Unable to Change or Update One of My Heading Styles

[skeezix]

When I opened a document that I work on every day (call it Doc 1.doc), I saw that one of my styles (Heading 2) has changed since I last closed that document. So I clicked Format>Style>Organizer and compared Heading 2 in Doc 1,doc to Heading 2 in my Normal.dot file. There was no difference. Here is the description for Heading 2 and it's identical to Heading 2 in Normal.dot:



Heading 1 _Font: 12 pt, Kern at 11 pt, Level 2, Outline Numbered, Automatically update

So in the Normal.dot list box I highlighted Heading 2 and copied it over to Doc 1.doc by clicking Copy. When I went to Doc 1.doc there was no change.

I've tried a number of things like redefining Heading 2 in Doc 1.doc. For instance, I tried copying Heading 2 from a few of the other documents over to Doc 1.doc but it didn't help. No matter what I've dine I just cannot change Heading 2 in Doc 1.doc. I can change and update all of the other styles in Doc 1.doc without problems.

I have several other Word docs that use the same style sheet (Normal.dot) and that do not have this problem. Some of those documents are at least 20 years old. I'm at a loss as to what to do next. (I am using Word 2000.)

[skeezix]

I also tried deleting everything in Doc 1.doc and then copying everything from another document into Doc 1.doc but that didn't help either.

[Charles Kenyon]

Thoughts before addressing your question (feel free to ignore):

1. A document that you use every day? Unless this is some kind of journal, it should be a template. Templates in Microsoft Word
2. I understand the idea of "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." However, Word 2000 was broke when it was put out by Microsoft, IMO. Office 2003 is a good stable version. If you do not want the learning curve of switching to the Ribbon UI, I suggest trying to find that. If going to the Ribbon, Office 2010 is quite good. I am using 365 and that has plusses and minuses.

Could you please attach two documents here? (One of them that has the problem style and a second that has the style the way you want it.)


Attach a Sample File Demonstrating the Problem - Here's How

[Guessed]

The style definitions can be imported from other files and still show differences if the document's font or color themes differ.