How to properly manage styles in Word 2003?

Hi,

When we add format to a paragraph based on some style1, the style1 +
format will also show up in the style window, then I save that as
style2, one more style. After a while, there are a lot of messy styles
and formats in the style window, most of them are not useful. Could any
tell me how to properly manage styles in Word 2003, particularly in the
cases of technical writing, master's thesis writing, or computer book
writing? Do we have to create a template first? Do we need to have
master-slave documents?

Any comments are highly appreciated.

Hi Dino,

When we add format to a paragraph based on some style1, the style1 +
format will also show up in the style window, then I save that as
style2, one more style. After a while, there are a lot of messy styles
and formats in the style window, most of them are not useful. Could any
tell me how to properly manage styles in Word 2003, particularly in the
cases of technical writing, master's thesis writing, or computer book
writing? Do we have to create a template first? Do we need to have
master-slave documents?

Hmmmm. I think the first thing you have to decide is whether you even
want to allow direct formatting? Or, in other words, what kinds of rules
should people working in the documents follow?

1. You can choose to provide some basic styles, then allow users to do
whatever they want (like now). If you simply don't want to be bothered by
seeing the direct formatting, deactivate the option "Keep track of
formatting" in Tools/Options/Edit. Then the "+ format" won't show up in
the task pane any more. It will still be there, but you won't see it
listed.

2. At the other end of the spectrum you can restrict the users to certain
styles. Tools/Protect document, activate the checkbox in the first
section, then click the "Settings" link to see what's available.

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

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