Word Heading 3 style reverts to incorrect format?!

[Ollie*99]

Hi there, thanks in advance for your help and advice.

I have created a selection of styles to use when writing our company's
reports. These include headings 1, 2 and 3 with set formatting.

The problem is that Word for some reason adds a 1.27cm left indent to
Heading 3 style, even though this should be aligned left of the column. I can
change the heading and "Update to match selection" the style throughout the
document, and i have even tried the more complex method of "Modifying" the
style to remove the indent. The styles has been saved and the "Style Set"
saved also. The heading 3 has never had an indent, and was not created with
one in the first place. I think that someone else on the server has changed
the indent and saved it by mistake.

However, whenever i open a document that uses this style set, the Heading 3
has jumped back to its indent! I cant get rid of it!! Please please help!!!!

Ollie

 

[DeanH]

You may need to apply the change to the template, after doing the "Update to
Match Selection", then go to Modify, and check the "Add to Template" box, OK.
Now save the document, you may get a dialog say do you wish save changes to
the template, OK that.
Hope this helps
DeanH

 

[Ollie*99]

Thanks for the suggestion Dean. I tried that as you suggested, closed and
re-opened the report and the level 3 headings had all jumped backed to the
1.27cm indent again. No joy, any other suggestions?

Ollie

 

[DeanH]

You say that the document is being saved on a server, is the template on the
server as well? I have never had templates on servers so am not sure but if
this is the case, the sequence mentioned before may not save to the
server-template.
The only time I have had the problem you mention is when another style has
been accidently created that is so closely related to (say) Heading 3 that
even modifying and saving to template does not always work.
Do you see any "Heading3 +" styles? If not, check the box for "Keep track of
formatting" under Tools, Options, Edit, and see if any appear, delete is
necessary if they are not being used in the document. You then may need to do
the procedure to revert Heading 3
These phantom indents usually affect bullets, List, and TOC styles and can
be a pain to get rid of, as you well know ;-)
Hope this helps
DeanH

 

[Ollie*99]

The document itself is on our server, but i would imagine the Normal template
comes straight from each users C: no?

Aside from that point, it looks like ive actually sorted the problem
amazingly. With your suggestion that the phantom indents are often affecting
Lists, i checked a bit harder in the 'Modify' properties. My Heading 3 and 4
are without a list numbering, but heading 1 and 2 are "1" and "1.1"
respectively. I noticed that Heading 1 and 2 were "Style Based on: List
Paragraph" while heading 4 was based on normal. I changed heading 3 to be
based on Normal too and it seems to have sorted the issue (it was based on
List paragraph like heading 1 and 2) I saved and reopened, and the heading
was still left aligned.

Ive been trying to figure that for weeks and you managed to put your finger
on it in the space of about 20 mins! Much appreciated Dean.

Ollie

 

[DeanH]

Glad to help point the way to a solution.
DeanH

The document itself is on our server, but i would imagine the Normal template
comes straight from each users C: no?

Aside from that point, it looks like ive actually sorted the problem
amazingly. With your suggestion that the phantom indents are often affecting
Lists, i checked a bit harder in the 'Modify' properties. My Heading 3 and 4
are without a list numbering, but heading 1 and 2 are "1" and "1.1"
respectively. I noticed that Heading 1 and 2 were "Style Based on: List
Paragraph" while heading 4 was based on normal. I changed heading 3 to be
based on Normal too and it seems to have sorted the issue (it was based on
List paragraph like heading 1 and 2) I saved and reopened, and the heading
was still left aligned.

Ive been trying to figure that for weeks and you managed to put your finger
on it in the space of about 20 mins! Much appreciated Dean.

Ollie