Possible to export individual styles to a template and then to import from it into a document?

Hi Bridget

You don't say which version of Word, but I think you've been misled by the
behaviour of the right-hand dropdown in the dialog.

Firstly, the choice you get on the left should give you the current
document, the template it is attached to, and Normal.dot. Typically, if it's
the current document you want to update, you can leave that side alone.

On the right hand side, 'Close' Normal.dot and then click the same button
(now Open). You can now browse wherever you like (you'll start in the
template folder, so will probably be able to pick up your template there.)

When you have the two documents/templates selected, you can copy *either
way* between them. So if you want to copy from the template, select a style
on the right and you will see the Copy button arrows will go right to left.

It sounds like you are at the very beginning of this project and maybe don't
have the whole mechanism very clear yet. Ideally, you should use the
template to create new documents (which then automatically have not only the
right styles, but also the right page layout etc.), rather than trying to
apply a template post hoc to documents.

--
Margaret Aldis - Microsoft Word MVP
Syntagma partnership site: http://www.syntagma.co.uk
Word MVP FAQ site: http://www.word.mvps.org

"Bridget" wrote in message
...
I couldn't find the other msg in this thread here at the
ms ng site.

I have a question re Organizer. I just tried testing it
and found a serious problem that I'll need to find a
workaround for.

Unless I'm doing something horribly wrong it seems that
the styles go from a DOC to a TEMPLATE _only_. This is
really tough. What is needed is for styles to
be "importable" from a TEMPLATE to a DOC (although,
granted, the left-hand side accepts NORMAL.DOT. But we
will not be saving the highly specialized styles for the
manuals in NORMAL.DOT; this would not be good. We'd save
it to something like "MANUALS DEFAULT CODING.dot" or
whatever. But none of the templates in the same folder
with the NORMAL.DOT show up "STYLES AVAILABLE IN:"
pulldown so our MANUALS one in all probability wouldn't
either.

So, okay, it seems that the only thing we can do for that
part (though it seems excessivly silly, but what can we
do??) is to open the MANUALS template and _then_ open the
organizer.

But I'm _STILL_ stuck, it seems with saving to NORMAL.DOT
(???)

sigh

What can we do to fix this? or what am I doing wrong?

Thanks!

-----Original Message-----
On Sat, 05 Jun 2004 21:45:29 GMT, AA
wrote:



If not, does anyone
happen to know the line of VBA coding that would
bring up the
organizer box (it seems only available once you
have the STYLES... box
up, otherwise).

Dialogs(wdDialogOrganizer).Show


Or with the Customize Dialog Box open, go to
ToolsOrganizer and (holding
down the Control Key so it makes a copy instead of just
a move) drag it to
your toolbar. You'll get to keep the Organizer icon.

That trick is just TOO kewl for words. All these years
and I never
knew that trick!

The only hitch is that the "organizer" function isn't
found under
TOOLS in my version (MS Word 2000 v9.0.2720). That trick
works on
anything that is found under a pulldown menu but not
something
accessed from a pulldown, i.e., a secondary box such as
the Organizer
one is. To get it, I have to click through FORMAT
STYLE ORGANIZER
button. This way of using the copy-and-drag trick only
works for 2
levels, not 3 like this one is.

Am I missing something?

Thanks!

.

Styles can go from template to template, document to template, template to
document, or document to document using the Organizer. You need to change
which document/template is open in the dialog box. Once you have selected
the styles being copied you should click on the copy button three times
(overwriting existing styles if needed) to maintain links between styles
being copied. See http://addbalance.com/usersguide/styles.htm.
--

Charles 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.

"Bridget" wrote in message
...
I couldn't find the other msg in this thread here at the
ms ng site.

I have a question re Organizer. I just tried testing it
and found a serious problem that I'll need to find a
workaround for.

Unless I'm doing something horribly wrong it seems that
the styles go from a DOC to a TEMPLATE _only_. This is
really tough. What is needed is for styles to
be "importable" from a TEMPLATE to a DOC (although,
granted, the left-hand side accepts NORMAL.DOT. But we
will not be saving the highly specialized styles for the
manuals in NORMAL.DOT; this would not be good. We'd save
it to something like "MANUALS DEFAULT CODING.dot" or
whatever. But none of the templates in the same folder
with the NORMAL.DOT show up "STYLES AVAILABLE IN:"
pulldown so our MANUALS one in all probability wouldn't
either.

So, okay, it seems that the only thing we can do for that
part (though it seems excessivly silly, but what can we
do??) is to open the MANUALS template and _then_ open the
organizer.

But I'm _STILL_ stuck, it seems with saving to NORMAL.DOT
(???)

sigh

What can we do to fix this? or what am I doing wrong?

Thanks!

-----Original Message-----
On Sat, 05 Jun 2004 21:45:29 GMT, AA
wrote:



If not, does anyone
happen to know the line of VBA coding that would
bring up the
organizer box (it seems only available once you
have the STYLES... box
up, otherwise).

