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MS Office Forum / Word / Numbering / March 2005Using formatting of existing text to modify an existing style
A long time ago, on a computer far away, I used to be able to define a piece of text to have the format I wanted. Then later, I could make an existing style acquire that format, overriding the previous formatting that was part of that style. This is mostly useful when I receive a document prepared by somebody else that doesn't use styles. Instead, it has headings that have been consistently formatted (numbered, bold, underline, typeface, etc.) but left with the Normal style. I want to keep the appearance of these headings, but at the same time, change the headings so that they are identified with the style "Heading 1". That will enable me to easily prepare a Table of Contents, for example. I hadn't been able to do this in Word. Instead, my only option was to define the Heading 1 style to match what's on screen. Then I apply this style to other headings using the Heading 1 shortcut key. Finally, a few weeks ago, while working late at night and being very sleepy, I somehow was able to do what I wanted. I was fixing a document and highlighted some text and I don't remember what I did next, but Word offered to redefine the style to match the selected text. It worked. How did I do it? Good question. The message you quote usually applies when you reapply an existing style to text whose formatting has been changed. But I believe that the Styles and Formatting task pane in Word 2002 and 2003 does offer something like what you describe; unfortunately, I also don't remember how it's done! You can copy and paste formatting using Ctrl+Shift+C and Ctrl+Shift+V, but this will not be helpful from a TOC standpoint. You can define a new style based on the formatting of a given paragraph, but that won't be helpful if you want to apply an existing style. ISTR that Doug Robbins was the one who brought up the technique of applying formatting to styles; perhaps he will look into this thread and help us out.  SignatureSuzanne S. Barnhill Microsoft MVP (Word) Words into Type Fairhope, Alabama USA Word MVP FAQ site: http://word.mvps.org Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so all may benefit. > A long time ago, on a computer far away, I used to be able to define > a piece of text to have the format I wanted. Then later, I could [quoted text clipped - 22 lines] > > How did I do it? I think the command might be called Redefine Style? You could try digging it out of Tools | Customize in order to trigger it manually. However, I've tried to deliberately bring up that dialog, and had no luck, but I'm on a Mac, could be different for you.... > Good question. The message you quote usually applies when you reapply an > existing style to text whose formatting has been changed. But I believe that [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] > ISTR that Doug Robbins was the one who brought up the technique of applying > formatting to styles; perhaps he will look into this thread and help us out. SignatureDaiya 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/ I ran it under Tools > Macros > Word Commands However, you need to be in the style you want to redefine, already, when you run the command. Also, you need to check "prompt to redefine style" under Tools > Options > Edit. SignatureCharles Kenyon Word New User FAQ & Web Directory: http://addbalance.com/word Intermediate User's Guide to Microsoft Word (supplemented version of Microsoft's Legal Users' Guide) http://addbalance.com/usersguide See also the MVP FAQ: http://www.mvps.org/word which is awesome! --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- This message is posted to a newsgroup. Please post replies and questions to the newsgroup so that others can learn from my ignorance and your wisdom. >I think the command might be called Redefine Style? You could try digging > it out of Tools | Customize in order to trigger it manually. [quoted text clipped - 22 lines] >> formatting to styles; perhaps he will look into this thread and help us >> out. No, it's not Redefine Style, but it's something similar, and now I'm thinking it was Terry Farrell that clued us in to this. Maybe Style by Example? SignatureSuzanne S. Barnhill Microsoft MVP (Word) Words into Type Fairhope, Alabama USA Word MVP FAQ site: http://word.mvps.org Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so all may benefit. > I think the command might be called Redefine Style? You could try digging > it out of Tools | Customize in order to trigger it manually. [quoted text clipped - 15 lines] > > ISTR that Doug Robbins was the one who brought up the technique of applying > > formatting to styles; perhaps he will look into this thread and help us out. I think what you're looking for is in the Styles and Formatting pane. Select text with required formatting but not in the style, and then from the dropdown beside Heading 1 or whatever you can choose "Update to match selection". The built-in style is then updated to match the example. Neat feature - I keep forgetting about it as I rarely work that way now, but I remember tearing my hair out in earlier versions of Word in search of a way to do this ;-) -- Margaret Aldis - Microsoft Word MVP SignatureSyntagma partnership site: http://www.syntagma.co.uk Word MVP FAQ site: http://www.word.mvps.org > No, it's not Redefine Style, but it's something similar, and now I'm > thinking it was Terry Farrell that clued us in to this. Maybe Style by [quoted text clipped - 31 lines] >> > http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/ Ah, I knew it was in the task pane, but I had forgotten that you could use it on a different style from the one selected. SignatureSuzanne S. Barnhill Microsoft MVP (Word) Words into Type Fairhope, Alabama USA Word MVP FAQ site: http://word.mvps.org Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so all may benefit. > I think what you're looking for is in the Styles and Formatting pane. Select > text with required formatting but not in the style, and then from the [quoted text clipped - 45 