I´m making layout on a book in Word 2010. It looks like I want it to now, but the formating is lousy, and since there´ll be more volumes of the book, I want to have the file reformated in a new template, that defines all the typographies and setttings. The file size is now about 7 Mb, which is far too much.



Q: Do I 1) Set up the new template first, paste the whole text into that and start reformating and cleaning up or 2) Make everything in the old file and then save as new template??

I'd create the template from start, especially since the document you have now has "lousy" formatting. For more, start with the articles at http://word.mvps.org/faqs/customizat...platePart1.htm and http://www.shaunakelly.com/topic/word/styles.

To clean up the original document: Save a copy of the file for reference. Then apply Normal style to all text. Copy it into a newly created document based on the template that you created.

__________________
Stefan Blom
Microsoft Word MVP

Microsoft 365 apps for business
Windows 11 Professional

Thanks for the advice. So I guess this means I´ll have to work my way through formatting the whole book over again in the new document, applying every title and chapter to the appropriate style? That´s why I figured I could make the transition a bit easyer if the main styles were already applied in the master-file, which would in the end have most of the styles/settings that the new template will have. But maybe you´re right! What about inserted pictures (only black and white drawings, mostly ".tif"), do I paste them also along with the whole text?

If the file that you have is properly formatted with styles you don't have to start quite from the beginning of course. If there are lots of direct formatting applied on top of the styles, you can clear it by selecting the text and pressing Ctrl+SpaceBar (resets font formatting) and pressing Ctrl+Q (resets paragraph formatting). Or you can use Find & Replace to replace specific formatting with other formatting (or with a specific style).

__________________
Stefan Blom
Microsoft Word MVP

Microsoft 365 apps for business
Windows 11 Professional

Hi

Starting a new file and preparing the document of your choice is better than repair work. once you have the file ready inserting text n image will not be tough.

Hi, I´m back!
Yeah, I´ve read that pasting the content of a file into a another new file is good for cleaning up, so I figure this is the way I should proceed: 1) I make a new template, defining all the needed styles, headings etc. 2) clear all formatting in the old file and 3) paste the content of that file into the new template, 4) going through the whole document assigning the styles to the text etc. 5) saving as new file, of course
How does that sound?

Great to know that Happy documenting