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#1
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Does a new set of styles in a template overwrite or remove the existing set of styles in a document?
I have discovered that when you apply a new template to another document it adds the new styles but does not remove the styles that exist in that document. I have searched throughout the support documentation trying to find a statement about whether applying a template just overwrites any styles of the same title and I cannot find anything.
So, then if a specific style set is attached it will allow the user to apply the styles needed to make it look like the template for a specific document, but it will also contain the styles it previously did? It also totally removed the "Normal" style that was originally in the document prior to applying the new styles. If that is gone and there are styles based on normal, what is it basing them on now? There is no newly defined Normal style in the new set of styles, just Normal,SINGLE and Normal Bolded Text. |
#2
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Attaching a template allows use of styles in that template.
It will not overwrite existing styles unless the box to do so is checked, but see... What happens when I send my document to someone else? Will Word mess up my formatting? Attaching a template will not delete any existing styles. It will overwrite styles of the same name if that box is checked. Every Word document has a normal style, whether it is used or displayed or not. It is there. It cannot be deleted from within Word. The template which was attached also has a normal style. If you told Word to update styles from the template, the template's normal style overwrote the one in the document. That normal style may be set to not appear in the Quick Styles Gallery, to have a lower priority level, or to be hidden. You may be looking at the Quick Styles Gallery on the Home tab. That is only a small subset of the styles in a document. Using the Styles Pane and the Manage Styles button it is possible to see all styles, even those marked as hidden. Understanding Styles in Microsoft Word If styles are based upon other styles, changes to the underlying style will likely change the dependent styles. How styles in Microsoft Word cascade by Shauna Kelly |
#3
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Thank you Charles for that link, it has turned on the lights about styles for me. I understand the principle behind it now. You may have sent me the link before but I don't know how to get back to old questions on my account in this forum, so sometimes ask the same question or get the same answer. Forgive me for the waste of your time. I know what you go through as I used to do Google support and even though the answers were in the KB people could not find them either because they did not know the words to use to search or some other similarly complex situation. We really do try to use the right words to find an answer but sometimes it escapes us.
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#4
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I have just one other question. What style should you base any style on? Or should it be based on nostyle?
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#5
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It depends.
Cascading style attributes is a very useful feature but you have to understand what the implications are when you decide to change a base style. For instance, if I want to change the font for my 'body text' style, it is good if all the related styles also change their font to match (eg bullet lists, numbered lists, table text etc). However, it might be a problem if I change the indentation of that same style and children styles get that indent change too.
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Andrew Lockton Chrysalis Design, Melbourne Australia |
#6
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Most people base their styles on the normal style. Most styles that are built-in with Word are based on the normal style.
I generally base mine on the Body Text style. That is more habit than necessarily good practice. There was a time when basing on the normal style was not a good idea. I do not believe that is still the situation. OTOH, by basing on the Body Text style, which I base on no style, I have more options. What is the difference between the normal style and the Body Text style?, by Suzanne Barnhill, MVP The heading styles are special. Many, but not all, of their special characteristics carry through into styles based on them. Why use Microsoft Word’s built-in heading styles? by Shauna Kelly Much more important is I never leave a document with the setting to update styles from the template upon opening. I generally cascade my heading styles and my body-text styles. This also ties in with Themes and Style Sets in ways I do not fully understand. The key thing about themes is they will set a font for headings and body which can be carried through in all of your styles if you use them. Final note: A good understanding of styles and use of styles is essential for a happy use of Word on a regular basis. The program is very heavily based on styles and many of its features are only fully available through using them. See my My test of 100-page document and my remarks just before that for some of my history with styles. Yet Another Verbal Beating About Using Styles by Dian Chapman. |
#7
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To add to what Charles has said, the theme fonts apply to styles (or text ranges) whose font name are set to "+Body" or "+Headings."
For more on the hierarchy of styles and formatting in Word, see the archived article at https://web.archive.org/web/20120119...id=t_zfmW1Whui.
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Stefan Blom Microsoft Word MVP Microsoft 365 apps for business Windows 11 Professional |
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