Dialogs(wdDialogOrganizer).Show


Or with the Customize Dialog Box open, go to
ToolsOrganizer and (holding
down the Control Key so it makes a copy instead of just
a move) drag it to
your toolbar. You'll get to keep the Organizer icon.

That trick is just TOO kewl for words. All these years
and I never
knew that trick!

The only hitch is that the "organizer" function isn't
found under
TOOLS in my version (MS Word 2000 v9.0.2720). That trick
works on
anything that is found under a pulldown menu but not
something
accessed from a pulldown, i.e., a secondary box such as
the Organizer
one is. To get it, I have to click through FORMAT
STYLE ORGANIZER
button. This way of using the copy-and-drag trick only
works for 2
levels, not 3 like this one is.

Am I missing something?

Thanks!

.

On Tue, 08 Jun 2004 13:11:08 GMT, AA wrote:

The only hitch is that the "organizer" function isn't found under
TOOLS in my version (MS Word 2000 v9.0.2720). That trick works on
anything that is found under a pulldown menu but not something
accessed from a pulldown, i.e., a secondary box such as the Organizer
one is. To get it, I have to click through FORMAT STYLE ORGANIZER
button. This way of using the copy-and-drag trick only works for 2
levels, not 3 like this one is.


The only version of Word I know about is 2002, so I don't know what
isn't included in 2000.

This works in 2002:

ToolsCustomizeCommands, in the Categories: window select "All
Commands" and then in the Commands: window find "Organizer". Drag it
out to a toolbar.

YEAY, there it was! I don't know how many times I must have skipped
over that one in the customize box d'uh! I saw the words but just
never grasped the concept consciously, I guess.

Got it on the toolbar now. g

On Tue, 8 Jun 2004 16:42:41 +0100, "Margaret Aldis"
wrote:

Hi Bridget

You don't say which version of Word, but I think you've been misled by the
behaviour of the right-hand dropdown in the dialog.

Firstly, the choice you get on the left should give you the current
document, the template it is attached to, and Normal.dot. Typically, if it's
the current document you want to update, you can leave that side alone.

On the right hand side, 'Close' Normal.dot and then click the same button
(now Open). You can now browse wherever you like (you'll start in the
template folder, so will probably be able to pick up your template there.)

When you have the two documents/templates selected, you can copy *either
way* between them. So if you want to copy from the template, select a style
on the right and you will see the Copy button arrows will go right to left.

It sounds like you are at the very beginning of this project and maybe don't
have the whole mechanism very clear yet. Ideally, you should use the
template to create new documents (which then automatically have not only the
right styles, but also the right page layout etc.), rather than trying to
apply a template post hoc to documents.

Well, we needed the other way, ideally, to make it easier for folks to
understand.

I did do a no-no and spent time at work (like I would at home figuring
something out). I felt it was too important. I did figure out how to
do the above. It would be easier to have the template loadable on the
left and the open document we're working on on the right but I'll just
have to explain each time how to do the whole thing to anyone who
needs to do this in future.

I ended up creating the template out of one of the manuals. I just
open the template and have it open as the doct rather than directing
the path to it. That takes cares of what's on the left.

I couldn't put the current document, the one we're trying to apply the
styles to, on the right. It only allowed me to direct to it, as you
all know. But I did that and then had to go and open the file, but at
least it works. Again, it's way more cumbersome than it needs to be,
but an even better idea is that maybe while I'm at this contract, I
can just have everyone email me their doct, do this fiddle and then
email it back to them to go ahead and get back to doing the actual
editing as they were trying to do.

However, after all the hassle of getting the whole system to work, I
then tested it and saw that the whole idea of importing styles to a
doct _does_ do a super fantastic job. Hallelujah!

Once I play around in my spare time with finetuning the styles in the
master template, it'll be the best thing we've ever had available for
these complicated manuals of non-standard format. I foresee anyone
being able to edit any base manual doct in this way and coming up with
a much, much more precise draft closer to the correct format than ever
before!

On Tue, 8 Jun 2004 10:48:10 -0500, "Charles Kenyon"
wrote:

Styles can go from template to template, document to template, template to
document, or document to document using the Organizer. You need to change
which document/template is open in the dialog box. Once you have selected
the styles being copied you should click on the copy button three times
(overwriting existing styles if needed) to maintain links between styles
being copied. See http://addbalance.com/usersguide/styles.htm.

Thank you!

If you feel you have to reapply styles post-hoc, have you tried using Tools
Templates and Add-Ins and 'Update document styles automatically'? Note
that it is important not to leave this setting checked. You might also want
to look into providing a simple macro to attach the correct template and
update styles (or to automate the Organizer copy, if that works better for
you).

--
Margaret Aldis - Microsoft Word MVP
Syntagma partnership site: http://www.syntagma.co.uk
Word MVP FAQ site: http://www.word.mvps.org


"StargateFan" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 8 Jun 2004 16:42:41 +0100, "Margaret Aldis"
wrote:

Hi Bridget

You don't say which version of Word, but I think you've been misled by
the
behaviour of the right-hand dropdown in the dialog.

