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#1
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Controlling Unexpected Font Changes
I have been helping some new users learn Word, but they are frustrated
by something that I've heard many complain about. Say you're editing a document that contains multiple fonts, and you select, say, "Times New Roman" as the font you want to type in. Then you move to another location in the document, and type, but the new text is not in "Times New Roman" but something else! Now *I* know why this happens -- hidden embedded commands setting the font for the current cursor position. But this is counter-intuitive to many new users -- If they select "Times New Roman", they expect everything they type from then on to display in "Times New Roman"! How can I explain the logic to a new user so that he/she will accept it? This may be a problem withsome of my older and more set-in-their-way-of- thinking members of the group. Also, it doesn't seem "logical" *at all* (even to me), when all text in a certain font is deleted, but the embedded command is still there, so if you move the cursor there and type, it's mysteriously in a different font -- This frustrates people more than anything! Better still, is there a macro or other workaround that will force Word to behave in the way these users expect? Dave |
#2
Posted to microsoft.public.word.newusers
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Controlling Unexpected Font Changes
Hi Dave,
My suggestion: Teach your users about styles and how to use them correctly. Cheers -- macropod [MVP - Microsoft Word] ------------------------- "Dave Hardenbrook" wrote in message .net... I have been helping some new users learn Word, but they are frustrated by something that I've heard many complain about. Say you're editing a document that contains multiple fonts, and you select, say, "Times New Roman" as the font you want to type in. Then you move to another location in the document, and type, but the new text is not in "Times New Roman" but something else! Now *I* know why this happens -- hidden embedded commands setting the font for the current cursor position. But this is counter-intuitive to many new users -- If they select "Times New Roman", they expect everything they type from then on to display in "Times New Roman"! How can I explain the logic to a new user so that he/she will accept it? This may be a problem withsome of my older and more set-in-their-way-of- thinking members of the group. Also, it doesn't seem "logical" *at all* (even to me), when all text in a certain font is deleted, but the embedded command is still there, so if you move the cursor there and type, it's mysteriously in a different font -- This frustrates people more than anything! Better still, is there a macro or other workaround that will force Word to behave in the way these users expect? Dave |
#3
Posted to microsoft.public.word.newusers
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Controlling Unexpected Font Changes
The font is not €śchanging€ť when they click elsewhere - their position in the
document is changing. To use an analogy, if you have three plates on the counter, each with a different kind of bread on it, moving the knife from plate one to plate two will not change the kind of bread, only the position of the knife. You would not even expect the kind of bread to change. Same with the insertion point, as you move it around in the document, formatting does not follow you - you are simply positioning your insertion point in what may very well be different formatting. This formatting is by no means hidden, if you look at the formatting toolbar when you move your insertion point, it will always show you the formats applied to the current position. If they are having problems because they change the font when they first open the document and then latter on the font changes back to the default on them, this is because changing the font of the insertion point at the beginning does not change the base font of the document. Even in an empty document, you should select all before changing the font if you want to make sure to keep it throughout. Turning on Show/Hide so that they can see that there is something to select might help them understand better whats happening. In my opinion, it would be a mistake to attempt to make anything work the way they expect it to, rather than help them understand why it works the way it does. It would just make it worse when they had to work on a different machine or new install. "Dave Hardenbrook" wrote: I have been helping some new users learn Word, but they are frustrated by something that I've heard many complain about. Say you're editing a document that contains multiple fonts, and you select, say, "Times New Roman" as the font you want to type in. Then you move to another location in the document, and type, but the new text is not in "Times New Roman" but something else! Now *I* know why this happens -- hidden embedded commands setting the font for the current cursor position. But this is counter-intuitive to many new users -- If they select "Times New Roman", they expect everything they type from then on to display in "Times New Roman"! How can I explain the logic to a new user so that he/she will accept it? This may be a problem withsome of my older and more set-in-their-way-of- thinking members of the group. Also, it doesn't seem "logical" *at all* (even to me), when all text in a certain font is deleted, but the embedded command is still there, so if you move the cursor there and type, it's mysteriously in a different font -- This frustrates people more than anything! Better still, is there a macro or other workaround that will force Word to behave in the way these users expect? Dave |
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