subsituting style sheets in Word

[pete]

Hi, I have documents that have been formatted using custom style
sheets. These need to be changed to a new set - like for like. I have
looked in 'find and replace' and see you can select style as part of
the critieria for searching but how can I change just the style sheets
throughout the document?

Its not just one document but lots and needs to be done easily.

Pete

 

[matt neuburg]

Hi, I have documents that have been formatted using custom style
sheets. These need to be changed to a new set - like for like. I have
looked in 'find and replace' and see you can select style as part of
the critieria for searching but how can I change just the style sheets
throughout the document?

If the styles are truly styles, it's easy. Start by creating a new
template (the "set"), where the names of the styles match the names
already used in the document (but of course the details how the styles
look may be different). Now simply tell each document to use it - choose
Tools > Template and Add-Ins and attach the new template. If you check
the Update checkbox, the new styles will be substituted for the old
ones, en masse. m.

 

[pete]

Thanks for your helpful answer.

The document are no longer attached to the template from which they are
made. One of the major changes to the styles sheets is their names.
They have been changed to allow a group of authors to understand them
better when updating the document.

Does the auto updating rely on the style sheet name being the same?

Many thanks

Pete

 

[JE McGimpsey]

The document are no longer attached to the template from which they are
made. One of the major changes to the styles sheets is their names.
They have been changed to allow a group of authors to understand them
better when updating the document.

Does the auto updating rely on the style sheet name being the same?

Yes, it does.

However, you can do a Find/Replace on style names. In the Replace
dialog, click the blue triangle to reveal more options, if necessary.
Select the "Find what:" combobox. In the Find section, choose "Style"
from the "Format" dropdown. Choose the style you want to replace. Select
the "Replace with:" combobox. Select the style to replace it.

Both comboboxes should be blank. Click Replace All.

You could easily record a macro to do this for multiple docs.

 

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

Hi Pete:

For Style updating to work "Automatically", yes, the template name must
remain unchanged (as must the path).

However, if you do the following:

1) Open the document

2) Tools>Templates and Add-Ins>Attach... And point to the new template

3) Set "Automatically update" to TRUE

4) Save and close

You will accomplish the same thing: this switches the template to the new
name and forces Word to import all of the style definitions from the new
template, overwriting any that currently exist in the document.

You can automate this from VBA or AppleScript. The style definitions will
update instantly.

Note my earlier caution: if the users didn't know how to use styles and
filled the documents with direct formatting, updating the styles will have a
mixed and undefined effect on existing documents.

Cheers

Thanks for your helpful answer.

The document are no longer attached to the template from which they are
made. One of the major changes to the styles sheets is their names.
They have been changed to allow a group of authors to understand them
better when updating the document.

Does the auto updating rely on the style sheet name being the same?

Many thanks

Pete

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John McGhie <[email protected]>
Microsoft MVP, Word and Word for Macintosh. Consultant Technical Writer
Sydney, Australia +61 (0) 4 1209 1410