Removing styles can be a tricky business in a long document, especially one with imported tables. Reviewing this issue the other day, I realized that I don't understand the style pane options in recent versions.

In 2010, if I create a document and add text in nothing but the Normal style, and I have made no style changes or additions, right clicking on a style in the styles pane brings up a list that includes "Remove all (No data)", "Select all (No data)", and "Delete [style name]", which is grayed out for Normal.

However, after adding a style, the pop-up list includes, instead, "Select all x instances", "Clear formatting of all x instances", and still ""Delete [style name]". In the case of a style that has not been used, "(Not currently used)" appears, grayed out.

The one aspect I don't understand is the "(No data)" tag. At first I assumed it to mean that no data in the document was styled this way and, therefore, the style could be deleted without concern. However, a colleague the other day had a lengthy document with a number of styles (or was it, perhaps, just formatting?) which yielded the tag, and he did delete the styles. I don't know what happened.

What does this tag mean, under what curcimstances does it appear, and how should it be treated?

Hi Ulodesk,

Within limits relating to whether built-in Styles can actually be deleted at all, Word doesn't stop you deleting Styles that are in use ... maybe your colleague did just that.

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Cheers,
Paul Edstein
[Fmr MS MVP - Word]

For the Select All etc. options to be available, you must enable the "Keep track of formatting" option in File tab | Options | Advanced as well as the options under "Select formatting to show as styles" in the Style Pane Options dialog box.

To display the Style Pane Options dialog, click the Options link in the Styles pane (Ctrl+Alt+Shift+S). Use the "New documents based on this template" radio button to transfer the selected settings to the attached template.

__________________
Stefan Blom
Microsoft Word MVP

Microsoft 365 apps for business
Windows 11 Professional

Ah, the nefarious 'Keep track of formatting' and it's pernicious sidekick -- which I never allow to be checked, unless, at home, I am briefly creating a document for which I need a Theme enabled. Good to know. Thanks.