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#1
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Best approach to getting styles into a document
Word 2003
I need a way to make sure a set of custom styles is easily brought into the active document. I have created a template (xyzco-styles.dot) that contains the xyzco styles. Which would be the best approach - to use a macro that copies all styles from xyzco-styles.dot into the active document OR to use a macro that attaches the xyzco-styles.dot to the active document? My tests have shown me that when I attach the template, the styles do not show up in the active doc unless Automatically update document styles was checked. Are there any other implications to this choice? I am tending towards the attach template idea because we may add or remove styles occasionally and updating a macro that specifically copies styles would be overhead we don't want to add. I plan on creating a custom toolbar in an xyzco.dot and that is where the above mentioned macro would reside. This template would live in the MS Office Startup folder so the toolbar is available when Word starts. Am I on track? Thanks! |
#2
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Best approach to getting styles into a document
Use Word's built-in Organizer, a very handy utility that is very hard to
find in Word. Go to Tools-Customize, and click the Keyboard button. In the left menu select Format, in the right FormatStyle (the first of several Style choices). Assign a keyboard command to it. Close Customize and press the keyboard command you created. This will bring up a menu titled just plain "Style." In the lower left corner, click Organizer. You can open your xyzco document in one of the windows, and the active document, or any other, in the other window. You can then select individual styles, or all of the styles, and move them into any document(s) you want. You can even pick and choose styles to move over by using the Ctrl key to select non-contiguous styles. "AnnieB" wrote in message ... Word 2003 I need a way to make sure a set of custom styles is easily brought into the active document. I have created a template (xyzco-styles.dot) that contains the xyzco styles. Which would be the best approach - to use a macro that copies all styles from xyzco-styles.dot into the active document OR to use a macro that attaches the xyzco-styles.dot to the active document? My tests have shown me that when I attach the template, the styles do not show up in the active doc unless Automatically update document styles was checked. Are there any other implications to this choice? I am tending towards the attach template idea because we may add or remove styles occasionally and updating a macro that specifically copies styles would be overhead we don't want to add. I plan on creating a custom toolbar in an xyzco.dot and that is where the above mentioned macro would reside. This template would live in the MS Office Startup folder so the toolbar is available when Word starts. Am I on track? Thanks! |
#3
Posted to microsoft.public.word.docmanagement
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Best approach to getting styles into a document
Hi Richard,
I know how to use Organizer. One of the macros I described uses Organizer. The need is to have a single button that brings in or makes available to the active document all "xyzco" styles from the xyzco-styles.dot. My users will not tolerate the time it takes to pick and choose, and I do not want them to have a choice. They edit documents from many different sources, internal and external, and our protocol is to copy everything except the last paragraph mark, paste unformatted text into a new blank doc, then apply xyzco styles. So my question was - is it preferable create a macro using the Organizer to copy styles OR create a macro which attaches xyzco-styles.dot to the active doc? Are there any issues surrounding attaching the template vs. copying in the styles? :-) "Richard O. Neville" wrote: Use Word's built-in Organizer, a very handy utility that is very hard to find in Word. Go to Tools-Customize, and click the Keyboard button. In the left menu select Format, in the right FormatStyle (the first of several Style choices). Assign a keyboard command to it. Close Customize and press the keyboard command you created. This will bring up a menu titled just plain "Style." In the lower left corner, click Organizer. You can open your xyzco document in one of the windows, and the active document, or any other, in the other window. You can then select individual styles, or all of the styles, and move them into any document(s) you want. You can even pick and choose styles to move over by using the Ctrl key to select non-contiguous styles. "AnnieB" wrote in message ... Word 2003 I need a way to make sure a set of custom styles is easily brought into the active document. I have created a template (xyzco-styles.dot) that contains the xyzco styles. Which would be the best approach - to use a macro that copies all styles from xyzco-styles.dot into the active document OR to use a macro that attaches the xyzco-styles.dot to the active document? My tests have shown me that when I attach the template, the styles do not show up in the active doc unless Automatically update document styles was checked. Are there any other implications to this choice? I am tending towards the attach template idea because we may add or remove styles occasionally and updating a macro that specifically copies styles would be overhead we don't want to add. I plan on creating a custom toolbar in an xyzco.dot and that is where the above mentioned macro would reside. This template would live in the MS Office Startup folder so the toolbar is available when Word starts. Am I on track? Thanks! |