lines] > >> > > http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/ I think this is worth updating my Styles page! Thank you for sharing. Did this come in with Word 2002? SignatureCharles Kenyon Word New User FAQ & Web Directory: http://addbalance.com/word Intermediate User's Guide to Microsoft Word (supplemented version of Microsoft's Legal Users' Guide) http://addbalance.com/usersguide See also the MVP FAQ: http://www.mvps.org/word which is awesome! --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- This message is posted to a newsgroup. Please post replies and questions to the newsgroup so that others can learn from my ignorance and your wisdom. >I think what you're looking for is in the Styles and Formatting pane. >Select text with required formatting but not in the style, and then from [quoted text clipped - 48 lines] >>> >> http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/ Margaret, "Update to match selection" sounds exactly like what I want. I did it by mistake and can't figure out how to reproduce it, and I can't remember the last time I worked on something other than Office 2000. Is it available in Word 2000? What is the Styles and Formatting pane, and is it included in this version? Selecting the dropdown beside the style name in a toolbar doesn't have this effect. It applies the formatting from the style and doesn't change the style at all. Steven > I think what you're looking for is in the Styles and Formatting pane. Select > text with required formatting but not in the style, and then from the [quoted text clipped - 58 lines] >> >>http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/ Hi Steven The Styles and Formatting Pane came in in Word 2002. The only thing I can think to try is Word 2000 is the Format painter (something I never use). I think that will apply the selected formatting as direct formatting, so if you selected your formatted text, clicked the Format Painter, applied it to a virgin Heading 1 style, then applied Heading 1 again, you'd be prompted to 'update the style to match recent changes' (provided you have the "prompt to update style" option checked) in the usual way. Sorry not to be of more help. -- Margaret Aldis - Microsoft Word MVP SignatureSyntagma partnership site: http://www.syntagma.co.uk Word MVP FAQ site: http://www.word.mvps.org > Margaret, > [quoted text clipped - 73 lines] >>> >>>http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/ The format painter applies formatting exactly as in the original, as does Ctrl-Shift-C and Ctrl-Shift-V. In later versions of Word, though, where less than a paragraph is selected (and at least a character is selected) it will create a hybrid char style. SignatureCharles Kenyon Word New User FAQ & Web Directory: http://addbalance.com/word Intermediate User's Guide to Microsoft Word (supplemented version of Microsoft's Legal Users' Guide) http://addbalance.com/usersguide See also the MVP FAQ: http://www.mvps.org/word which is awesome! --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- This message is posted to a newsgroup. Please post replies and questions to the newsgroup so that others can learn from my ignorance and your wisdom. > Hi Steven > [quoted text clipped - 96 lines] >>>> >>>>http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/ Thanks for the clarification. So I guess this would work for transferring Steven's direct character formatting (and might be what happened in the middle of the night) but is as useless as every other pre-2002 method for transferring paragraph formatting to another style. Hey hoh - thanks be for the Styles and Formatting pane then <g>. -- Margaret Aldis - Microsoft Word MVP SignatureSyntagma partnership site: http://www.syntagma.co.uk Word MVP FAQ site: http://www.word.mvps.org > The format painter applies formatting exactly as in the original, as does > Ctrl-Shift-C and Ctrl-Shift-V. In later versions of Word, though, where [quoted text clipped - 102 lines] >>>>> >>>>>http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/ I'll second that! I really appreciate your bringing it back to my attention. SignatureCharles Kenyon Word New User FAQ & Web Directory: http://addbalance.com/word Intermediate User's Guide to Microsoft Word (supplemented version of Microsoft's Legal Users' Guide) http://addbalance.com/usersguide See also the MVP FAQ: http://www.mvps.org/word which is awesome! --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- This message is posted to a newsgroup. Please post replies and questions to the newsgroup so that others can learn from my ignorance and your wisdom. > Thanks for the clarification. So I guess this would work for transferring > Steven's direct character formatting (and might be what happened in the [quoted text clipped - 114 lines] >>>>>> >>>>>>http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/ The message you recall comes up when you have text formatted in a given style, change the formatting, and then apply the style. Word recognizes that it is already in that style and that you have made changes. You could copy (and paste) one of your headings immediately below the heading, then apply the style you want. Modify the second heading so that it looks like the first, and reapply the style. This should let you modify the style. Then delete the first heading. You would then want to run a replace to pick up the direct formatting applied by the original author and replace it with the style. Not fun. SignatureCharles Kenyon Word New User FAQ & Web Directory: http://addbalance.com/word Intermediate User's Guide to Microsoft Word (supplemented version of Microsoft's Legal Users' Guide) http://addbalance.com/usersguide See also the MVP FAQ: http://www.mvps.org/word which is awesome! --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- This message is posted to a newsgroup. Please post replies and questions to the newsgroup so that others can learn from my ignorance and your wisdom. >A long time ago, on a computer far away, I used to be able to define a >piece of text to have the format I wanted. Then later, I could make an [quoted text clipped - 21 lines] > > How did I do it? |
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