At first, verify that it isn't in fact direct formatting: Select the
text and press Ctrl+SpaceBar (to remove font formatting) and then
press Ctrl+Q (to remove paragraph formatting).

Another thing to consider: Are the heading styles based on another
style (by default, they are based on the Normal style)? If so, your
users could be changing the parent style, which would cause the
headings to inherit it. And if the parent has the "Automatically
update" option turned on, modifications would of course automatically
be transferred to the child (doesn't apply to properties explicitly
changed in the child style, though).

--
Stefan Blom
Microsoft Word MVP


"Jackie" wrote in message
ups.com...
I've posted this problem before but was unable to find a solution.
I've set up heading styles according to the recommended method on
these
boards. All of my style documents are templates. Some users are
trying to amend the paragraphs manually. In some cases when they do
this (usually by changing the indent or tabbing) this direct
formatting
seems to be attaching itself to the style and from that point on the
indent is 'off'. Automatically update is not ticked in the style
definitions. Can anyone explain why this can happen? And is there
anything I can do to avoid it? I know I can take the direct
formatting out but this doesn't work as the styles seems to have
updated itself in each case. This is happening with more and more
users and is driving me crazy.