#4
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Best approach to getting styles into a document
I would think it would be preferable for the new blank doc to be based on
the template that stores the styles, then they will all be in there automatically. Since a new blank doc is part of the protocol anyhow.... On 2/7/06 3:01 PM, "AnnieB" wrote: Hi Richard, I know how to use Organizer. One of the macros I described uses Organizer. The need is to have a single button that brings in or makes available to the active document all "xyzco" styles from the xyzco-styles.dot. My users will not tolerate the time it takes to pick and choose, and I do not want them to have a choice. They edit documents from many different sources, internal and external, and our protocol is to copy everything except the last paragraph mark, paste unformatted text into a new blank doc, then apply xyzco styles. So my question was - is it preferable create a macro using the Organizer to copy styles OR create a macro which attaches xyzco-styles.dot to the active doc? Are there any issues surrounding attaching the template vs. copying in the styles? :-) "Richard O. Neville" wrote: Use Word's built-in Organizer, a very handy utility that is very hard to find in Word. Go to Tools-Customize, and click the Keyboard button. In the left menu select Format, in the right FormatStyle (the first of several Style choices). Assign a keyboard command to it. Close Customize and press the keyboard command you created. This will bring up a menu titled just plain "Style." In the lower left corner, click Organizer. You can open your xyzco document in one of the windows, and the active document, or any other, in the other window. You can then select individual styles, or all of the styles, and move them into any document(s) you want. You can even pick and choose styles to move over by using the Ctrl key to select non-contiguous styles. "AnnieB" wrote in message ... Word 2003 I need a way to make sure a set of custom styles is easily brought into the active document. I have created a template (xyzco-styles.dot) that contains the xyzco styles. Which would be the best approach - to use a macro that copies all styles from xyzco-styles.dot into the active document OR to use a macro that attaches the xyzco-styles.dot to the active document? My tests have shown me that when I attach the template, the styles do not show up in the active doc unless Automatically update document styles was checked. Are there any other implications to this choice? I am tending towards the attach template idea because we may add or remove styles occasionally and updating a macro that specifically copies styles would be overhead we don't want to add. I plan on creating a custom toolbar in an xyzco.dot and that is where the above mentioned macro would reside. This template would live in the MS Office Startup folder so the toolbar is available when Word starts. Am I on track? Thanks! -- Daiya Mitchell, MVP Mac/Word Word FAQ: http://www.word.mvps.org/ MacWord Tips: http://www.word.mvps.org/MacWordNew/ What's an MVP? A volunteer! Read the FAQ: http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/ |
#5
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Best approach to getting styles into a document
Yes, thanks, I think we will do that. There are times when users will not go
the copy & paste special route, so I should still plan on a way togte the styles into the doc they're working on. I'm leaning to attaching the template. Thank you! "Daiya Mitchell" wrote: I would think it would be preferable for the new blank doc to be based on the template that stores the styles, then they will all be in there automatically. Since a new blank doc is part of the protocol anyhow.... On 2/7/06 3:01 PM, "AnnieB" wrote: Hi Richard, I know how to use Organizer. One of the macros I described uses Organizer. The need is to have a single button that brings in or makes available to the active document all "xyzco" styles from the xyzco-styles.dot. My users will not tolerate the time it takes to pick and choose, and I do not want them to have a choice. They edit documents from many different sources, internal and external, and our protocol is to copy everything except the last paragraph mark, paste unformatted text into a new blank doc, then apply xyzco styles. So my question was - is it preferable create a macro using the Organizer to copy styles OR create a macro which attaches xyzco-styles.dot to the active doc? Are there any issues surrounding attaching the template vs. copying in the styles? :-) "Richard O. Neville" wrote: Use Word's built-in Organizer, a very handy