyperlinks.

same thing with styles. if i modify the balloon text style (increase
font size), it only applies to that document. if i open another doc,
it defaults to the smaller text.

Again, as designed. You have to check the "add to template" box to make
it apply to new documents. Style changes are not retroactive to old
documents unless you specifically tell Word "import the updated style
definitions into this document", via Tools | Templates and Add-ins and
checking the "automatically update styles" box. Since checking this box
means that your styles are likely to change if you send the document to
someone else, it is unchecked by default, and keeping it checked tends
to cause confusion.

I have a script that redefines the style in just two clicks, if you want
it. You can probably code something to batch change all your docs, but I
don't know how to do it.

this is a nuisance in that many
times, we use previous docs as a 'template' (ie, open the doc and
'save as...' and then edit it accordingly).

It's a better idea to use an actual template, rather than depending on
users to re-save. But if you are doing that, once you change the style
in a doc, new docs Saved As from it will carry the style change.

i understand that i can
adjust the 'normal' template and my changes will be saves for new
documents that are created, but is there a way to apply my styles and
preferences to thousands of docs?

Not built-into Word, no. There are no application-level settings for
these things. A couple of approaches:

1) write some scripts that change the current document, so that it's
very easy to re-apply the change whenever you run across a doc with the
problem. I might be able to help with that.

2) batch-change: write a script that will go through all your files or
all files in certain folders, open each one up, and apply the changes.
You have to be quite sure that you want the same thing to happen on all
docs, as it will run automatically without human oversight, and it will
probably take a long time to run. I haven't a clue how to help write a
script that will do that, but someone else might.

this also happening with my toolbar settings.

Too vague, no clue what you mean. However, unlike styles which are
document/template based, toolbar settings *are* application-wide and
changes should persist, so this sounds like a different issue. But this
thread is already too complicated--please start a NEW THREAD to deal
with this problem--give full details of version and what happens and
what you want to happen instead.

Daiya

 

[Clive Huggan]

On 26/6/08 12:19 AM, in article (e-mail address removed),

If links are the ONLY fields in the document--you have no automatic
dates, tables of contents, cross-references, etc--there is a command
that will convert all fields to plain text that will wipe hyperlinks.

Command-a to Select All, then Command-Shift-F9. This is what I use in Word
2004; should be OK in 2008, I imagine. And you can always restore a
hyperlink by selecting the appropriate text and keying Command-k.

[Note, but I don't think it applies when F9 is used with Command and Shift
modifiers together: The F9 key is important in Word for updating fields ‹
not only those in tables of contents but in cross-reference fields; and
there are five variants involving F9 using different combinations with the
Command, Shift and Option keys. But in OS 10.3 onwards, by default, the
operating system takes precedence and allocates the F9 key to invoke one of
the Exposé features. For solutions, see page 21 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).

<snip>

Cheers,

Clive Huggan
Canberra, Australia
(My time zone is 5-11 hours different from the Americas and Europe, so my
follow-on responses to those regions can be delayed)
====================================================

 

[G.Miller]

Style changes are not retroactive to old

documents unless you specifically tell Word "import the updated style
definitions into this document", via Tools | Templates and Add-ins and
checking the "automatically update styles" box.  Since checking this box
means that your styles are likely to change if you send the document to
someone else, it is unchecked by default, and keeping it checked tends
to cause confusion.

ok, so each time i open a document i have to go into that menu and
check the 'automatically update styles' box?
when i check it for 'document a' the style changes, but then when i
open 'document b', its unchecked.

I have a script that redefines the style in just two clicks, if you want
it. You can probably code something to batch change all your docs, but I
don't know how to do it.

im interested if you could post it, thanks.

 

[Daiya Mitchell]

ok, so each time i open a document i have to go into that menu and
check the 'automatically update styles' box?

Yep. Keep in mind that leaving it checked may have undesirable effects,
as styles will continue to update.

when i check it for 'document a' the style changes, but then when i
open 'document b', its unchecked.

Gotta do it for each document. Again, this probably could be
batch-changed via a script, or a script set up to do it in one-click for
each document, but I don't know how. You can probably figure it out if
you want to, or try posting a new question that specifies you want
script help.

im interested if you could post it, thanks.

Here's a sample script that redefines a style:

tell application "Microsoft Word"
tell active document
set name of font object of Word style "Comment Text" to "Century
Gothic"
set font size of font object of Word style "Balloon Text" to "10"
set name of font object of Word style "Balloon Text" to "Arial
Narrow"
end tell
end tell

Here's what to do with it.
http://word.mvps.org/mac/InstallApplescript.html

Note that you'll want to change the stuff in quotation marks to suit
your preferences, and you can add or delete lines that you don't want.
This just gives you a model to work from, at least for font and size.

This script approach will only re-define the styles you specifically
tell it to--the "update styles automatically" in Tools | Templates and
Add-ins will redefine all styles to match the current template. Your
call which you prefer.

Daiya

 

[G.Miller]

thank you so much, i can definitely get this to work.