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jstammer
 
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Default Table styles mysteriously disappear

This is driving me insane.

I'll work on a document all day long and customize my tables using a
custom formatted Table Style. Things go better some days than others,
but ultimately, I'll save the document or email it to someone and when
I open it again or it's sent back to me, all my table formatting
disappears!

So I have to go through the entire document and reapply the formatting
to each table. Not difficult in some documents but I'm currently
combining 32 different documents into one and it will take me forever
to keep doing this over and over again.

Also frustrating is that sometimes I've applied additional shading
after the table style is set. This formatting will go away when I
reapply the style.

One more weird behavior with tables (I don't know if it's related or
not). Often, out of nowhere, all the text in my tables will change to
something weird. I found a way to fix this...If I go to "Reveal
Formatting." I see the table style has somehow changed to a paragraph
style (e.g., Section Heading). To fix it, I select everything that
already has that style and assign a new style, then delete the
original. By doing this, the table formatting goes back to normal.

I am using Word 2003 but had the same problem in the previous version.
I was hoping when I upgraded it would take care of it. Please help!
Jodi

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Cindy M -WordMVP-
 
Posts: n/a
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Hi Jstammer,

I'll work on a document all day long and customize my tables using a
custom formatted Table Style. Things go better some days than others,
but ultimately, I'll save the document or email it to someone and

when
I open it again or it's sent back to me, all my table formatting
disappears!

did you create your own style, or modify a built-in one?

Also frustrating is that sometimes I've applied additional shading
after the table style is set. This formatting will go away when I
reapply the style.

This is to be expected.

One more weird behavior with tables (I don't know if it's related or
not). Often, out of nowhere, all the text in my tables will change to
something weird. I found a way to fix this...If I go to "Reveal
Formatting." I see the table style has somehow changed to a paragraph
style (e.g., Section Heading). To fix it, I select everything that
already has that style and assign a new style, then delete the
original. By doing this, the table formatting goes back to normal.

This, I would not expect. A table style cannot be linked to a paragraph
style. I would look for the problem elsewhere. Perhaps "char" styles
are being created in your document, for example, and the paragraph or
a character style that was used in your table has been linked
inadvertently to another style.

FWIW, a table will always reflect the paragraph style applied to the
current paragraph, when the table was created. If this is not the
NORMAL stlye, then the font formatting in the table style will not
appear. So, make sure you're always in a Normal paragraph before
creating a table and applying a style to it.

Cindy Meister
INTER-Solutions, Switzerland
http://homepage.swissonline.ch/cindymeister (last update Jun 8 2004)
http://www.word.mvps.org

This reply is posted in the Newsgroup; please post any follow question
or reply in the newsgroup and not by e-mail :-)

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jodzeee
 
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The style was created from scratch.

Can you tell me more about the char styles? Sometimes when I'm finished
formatting a document and I send it back to my client, when I get it
back after they've edited it, the styles suddenly become char styles
and even the heading styles get crazy, long names.

Maybe that topic should be another thread. I didn't find anything on it
when I did a search.

Thanks for the advice, when I create tables I will try to make sure it
is first set to Normal. However, usually I'm doing more formatting and
clean-up than creation of Word documents. Hopefully that advice will
help the stability though.

Jodi

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Cindy M -WordMVP-
 
Posts: n/a
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Hi Jodzeee,

The style was created from scratch.

Can you tell me more about the char styles? Sometimes when I'm finished
formatting a document and I send it back to my client, when I get it
back after they've edited it, the styles suddenly become char styles
and even the heading styles get crazy, long names.

It sounds like you're exchanging documents with people who don't use Word
2002 or 2003. Table styles were new in Word 2002, so if a document is
opened in an earlier version, all the table style information is lost.
That would also explain why the "char" is appearing when you get these
documents back. Word 2002/2003 will generate the "char", but not show it
to you (unless you go to Tools/Templates and Addins/Organizer and look at
the list of styles).

"Char" styles are generated when you select text - with no paragraph mark
included in the selection - and then apply a paragraph style. The program
assumes you want to apply the paragraph formatting to just some text, and
creates a character style, linked to the paragraph style, so that both
styles will always have the same font formatting.

When using styles, be careful to apply paragraph styles only to entire
paragraphs, or when no text is selected (then a paragraph style will
automatically be applied only to the one paragraph).

Cindy Meister
INTER-Solutions, Switzerland
http://homepage.swissonline.ch/cindymeister (last update Jun 8 2004)
http://www.word.mvps.org

This reply is posted in the Newsgroup; please post any follow question or
reply in the newsgroup and not by e-mail :-)

  #5   Report Post  
jodzeee
 
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Thank you, that makes sense about the char styles and helps a lot.

As far as the tables go though, the people I work with are all upgraded
to 2002 or 2003 so that's not the problem. The table styles will
sometimes disappear WHILE I'm working on the document. Sometimes I'll
just save it and when it's done, the tables all revert back or take on
some other formatting. It's really bizarre.

