Hi friends, hope you are all well!

I changed the formatting of a certain character style and then told Word to update the style based on the selection. But it DID NOT update all the other instances of text formatted with that char style. If I go to those instances and then select the text and click on the char style it does give it the new formatting. So why isn't it updating automatically? IN style inspector (before I re-click the style again) it does show the selected text formatted with he desired char style but as I said the text is not formatted as such.



Thank you and have a good day!

Susan Flamingo

What you are describing should work properly.

Could you share a sample document for illustration?

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Stefan Blom
Microsoft Word MVP

Microsoft 365 apps for business
Windows 11 Professional

I've never tried using 'update based on selection' for a Character style but it strikes me as being a dodgy way to do things because the underlying paragraph style settings would confuse the system.

I would recommend you only modify Character styles via the more traditional Modify Style dialog.

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Andrew Lockton
Chrysalis Design, Melbourne Australia

Explicitly modifying a style in the Modify Style dialog box will often be better, in the sense that you get full control over the modifications made.

However, the Update <style name> to Match Selection command should be predictable. The command would only add content that was added as overrides (direct formatting) to the underlying style. This applies to both paragraph and character styles.

__________________
Stefan Blom
Microsoft Word MVP

Microsoft 365 apps for business
Windows 11 Professional

Stefan



Thank you for that little GEM of information. I've been plagued by the problem of trying to back out a font setting from a Character style and you have just provided the key which cracks this problem.

When a Character style has had any typeface applied to it, you can't 'remove' that font attribute from the Character style ever again. You can reassign it to a different typeface but you can't clear the font, either in the Modify Style dialog, nor with VBA.

The only way I found I could do it was by 'deleting' the character style (which clears all its settings). In the case of built-in character styles, deleting the style doesn't really remove the style but it does hide the style AND clear all its customised settings. I say customised settings because Word appears to have some character attributes by default (Strong is bold, Emphasis is Italic etc)

Now you come in like some white knight and give me the clue that all this fiddling around to remove the typeface could have been solved by a simple Update style to match selection. AMAZING...

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Andrew Lockton
Chrysalis Design, Melbourne Australia

Hi Andrew,

Another way to "reset" a style so that a setting (such as the font) is no longer explicitly stored in the style and returns to being inherited from the parent style would be to copy the style from another document or template, of course, using the Organizer dialog box.

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Stefan Blom
Microsoft Word MVP

Microsoft 365 apps for business
Windows 11 Professional

Alternatively, just edit the XML for that style.

I'm sure that is the most efficient choice, but not something that we could all do. :-)

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Stefan Blom
Microsoft Word MVP

Microsoft 365 apps for business
Windows 11 Professional

>>Alternatively, just edit the XML for that style
Could you point me in the direction where I can learn how to do that? Or give a quick explanation here?

I am freeeekin out of my mind...I fixed this by searching and replacing that style with that style (sounds really dumb....) but now I see that every time I exit the file and reopen Word and reopen that file the style is not formatted correctly (when I choose the text it says the right style and the style properties are set correctly... this must be the Ghost of Matilda Gates haunting a loyal Word user for over 30 years... but what should I do to stop the farse?

Thank you and have a good day!

Susan Flamingo

I should have made clear that my comment was a response to the post from Andrew, who I am sure is more than capable of editing the XML

@Italophile Please keep in mind that the post should also address the original poster, RRB.
@RRB Hi Susan,
That should be a separate question after you do an Internet search about editing the XML of a Word document. You start by changing the filename extension of a document from .docx to .zip or .docx.zip (my favorite). The file can then be unpacked in Windows Explorer and the individual portions edited using a text editor like NotePad or NotePad++. I recommend working with copies of your files until you are confident with this.
Perhaps after you do that, you can post a separate question with specific problems or questions about XML that you might have. I am sure that Italophile will be happy to assist.
Take a look at Customize the Office Ribbon (It doesn't take rocket science) by Greg Maxey which is about modifying the XML that makes up the Ribbon.

Susan
This makes me think that you have set the document to Update styles on Open. This would cause the style settings to be re-imported from the attached template every time you open it. If this is the case, you should either turn this setting OFF or make the style changes in that template first.

Attached Images

Screenshot 2024-04-12 080053.png (10.4 KB, 5 views)

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Andrew Lockton
Chrysalis Design, Melbourne Australia