Trying to save styles in Word 2010 2

[Mike Lewis]

I'm having a heck of a difficult time trying to save my Word 2010 styles.

I know how to create and modify styles. That works fine for the current document. What I can't do is to save the styles so that they become the default for all future documents.

This is what I have tried so far.

1. Right-click on the relevant style in the ribbon. Choose "Modify" (fig 1). Make the necessary changes. Select "New documents based on this template". (fig 2).

2. Select the style in the ribbon. Click on "Change styles" (in the ribbon) and select "Set as default" (fig 3).

Figure 1.

Figure 2.

Figure 3.


None of this works. Every time I start a new document, it reverts to the built-in styles.

I'm assuming that the syles are saved in a .Dotm file somewhere. But when I select File -> New, I can't see how to tell it which Dotm file to use. I tried selecting Available Templates -> Recent Templates -> Normal.Dotm, but that still gives the built-in styles.

I also located Normal.Dotm in Windows Explorer. I can see that the modification date is the same as the date on which I installed Word, so clearly that file hasn't been updated.

I'd be grateful for any pointers or advice.

Mike


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Mike Lewis (Edinburgh, Scotland)

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[MakeItSo]

Hi Mike,

"New documents based on this template" means, that if you save this document as a .dotx or a .dotm, you can use it as a template for new documents.
To use such a template, simply double click it. This will make Word create a new, blank document based on the template. No fear of overwriting your template. As long as you do not open it via File=>Open, all Word does it create a blank copy with all styles based on the styles in that template.

P.S: Be aware that all styles that are "based on" the Standard style will be modified once you modify Standard. If you want to ensure a style's integrity, make sure it is "based on" nothing.

Cheers,
MakeItSo

"Knowledge is power. Information is liberating. Education is the premise of progress, in every society, in every family." (Kofi Annan)
Oppose SOPA, PIPA, ACTA; measures to curb freedom of information under whatever name whatsoever.

 

[Mike Lewis]

Thanks for your quick response, MakeItSo.

OK. So I've now created a document with all the styles that I want to use. I saved this as mike.dotx. I can see that, when I double-click on this file in Windows Explorer, it gives me a new blank document with the styles all in place. That's good.

However, if I am already in Word, and I go to File -> New, how do I tell it to use mike.dotx? I can't see it under Recent Templates or My Templates or anywhere else.

Should I save mike.dotx to a specific folder somewhere? Or should I rename it normal.dotx?

I appreciate your ongoing help with this.

Mike

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Mike Lewis (Edinburgh, Scotland)

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[strongm]

File>options>add-ins>manage>templates is one way

 

[Mike Lewis]

Just to bring this up to date ...

I renamed mike.dotx as normal.dotx, and placed it in the Templates folder. I can now do File -> New -> My Templates -> normal.dotx. That gives me a new document with my custom styles in place. That's a lot of clicks simply to open a new document, but at least it works.

However, it doesn't allow me to launch word from my Start menu and have it open immediately with a new document with my styles in place. Nor can I right-click in a folder and choose New -> New Microsoft Word document. Nor can I simply hit CTRL+N from within Word.

Am I still missing something? Or is this just something I will have to live with? It was all so much easier in the previous version of Word.

File>options>add-ins>manage>templates is one way

I tried that but couldn't see how it would help. Thanks anyway for the suggestion.

Mike



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Mike Lewis (Edinburgh, Scotland)

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[MakeItSo]

Hi Mike,

sounds like your best option would be to simply replace your Normal.dotm with your own template.
[ol 1]
[li]open your .dotx via File=>Open[/li]
[li]save your .dotx as a .dotm[/li]
[li]close Word[/li]
[li]in Explorer, browse to %appdata%\Roaming\Microsoft\Templates[/li]
[li]rename Normal.dotm to "Normal.old" or similar[/li]
[li]copy your mike.dotm there, rename it to Normal.dotm[/li]
[/ol]

MakeItSo

"Knowledge is power. Information is liberating. Education is the premise of progress, in every society, in every family." (Kofi Annan)
Oppose SOPA, PIPA, ACTA; measures to curb freedom of information under whatever name whatsoever.

 

[strongm]

>I tried that but couldn't see how it would help

Well, you can use it to add multiple global templates that then apply to all documents you open in Word.

Another alternative is to stick your templates in Word's startup folder, normally (unless you've changed it): %appdata%\Roaming\Microsoft\Word\STARTUP

 

[Mike Lewis]

MakeItSo,

Your solution worked perfectly. And I can see now exactly where I was going wrong. In all my efforts, I was trying to save my styles in a dotx file rather than a dotm. I thought that was correct, because I was under the impression that a dotm was only used for storing macros. But from you said and from what I subsequently found in my researches, that's not the case. Once I got past that hurdle, everything fell into place.

Strongm,

The above also applies to your solution, with a similar result.

So, thanks to both of you. I can now open a new document with my styles in place via File -> New -> Blank Document (which is one more click that in my previous version, but never mind); and also by doing CTRL+N, or by launching Word from my Start menu, or by right-clicking in a folder and choosing New -> New Microsoft Word document.

Mike



__________________________________
Mike Lewis (Edinburgh, Scotland)

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[Mike Lewis]

No need to remind me, Andy. I was just about to do that. But always worth making the point.

Mike

__________________________________
Mike Lewis (Edinburgh, Scotland)

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