I use Body Text. I would urge you to read Suzanne's short article as well as
the longer articles she links to. The
http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/Custom...platePart2.htm is
especially important if you are trying to build company-wide templates.
Also, if automatic numbering will play a part in your templates, look at:

How to create numbered headings or outline numbering in your Word document
http://www.shaunakelly.com/word/numb...Numbering.html. (For
bullets see http://www.shaunakelly.com/word/bull...olbullets.html, the
subject is related.)

This is based on ...

Word's Numbering Explained
http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/Number...gExplained.htm

It sounds as if you already have a much better feel for styles and their
importance than most. Good luck.
--
Charles Kenyon

Word New User FAQ & Web Directory: http://addbalance.com/word

Intermediate User's Guide to Microsoft Word (supplemented version of
Microsoft's Legal Users' Guide) http://addbalance.com/usersguide

See also the MVP FAQ: http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/ which is awesome!
--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
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from my ignorance and your wisdom.


"Adrian" wrote in message
...
Hi,



My company has undergone a few mergers and I am now tasked with
standardizing our style sheets across offices. I'd like some advice on
this.



The templates I have been using till now use "Normal" as body text rather
than a specific style called "Body Text" or similar. (One of our offices
uses "Body Text".) Most tech authors seem to advocate staying away from
Normal, but I don't see any problem with it as long as you follow these
simple rules:



i. You base any styles you don't want to change if Normal changes on "no
style" or another style.



ii. If more than one person will work on the same master document, you
EITHER give strict orders never to select "Automatically update document
styles" in the Templates dialog box OR you make sure that everyone in the
authoring team has the same definition of "Normal" in their "Normal"
template OR you attach the document to a template on a shared network
folder that you know will always be available, and in which the "Normal"
style matches that of the document.



I don't see any problem with copy/pasting from other documents or emails
that use Normal, particularly with the latest versions of Word where you
get a dropdown menu that allows you to choose whether to retain source or
target formatting when you paste. To me this is easier than reformatting
imported Normal text as Body Text. Even if somebody accidentally chooses
"retain source formatting" when pasting, as far as I can see you can
easily tidy this up by selecting "Automatically update document styles",
saving, and then clearing this setting (or by selecting the offending text
and clicking ctrl + space).



Does this make sense?



IMO, the arguments against using Normal are pretty weak. That said, I
don't think the arguments against Body Text are strong either; six of one
and half a dozen of the other.



In any case, is there any good reason to use "Body Text", but still base
it on "Normal"? I have seen this in some templates, but it just doesn't
make any sense to me.



Thanks,



Adrian