utility that is very hard to find in Word. Go to Tools-Customize, and click the Keyboard button. In the left menu select Format, in the right FormatStyle (the first of several Style choices). Assign a keyboard command to it. Close Customize and press the keyboard command you created. This will bring up a menu titled just plain "Style." In the lower left corner, click Organizer. You can open your xyzco document in one of the windows, and the active document, or any other, in the other window. You can then select individual styles, or all of the styles, and move them into any document(s) you want. You can even pick and choose styles to move over by using the Ctrl key to select non-contiguous styles. "AnnieB" wrote in message ... Word 2003 I need a way to make sure a set of custom styles is easily brought into the active document. I have created a template (xyzco-styles.dot) that contains the xyzco styles. Which would be the best approach - to use a macro that copies all styles from xyzco-styles.dot into the active document OR to use a macro that attaches the xyzco-styles.dot to the active document? My tests have shown me that when I attach the template, the styles do not show up in the active doc unless Automatically update document styles was checked. Are there any other implications to this choice? I am tending towards the attach template idea because we may add or remove styles occasionally and updating a macro that specifically copies styles would be overhead we don't want to add. I plan on creating a custom toolbar in an xyzco.dot and that is where the above mentioned macro would reside. This template would live in the MS Office Startup folder so the toolbar is available when Word starts. Am I on track? Thanks! -- Daiya Mitchell, MVP Mac/Word Word FAQ: http://www.word.mvps.org/ MacWord Tips: http://www.word.mvps.org/MacWordNew/ What's an MVP? A volunteer! Read the FAQ: http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/ |
#7
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Best approach to getting styles into a document
John - thanks for the input!
For the time being, all numbering is being done manually. This is for a small law firm - who do not yet want to buy any of the paragraph numbering add-ins marketed to law firms. I have been thinking about teaching them how to do numbering using SEQ fields, but that is in the future. The firm never had any training on Word but have been using it for many years, so they are a sloppy mess. :-) Added to that - they never sought advice as they transitioned from WordPerfect to Word, so they have experienced a myriad of problems as they opened all those old (some very old) WP docs in Word. I have experience with the Levit & James and Microsystems products used at law firms when making the change ... and also have developed a process based on Word's top-down structure to help these users 1) clean up old documents and 2) learn how to use Word the way Word works. So your input re the attached templates is very helpful as I try to make their lives simpler. There is a base set of firm styles I 've developed, which will not change. We may add styles in the future. I should add - they have no one to maintain any of this - I am a consultant - one of my proposals to them is they add a "help desk" type person. We'll see. Thank you again! AnnieB "John McGhie [MVP - Word and Word Macinto" wrote: Hi Annie: Attached Templates are a pain to maintain across a network or if you have users on a laptop. Once you have created a document, it makes no further reference to the styles in the attached template )or any other kind of template) unless you force it with "Automatically update style on open" when you attach the template. If you DO force "Automatically update..." the style definitions are overwritten with the style definitions in the template each time the document is opened with the template accessible. However, when this update occurs, it blows away any paragraph or list numbering in the document being opened, depending on how that numbering is performed. So if you want to deal with style updates by using an attached template, you need to use field-based numbering rather than list-based numbering. If instead you attach the template WITHOUT "Automatically update styles..." you can then write a macro that will run through and "Selectively" add or update styles from the template each time the document opens. To get this macro to add styles that are not already in the document, you would need to identify the style names that may possibly have numbering, and explicitly NOT involve them in the update. I would enumerate the style collection in the template and use a Select...Case... based on the style name, set to do nothing if the style name is one of the styles that has numbering, otherwise to copy the style in tot he document. Cheers On 8/2/06 10:29 AM, in article , "AnnieB" wrote: Yes, thanks, I think we will do that. There are times when users will not go the copy & paste special route, so I should still plan on a way togte the styles into the doc they're working on. I'm leaning to attaching the template. Thank you! "Daiya Mitchell" wrote: I would think it would be preferable for the new blank doc to be based