Firstly, the choice you get on the left should give you the current
document, the template it is attached to, and Normal.dot. Typically, if
it's
the current document you want to update, you can leave that side alone.

On the right hand side, 'Close' Normal.dot and then click the same button
(now Open). You can now browse wherever you like (you'll start in the
template folder, so will probably be able to pick up your template
there.)

When you have the two documents/templates selected, you can copy *either
way* between them. So if you want to copy from the template, select a
style
on the right and you will see the Copy button arrows will go right to
left.

It sounds like you are at the very beginning of this project and maybe
don't
have the whole mechanism very clear yet. Ideally, you should use the
template to create new documents (which then automatically have not only
the
right styles, but also the right page layout etc.), rather than trying to
apply a template post hoc to documents.

Well, we needed the other way, ideally, to make it easier for folks to
understand.

I did do a no-no and spent time at work (like I would at home figuring
something out). I felt it was too important. I did figure out how to
do the above. It would be easier to have the template loadable on the
left and the open document we're working on on the right but I'll just
have to explain each time how to do the whole thing to anyone who
needs to do this in future.

I ended up creating the template out of one of the manuals. I just
open the template and have it open as the doct rather than directing
the path to it. That takes cares of what's on the left.

I couldn't put the current document, the one we're trying to apply the
styles to, on the right. It only allowed me to direct to it, as you
all know. But I did that and then had to go and open the file, but at
least it works. Again, it's way more cumbersome than it needs to be,
but an even better idea is that maybe while I'm at this contract, I
can just have everyone email me their doct, do this fiddle and then
email it back to them to go ahead and get back to doing the actual
editing as they were trying to do.

However, after all the hassle of getting the whole system to work, I
then tested it and saw that the whole idea of importing styles to a
doct _does_ do a super fantastic job. Hallelujah!

Once I play around in my spare time with finetuning the styles in the
master template, it'll be the best thing we've ever had available for
these complicated manuals of non-standard format. I foresee anyone
being able to edit any base manual doct in this way and coming up with
a much, much more precise draft closer to the correct format than ever
before!

On Wed, 9 Jun 2004 09:19:47 +0100, "Margaret Aldis"
wrote:

If you feel you have to reapply styles post-hoc, have you tried using Tools
Templates and Add-Ins and 'Update document styles automatically'? Note
that it is important not to leave this setting checked. You might also want
to look into providing a simple macro to attach the correct template and
update styles (or to automate the Organizer copy, if that works better for
you).

--

There's a thought. I'm way too much of a VB newbie to do that myself,
but I'll keep it in mind.

Re updating automatically, the trouble is that the styles they all use
are so vastly different. The 3 documents I looked at yesterday that
were completed manuals had at least 30 styles each and all quite
different from each other.

What it would be nice to know, and I believe it can be done, is if
there is a way to, say, change all "body text 1" to
"BodyTextMainPara", type of thing. The main paragraphs styles that I
looked at yesterday, that all should have been identical, had a total
of up to about 10 different style names attached to them (some had 3
of them within the same doct!). That tells me that more than one
person edited the manual.

No way to do a macro, then, for this type of thing since the style
names fluctuate so much - unless the macro allowed user input to enter
starting style and finishing style. But that's way beyond my VB
skills, at any rate.

I think that as long as I and my supervisor know how to take
everyone's doct and import the correct styles to (and while we're
there, delete whatever ones that were there that we can) that that's
the best we can hope for with the skills we both have.

On Wed, 09 Jun 2004 06:57:39 -0400, StargateFan
wrote:

On Wed, 9 Jun 2004 09:19:47 +0100, "Margaret Aldis"
wrote:

If you feel you have to reapply styles post-hoc, have you tried using Tools
Templates and Add-Ins and 'Update document styles automatically'? Note
that it is important not to leave this setting checked. You might also want
to look into providing a simple macro to attach the correct template and
update styles (or to automate the Organizer copy, if that works better for
you).

--

There's a thought. I'm way too much of a VB newbie to do that myself,
but I'll keep it in mind.

Re updating automatically, the trouble is that the styles they all use
are so vastly different. The 3 documents I looked at yesterday that
were completed manuals had at least 30 styles each and all quite
different from each other.

Oops, should have mentioned that this as the total number of styles on
average available within each doct. And that about 5 - 10 of those
were misnamed "repeats" that could later be deleted. Talk about
confusing!!! I don't know how the users managed to work with these
and still make an end doct that looked alright!

So here's how I see our part to be - we'll import the correct styles
for them and then we'll do "change this style to this style" fairly
manually (though it would be neat for an "update all the styles at
once", type of thing). Then we'll go back and delete all the
unnecessary styles! phew Then send it back to them to deal with.
lol

What it would be nice to know, and I believe it can be done, is if
there is a way to, say, change all "body text 1" to
"BodyTextMainPara", type of thing. The main paragraphs styles that I
looked at yesterday, that all should have been identical, had a total
of up to about 10 different style names attached to them (some had 3
of them within the same doct!). That tells me that more than one
person edited the manual.

[snip]

Thanks.