I need to restrict paragraph styles in a series of Word 2007 documents, but when I do (even if I only restrict one style), all of the character formatting is also locked (no bold, italic, etc.). This won't work for us.

Is there a way to lock only the paragraph styles?

When you restrict styles you specify which are allowed in the document. Nothing prevents you from adding a set of character styles to that "list" of allowed styles.

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Stefan Blom
Microsoft Word MVP

Thanks. But is there no way to exempt character styles, especially those on the ribbon (bold, italic, underline)?

If you mean the buttons on the ribbon, these aren't styles but formatting commands; these will be disabled (just like many other settings) in a protected document, I'm afraid. You'll need actual character styles.

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Stefan Blom
Microsoft Word MVP

Thanks. That at least tells me what my next steps should be.

The emphasis and strong character styles are built in and may do what you want. It will depend on the Style Set you have enabled.