[Herb Tyson [MVP]]

I tend to go for the "easiest" solution when answering such questions. I'll
have to answer a few with the "best" solution, then save that reply for
future use.

--
Herb Tyson MS MVP
Author of the Word 2007 Bible
Blog: http://word2007bible.herbtyson.com
Web: http://www.herbtyson.com


"Suzanne S. Barnhill" wrote in message
...
Thanks for all the clarification, Beth. I can see I will have a lot to
learn
to get up to speed when I finally get Office 2007 installed!

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://word.mvps.org
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup
so
all may benefit.

"Beth Melton" wrote in message
...
Actually, modifying the Normal style for Normal.dotm (or any template) is
no
longer the advised method. Instead, one should modify the Document
Defaults
which were previously hard-wired into the application and inaccessible.

The rationale behind this is if the formats for the Normal style are the
same as the Document Defaults, the Normal style isn't actually
defined-it's
an "empty" style and the Document Defaults are used instead. That being
the
case, in Word 2007, if you do not modify your Normal style and if you
base
your styles on the Normal style, essentially you are using the Document
Defaults and changes made to the Document Defaults will be reflected in
the
Normal style.

Here are a couple solid reasons for the rationale:

- If you leave the Normal style empty you will no longer encounter
certain
style bugs, such as those encountered when using Table styles.
(Finally!!)

- Modifying the Document Defaults is the only way to truly change the
default formats. Otherwise, the Document Defaults will still use the
default
formatting, such as 1.15 line spacing and 10 point space after paragraphs
which can "sneak" back into your document, for example when you base a
style
on (No Style).

Now, the latter, basing styles on (No Style) brings an entirely new
aspect
to styles, since we have access to the Document Defaults, but I'll save
that
for another time. :-)

Please post all follow-up questions to the newsgroup. Requests for
assistance by email cannot be acknowledged.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Beth Melton
Microsoft Office MVP

Coauthor of Word 2007 Inside Out:
http://www.microsoft.com/MSPress/boo...x#AboutTheBook

Word FAQ: http://mvps.org/word
TechTrax eZine: http://mousetrax.com/techtrax/
MVP FAQ site: http://mvps.org/

"Herb Tyson [MVP]" wrote in message
...
2. Default paragraph spacing

The easiest way here is to modify the paragraph spacing for the default
style. In the Home tab, right-click on Normal and choose Modify. In the
Modify Style dialog, near the bottom, click New documents based on this
template. This will copy any changes you make to the current template
(Normal.dotm).

At the bottom left, click Format - Paragraph. In the Indents and
Spacing
tab, set your spacing as desired. Click OK. Back in the Modify Styles
dialog, you can choose Format and make any other changes you want as
well.
You can also use the formatting controls that are displayed in the
Modify
Style dialog box itself. When you're done, ensure that "New documents
based on this template" is still selected, then click OK.

Having done #1 and #2, new documents you create based on Normal.dotm
will
use your preferred margins and paragraph spacing.

You're using Normal as your default paragraph style. Note that a lot of
other styles are based on Normal. So, when you change Normal, those
changes will trickle down to a number of other styles, such as heading
styles.