Dear Forum.



I have searched and searched for the answer to this.

I’m trying to get my personal style to STAY on the quickstyles menu. I've added it to the style gallery and set is as all ‘new documents based on this template’. This works for opening new documents but on old or imported documents, the style isn’t even on the whole style list and certainly not on the quick menu. I just want it ‘pinned’ to my ribbon in Word rather than each document.

Is there a way I can do this? And keep it readily accessible?

Thanks in advance.

I believe that you need to update the styles in older documents. This is done through the Developer tab, which may not be showing on your Ribbon. If not, go to the backstage (Options)/Customize Ribbon, and check the Developer tab box. Press Okay.

Back in your document, in the Developer tab, select Document Template. If you check the Automatically update styles box in teh dialogue that appears, it will add the style --and add/change any other style changes you made to the template. If that's what you want, press OK. BUT! Immediately open that dialoge again and uncheck the box. Otherwise, styles will be updated anytime you make a local change in your document! You could, for instance, suddenly see all your text turn bold.

If you prefer to not update all your styles, only to add the one, the process is longer. Rather than writing it all out here, let me suggest a shortcut. Create a document including the style, with just a word or letter and save it. To copy the style to any other open document, have your cursor at the letter or word in this special doc and press Control+Shift+c, which copies the style and formatting, not the letter or word. Then, with your cursor in the document to which you wish to add the style, press Control+Shift+v. The style will appear in the styles list and you can add it to the Gallery.

Styles are contained in documents.

They come from templates.


What is the relationship between a Microsoft Word document and its template?


You can copy styles from one template/document to another using the Organizer.


If this is one or two styles, I would recommend saving them as a QuickStyle Set that you would be able to attach to any document or template. To do this, in a document with your style, remove all other styles from the Quick Styles Gallery. Then save as a Quick Styles Set.


Use of the Organizer to import particular styles can also be done using macros and a global template as described here: A Global StyleSheet in Microsoft Word?

Adding a style to a template means that it will be available to future documents. Existing documents must be dealt with one by one.

__________________
Stefan Blom
Microsoft Word MVP

Microsoft 365 apps for business
Windows 11 Professional