I'm not sure if I am in the right section to ask this question.



I would like to know if there is some form of function in Microsoft word to auto-apply a style guide.

Where I work there is a corporate style guide which must be applied to all correspondence used by our department before dissemination. I would like to know if it is possible to create a macro of some form which automatically checks the word document against the corporate style guide and applies changes where it differs.

Is it possible to create something like this? Thanks in advance.

It is possible but would likely be labour intensive to set up and relatively problematic to enforce.
I guess it does depend on how prescriptive the corporate style guide is and whether there are cases where the style guide MUST be overridden.

In my experience, style guides are not created by users and tend to be out of touch with the content and workflows that users require. Forcing a style guide is only of value if it was created by knowledgeable users with access to a large bank of real-life example content.

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Andrew Lockton
Chrysalis Design, Melbourne Australia

I concur that such a macro would be labor-intensive and costly to maintain.

Start with a good set of styles in your Corporate workgroup templates. Give training on their use on a regular basis.

My VBA knowledge is Excel and not Word.

However, the Business Policy should include appropriate Templates for the various uses. Any document created should be created from that template. The Document used for a file will be listed in the documents Info. Any files that indicate an invalid or unapproved template would be subject to review automatically.
Users can add a Shortcut to the appropriate Network location of the Templates into the Personal Templates Folder.
A documents Styles in use can be viewed by Printing the Styles in Use for a document. In the Print dialogue from the File Ribbon, change the
Print All Pages to Styles. Obvious print to a PDF or other digital printer.
Style+ items will not be shown and would be problematic for this type of review.
Use the Document Protection feature with the Templates to restrict users to only use the Selected Styles. I believe you also want to restrict Style Set switching.

You could use the Themes and [Quick] Style Sets features in Word.
[Quick] Style Sets and Word Themes in Microsoft Word - Microsoft Community

It is possible to use the Organizer and macros that use this to transfer/harden styles. This is not all that simple but can include Table Styles.

• A Global StyleSheet in Microsoft Word?
• Outline Heading Styles Global Stylesheet Add-In

I stand by my original urging to distribute templates for various functions and train on their use.