The Document Defaults enable you to set base formatting for your styles
which is something we couldn't do prior to Word 2007.
Some background: In previous versions the Document Defaults were hard-wired
into the application (such as Times New Roman 12 pts) and in order to modify
the defaults for your styles you needed to modify the Normal style (or use
another base style). To add another tidbit that factors into the scheme of
Document Defaults is something most don't know and that is the Normal style
is "empty" until it's modified. Initially it has no defined formatting and
obtains its formats from the Document Defaults. (Microsoft has been fooling
us for years. grin) IOW, if you do not modify your Normal style and if you
base your styles on the Normal style, you are actually using the Document
Defaults as your base formatting and changes made to the Document Defaults
will be reflected in the Normal style.
Additionally, If you do not explicitly define a format in a style the
Document Defaults will be used. For example, if you create a new style and
do not change the default font and later change the font on the Set Defaults
tab, your style will update to the new default.
In Word 2007, you actually want to refrain from modifying your Normal
style -- especially if it's for setting base defaults -- and use the
Document Defaults instead. Doing so will avoid various style nuances that
occur when you modify the Normal style, such as a long-standing issue of
specifying a font size in Table Styles.
Also note there are additional formats for the Document Defaults that are
not visible in the Manage Styles dialog box. All formatting options found in
the Font and Paragraph dialog boxes and can be set as the Document Defaults
using the Default button at the bottom. (They elected to suppress those
formats you really don't want to use for your document defaults, such as the
pagination options, in the Manage Styles dialog box.)
Now, this change also changes other style behaviors, such as when you base a
style on "No Style", but I'm not sure how deep you want to get into this
topic. :-)
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/
"Tom Smith" tomDOTsmith68AT@verizonDOTnet wrote in message
...
Word 2007 under windows XP
I'm just getting around to looking at features in the new Word version.
I've happened onto the Manage Styles window, which has 4 tabs. My question
is: What does the Set Defaults tab pertain to? I've opened a document in a
template I use, with Times New Roman @ 13. So far so good. When I happened
into the Set Defaults tab, it shows TMR @ 10 points. I simply cancelled
out of it, but am wondering what its relationship is to the style of the
open document--or others.
Has anyone puzzled this out? Many thanks. Tjom