on the template that stores the styles, then they will all be in there automatically. Since a new blank doc is part of the protocol anyhow.... On 2/7/06 3:01 PM, "AnnieB" wrote: Hi Richard, I know how to use Organizer. One of the macros I described uses Organizer. The need is to have a single button that brings in or makes available to the active document all "xyzco" styles from the xyzco-styles.dot. My users will not tolerate the time it takes to pick and choose, and I do not want them to have a choice. They edit documents from many different sources, internal and external, and our protocol is to copy everything except the last paragraph mark, paste unformatted text into a new blank doc, then apply xyzco styles. So my question was - is it preferable create a macro using the Organizer to copy styles OR create a macro which attaches xyzco-styles.dot to the active doc? Are there any issues surrounding attaching the template vs. copying in the styles? :-) "Richard O. Neville" wrote: Use Word's built-in Organizer, a very handy utility that is very hard to find in Word. Go to Tools-Customize, and click the Keyboard button. In the left menu select Format, in the right FormatStyle (the first of several Style choices). Assign a keyboard command to it. Close Customize and press the keyboard command you created. This will bring up a menu titled just plain "Style." In the lower left corner, click Organizer. You can open your xyzco document in one of the windows, and the active document, or any other, in the other window. You can then select individual styles, or all of the styles, and move them into any document(s) you want. You can even pick and choose styles to move over by using the Ctrl key to select non-contiguous styles. "AnnieB" wrote in message ... Word 2003 I need a way to make sure a set of custom styles is easily brought into the active document. I have created a template (xyzco-styles.dot) that contains the xyzco styles. Which would be the best approach - to use a macro that copies all styles from xyzco-styles.dot into the active document OR to use a macro that attaches the xyzco-styles.dot to the active document? My tests have shown me that when I attach the template, the styles do not show up in the active doc unless Automatically update document styles was checked. Are there any other implications to this choice? I am tending towards the attach template idea because we may add or remove styles occasionally and updating a macro that specifically copies styles would be overhead we don't want to add. I plan on creating a custom toolbar in an xyzco.dot and that is where the above mentioned macro would reside. This template would live in the MS Office Startup folder so the toolbar is available when Word starts. Am I on track? Thanks! -- Daiya Mitchell, MVP Mac/Word Word FAQ: http://www.word.mvps.org/ MacWord Tips: http://www.word.mvps.org/MacWordNew/ What's an MVP? A volunteer! Read the FAQ: http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/ -- Please reply to the newsgroup to maintain the thread. Please do not email me unless I ask you to. John McGhie Microsoft MVP, Word and Word for Macintosh. Consultant Technical Writer Sydney, Australia +61 (0) 4 1209 1410 |
#8
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Best approach to getting styles into a document
Hi Annie:
Two comments... Teach them to use ListNum fields, not SEQ fields. ListNum fields were designed for lawyers. They require the same amount of training, perhaps they're slightly more non-intuitive, but they're a modern and much more workable replacement for SEQ fields. Instead of hiring a Help desk person, tell their network administrator to give them access to he Charles is their man, he IS a lawyer :-) Cheers On 9/2/06 1:48 AM, in article , "AnnieB" wrote: John - thanks for the input! For the time being, all numbering is being done manually. This is for a small law firm - who do not yet want to buy any of the paragraph numbering add-ins marketed to law firms. I have been thinking about teaching them how to do numbering using SEQ fields, but that is in the future. The firm never had any training on Word but have been using it for many years, so they are a sloppy mess. :-) Added to that - they never sought advice as they transitioned from WordPerfect to Word, so they have experienced a myriad of problems as they opened all those old (some very old) WP docs in Word. I have experience with the Levit & James and Microsystems products used at law firms when making the change ... and also have developed a process based on Word's top-down structure to help these users 1) clean up old documents and 2) learn how to use Word the way Word works. So your input re the attached templates is very helpful as I try to make their lives simpler. There is a base set of firm styles I 've developed, which will not change. We may add styles in the future. I should add - they have no one to maintain any of this - I am a consultant - one of my proposals to them is they add a "help desk" type person. We'll see. Thank you again! AnnieB "John McGhie [MVP - Word and Word Macinto" wrote: Hi Annie: Attached Templates are a pain to maintain across a network or if you have users on a laptop. Once you