Jodi



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Cindy M -WordMVP-
 
Posts: n/a
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Hi Jodzeee,

As far as the tables go though, the people I work with are all upgraded
to 2002 or 2003 so that's not the problem. The table styles will
sometimes disappear WHILE I'm working on the document. Sometimes I'll
just save it and when it's done, the tables all revert back or take on
some other formatting. It's really bizarre.

Yes, that does sound odd. Check in Tools/OPtions/Save whether you've
disabled commands that aren't available in earlier versions? Also check
the default file type to which you're saving - make sure it's as a Word
document, and not something else (such as Word 6/95).

Cindy Meister
INTER-Solutions, Switzerland
http://homepage.swissonline.ch/cindymeister (last update Jun 8 2004)
http://www.word.mvps.org

This reply is posted in the Newsgroup; please post any follow question or
reply in the newsgroup and not by e-mail :-)

  #7   Report Post  
Klaus Linke
 
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For what it's worth: I've had the same problems as Jodzeee.

And when table styles broke (got linked to built-in styles ...), they usually
take other styles with them.
Suddenly other built-in styles develop links, mostly styles I've never used in
my life, and the document is essentially broken.

I usually go back to an older version at that point, swearing and muttering.
The method Jodzeee used (change the text in the broken styles to some other
style and then delete the broken styles) works, but you often loose a lot of
formatting. Especially if you don't look whether the broken styles have become
linked to some other styles, and fix/replace/delete those, too.

It's probably more trouble than it's worth.

The problems are the main reason I don't use table styles much yet, and am a bit
careful recommending them.

Regards,
Klaus


"Cindy M -WordMVP-" schrieb im Newsbeitrag
news:VA.0000a784.004ecbe0@speedy...
Hi Jodzeee,

As far as the tables go though, the people I work with are all upgraded
to 2002 or 2003 so that's not the problem. The table styles will
sometimes disappear WHILE I'm working on the document. Sometimes I'll
just save it and when it's done, the tables all revert back or take on
some other formatting. It's really bizarre.

Yes, that does sound odd. Check in Tools/OPtions/Save whether you've
disabled commands that aren't available in earlier versions? Also check
the default file type to which you're saving - make sure it's as a Word
document, and not something else (such as Word 6/95).

Cindy Meister
INTER-Solutions, Switzerland
http://homepage.swissonline.ch/cindymeister (last update Jun 8 2004)
http://www.word.mvps.org

This reply is posted in the Newsgroup; please post any follow question or
reply in the newsgroup and not by e-mail :-)



  #8   Report Post  
AlisaLimv
 
Posts: n/a
Default

So, how do you disable the table styles? They've corrupted my document
multiple times and like jstammer, I'm pretty fed up.

I can't delete or edit the Table Normal style, which is insisting on using
Times Roman even though I don't use it in my doc. I apply my paragraph style,
but it doesn't show in the style list as applied. The Table Grid style
auto-applies every time I create a table, whether using Insert Table or
Convert text to table, but it is based on Table Normal (see above). Half the
time when I open and close the document, it corrupts the table contents
(including once applying the style HTML Address to the contents, which I've
never used and had a heck of a time deleting).

I don't have spurious Char styles. And I'm using a template that I've used
for several years and that I've been able to keep working through all
previous Word version.

Personally, I would prefer not to use the table styles at all, but I can't
figure out now to turn them off.

Any help would be appreciated.

Alias


"Klaus Linke" wrote:

For what it's worth: I've had the same problems as Jodzeee.

And when table styles broke (got linked to built-in styles ...), they usually
take other styles with them.
Suddenly other built-in styles develop links, mostly styles I've never used in
my life, and the document is essentially broken.

I usually go back to an older version at that point, swearing and muttering.
The method Jodzeee used (change the text in the broken styles to some other
style and then delete the broken styles) works, but you often loose a lot of
formatting. Especially if you don't look whether the broken styles have become
linked to some other styles, and fix/replace/delete those, too.

It's probably more trouble than it's worth.

The problems are the main reason I don't use table styles much yet, and am a bit
careful recommending them.

Regards,
Klaus


"Cindy M -WordMVP-" schrieb im Newsbeitrag
news:VA.0000a784.004ecbe0@speedy...
Hi Jodzeee,

As far as the tables go though, the people I work with are all upgraded
to 2002 or 2003 so that's not the problem. The table styles will
sometimes disappear WHILE I'm working on the document. Sometimes I'll
just save it and when it's done, the tables all revert back or take on
some other formatting. It's really bizarre.

Yes, that does sound odd. Check in Tools/OPtions/Save whether you've
disabled commands that aren't available in earlier versions? Also check
the default file type to which you're saving - make sure it's as a Word
document, and not something else (such as Word 6/95).

Cindy Meister
INTER-Solutions, Switzerland
http://homepage.swissonline.ch/cindymeister (last update Jun 8 2004)
http://www.word.mvps.org

This reply is posted in the Newsgroup; please post any follow question or
reply in the newsgroup and not by e-mail :-)




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Klaus Linke
 
Posts: n/a
Default

Hi Alisa,

You could try to insert the document content into a clean document (= Create a
new empty doc based on the same template as the broken one, use "Insert File".
Or copy/paste everything except the last paragraph mark into the new doc.)

To see the mess, you can use the macro:

Sub ShowLinkStyles()
' Based on one of Cindy Meister's macros
' (any bugs are mine)
Dim myStyle As Style
Dim myStyleLinkedStyle As Style
' On Error Resume Next
For Each myStyle In ActiveDocument.Styles
If myStyle.LinkStyle = "" Then
MsgBox StyleType(myStyle.NameLocal) & _
" " & Chr(34) & myStyle.NameLocal & _
vbCr & "LinkStyle = """"??"
Else
Set myStyleLinkedStyle = myStyle.LinkStyle
If myStyleLinkedStyle _
ActiveDocument.Styles(wdStyleNormal) Then
Select Case MsgBox("The " & _
StyleType(myStyle.NameLocal) & _
" " & Chr(34) & myStyle.NameLocal & Chr(34) & _
" is linked to " & StyleType(myStyle.LinkStyle) & _
" " & Chr(34) & myStyle.LinkStyle & Chr(34) & _
". " & vbCr _
& "This in turn is linked to " & _
StyleType(myStyleLinkedStyle.LinkStyle.NameLocal) & _
" " & Chr(34) & myStyleLinkedStyle.LinkStyle.NameLocal _
& "." & Chr(34), _
vbOKCancel + vbInformation, "Styles linked:")
Case vbOK
Case vbCancel
Exit Sub
End Select
End If
End If
Next myStyle
End Sub

Function StyleType(StyleName As String) As String
Select Case ActiveDocument.Styles(StyleName).Type
Case wdStyleTypeParagraph
StyleType = "paragraph style"
Case wdStyleTypeCharacter
StyleType = "character style"
Case wdStyleTypeList
StyleType = "list style"
Case wdStyleTypeTable
StyleType = "table style"
Case Else
StyleType = "unknown style type"
End Select
End Function

Do you see link styles for your broken table styles? If my table styles break, I
usually do.

You'll find weird link styles in just about any document. In theory (as far as I
understood it), you can only have a paragraph style linked to *one* character
style, and then, that character style should be linked to the character style
too.
In reality, I see paragraph styles linked to other paragraph styles, list and
table styles linked to paragraph and character styles, character styles that are
linked to more than one paragraph style, and just about every other weird
combination imaginable.

Often, you don't see the linked style in the style dropdown or in the "styles
and formatting" task pane (but you do in "Edit Find Format Styles").

You could try to fix it by deleting linked styles, or changing the link style,
but in my experience, this often only makes matters worse.

Sorry for the bad news...
I think it's something that needs to get fixed by Microsoft.

Regards,
Klaus



"AlisaLimv" wrote:
So, how do you disable the table styles? They've corrupted my document
multiple times and like jstammer, I'm pretty fed up.

I can't delete or edit the Table Normal style, which is insisting on using
Times Roman even though I don't use it in my doc. I apply my paragraph style,
but it doesn't show in the style list as applied. The Table Grid style
auto-applies every time I create a table, whether using Insert Table or
Convert text to table, but it is based on Table Normal (see above). Half the
time when I open and close the document, it corrupts the table contents
(including once applying the style HTML Address to the contents, which I've
never used and had a heck of a time deleting).

I don't have spurious Char styles. And I'm using a template that I've used
for several years and that I've been able to keep working through all
previous Word version.

Personally, I would prefer not to use the table styles at all, but I can't
figure out now to turn them off.

Any help would be appreciated.

Alias


"Klaus Linke" wrote:

For what it's worth: I've had the same problems as Jodzeee.

And when table styles broke (got linked to built-in styles ...), they

usually
take other styles with them.
Suddenly other built-in styles develop links, mostly styles I've never used

in
my life, and the document is essentially broken.

I usually go back to an older version at that point, swearing and muttering.
The method Jodzeee used (change the text in the broken styles to some other
style and then delete the broken styles) works, but you often loose a lot of
formatting. Especially if you don't look whether the broken styles have

become
linked to some other styles, and fix/replace/delete those, too.

It's probably more trouble than it's worth.

The problems are the main reason I don't use table styles much yet, and am a

bit
careful recommending them.

Regards,
Klaus


"Cindy M -WordMVP-" schrieb im Newsbeitrag
news:VA.0000a784.004ecbe0@speedy...
Hi Jodzeee,

As far as the tables go though, the people I work with are all upgraded
to 2002 or 2003 so that's not the problem. The table styles will
sometimes disappear WHILE I'm working on the document. Sometimes I'll
just save it and when it's done, the tables all revert back or take on
some other formatting. It's really bizarre.

Yes, that does sound odd. Check in Tools/OPtions/Save whether you've
disabled commands that aren't available in earlier versions? Also check
the default file type to which you're saving - make sure it's as a Word
document, and not something else (such as Word 6/95).

Cindy Meister
INTER-Solutions, Switzerland
http://homepage.swissonline.ch/cindymeister (last update Jun 8 2004)
http://www.word.mvps.org

This reply is posted in the Newsgroup; please post any follow question or
reply in the newsgroup and not by e-mail :-)






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