have created a document, it makes no further reference to the styles in the attached template )or any other kind of template) unless you force it with "Automatically update style on open" when you attach the template. If you DO force "Automatically update..." the style definitions are overwritten with the style definitions in the template each time the document is opened with the template accessible. However, when this update occurs, it blows away any paragraph or list numbering in the document being opened, depending on how that numbering is performed. So if you want to deal with style updates by using an attached template, you need to use field-based numbering rather than list-based numbering. If instead you attach the template WITHOUT "Automatically update styles..." you can then write a macro that will run through and "Selectively" add or update styles from the template each time the document opens. To get this macro to add styles that are not already in the document, you would need to identify the style names that may possibly have numbering, and explicitly NOT involve them in the update. I would enumerate the style collection in the template and use a Select...Case... based on the style name, set to do nothing if the style name is one of the styles that has numbering, otherwise to copy the style in tot he document. Cheers On 8/2/06 10:29 AM, in article , "AnnieB" wrote: Yes, thanks, I think we will do that. There are times when users will not go the copy & paste special route, so I should still plan on a way togte the styles into the doc they're working on. I'm leaning to attaching the template. Thank you! "Daiya Mitchell" wrote: I would think it would be preferable for the new blank doc to be based on the template that stores the styles, then they will all be in there automatically. Since a new blank doc is part of the protocol anyhow.... On 2/7/06 3:01 PM, "AnnieB" wrote: Hi Richard, I know how to use Organizer. One of the macros I described uses Organizer. The need is to have a single button that brings in or makes available to the active document all "xyzco" styles from the xyzco-styles.dot. My users will not tolerate the time it takes to pick and choose, and I do not want them to have a choice. They edit documents from many different sources, internal and external, and our protocol is to copy everything except the last paragraph mark, paste unformatted text into a new blank doc, then apply xyzco styles. So my question was - is it preferable create a macro using the Organizer to copy styles OR create a macro which attaches xyzco-styles.dot to the active doc? Are there any issues surrounding attaching the template vs. copying in the styles? :-) "Richard O. Neville" wrote: Use Word's built-in Organizer, a very handy utility that is very hard to find in Word. Go to Tools-Customize, and click the Keyboard button. In the left menu select Format, in the right FormatStyle (the first of several Style choices). Assign a keyboard command to it. Close Customize and press the keyboard command you created. This will bring up a menu titled just plain "Style." In the lower left corner, click Organizer. You can open your xyzco document in one of the windows, and the active document, or any other, in the other window. You can then select individual styles, or all of the styles, and move them into any document(s) you want. You can even pick and choose styles to move over by using the Ctrl key to select non-contiguous styles. "AnnieB" wrote in message ... Word 2003 I need a way to make sure a set of custom styles is easily brought into the active document. I have created a template (xyzco-styles.dot) that contains the xyzco styles. Which would be the best approach - to use a macro that copies all styles from xyzco-styles.dot into the active document OR to use a macro that attaches the xyzco-styles.dot to the active document? My tests have shown me that when I attach the template, the styles do not show up in the active doc unless Automatically update document styles was checked. Are there any other implications to this choice? I am tending towards the attach template idea because we may add or remove styles occasionally and updating a macro that specifically copies styles would be overhead we don't want to add. I plan on creating a custom toolbar in an xyzco.dot and that is where the above mentioned macro would reside. This template would live in the MS Office Startup folder so the toolbar is available when Word starts. Am I on track? Thanks! -- Daiya Mitchell, MVP Mac/Word Word FAQ: http://www.word.mvps.org/ MacWord Tips: http://www.word.mvps.org/MacWordNew/ What's an MVP? A volunteer! Read the FAQ: http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/ -- Please reply to the newsgroup to maintain the thread. Please do not email me unless I ask you to. John McGhie Microsoft MVP, Word and Word for Macintosh. Consultant Technical Writer Sydney, Australia +61 (0) 4 1209 1410 -- Please reply to the newsgroup to maintain the thread. Please do not email me unless I ask you to. John McGhie Microsoft MVP, Word and Word for Macintosh. Consultant Technical Writer Sydney, Australia +61 (0) 4 1209 1410 |
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