Word: Problem integrating two documents with same styles

[thanos54321]

Hi,

I've recently created a styles and formatting setup for a document, and have been writing in two different files that have exactly the same setup. Part of the setup is the heading styles, which I've numbered and applied a certain length between the numbering and the heading text. This works fine seperately in each document.

The problem is that I want to copy the two documents together. Word screws this up, along these lines:

From document 1:
1.5 Heading text

From document 2:
1.6Heading text

It hasn't changed the heading style, two different places in the documents are affected differently by the same style. I've copied the two documents together by using both select-all -> copy-paste and insert-> file. Same problem. Help!

 

[MakeItSo]

Try with deselecting the "automatically update" feature of the styles for both docs before mergin the contents.

Besides that, I am just as curious if anyone knows a solutiopn to this. I have had the same problem with having two numberings of the same level parallel to each other.
I had tried with renaming the style of the second doc to "Heading1_En", "Heading2_EN" a.s.o. (since it was English text and numbering following a German text and numbering).

Never got it working properly. The second numbering always went wild from the first occurence of 3rd level on...

Cheers,
Andy

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[fumei]

Could you please clarify something? Are both documents created from the same template?

template.dot makes DOC1
template.dot makes DOC2

Or are both document setup with the same styles, but independently?

DOC1 has the styles
DOC2 has the styles

Even if both docs have the same created styles, if they are not cloned from the same template, there can be problems.

Gerry

 

[tf1]

Ah, the nightmare of numbering is raising its ugly head here. Numbering in Word is outrageously complex. But this quick workaround is to put the cursor in the 'correctly' formatted heading and then in the Style task pane, right-click the Style (not the main box at the top but the style in the list below) and select Update to match selection. this will then reset all the occurrences of that style to the correct one.

Let's keep our fingers crossed for office 12!

Regards: tf1

 

[fumei]

Hi tf1,

Numbering in Word CAN be ugly. In most cases it is, but I believe that is mostly because people use Word's numbering. It has never been all that good - right back to Word 2.0. It is far better to totally create your own styles from scratch.

Gerry

 

[thanos54321]

Could you please clarify something? Are both documents created from the same template?

template.dot makes DOC1
template.dot makes DOC2

Or are both document setup with the same styles, but independently?

DOC1 has the styles
DOC2 has the styles

Even if both docs have the same created styles, if they are not cloned from the same template, there can be problems.
Gerry"

Hi Gerry, unfortunately, both document setup with the same styles, but independently...

 

[thanos54321]

Is it possible to create a template from one of the documents, and then set both documents to be based on the template now (the other way around of the usual way of doing things, I guess)?

 

[tf1]

Hi Gerry

I agree, but I don't blame them for getting it wrong. If you buy a car you use its speedometer: you don't expect to have to record the distance travelled and the time elapsed and calculate your speed manually because the speedometer is irritatingly bad!

Maybe Office 12...


Regards: tf1

 

[fumei]

Hi tf1....my sides hurt! I had people stand up and look to see what the heck I was laughing at. Good one.

thanos54321, yes you can. And yes, it IS the other way around from the correct" way of doing things. However, sure, yup you can.

If the styles have the SAME name in the different documents:

1. open the document with the styles you want to use
2. delete every thing in the document
3. save it as a .DOT file
4. clone the template into a new document (File > New and choose the .DOT file you just made)
5. use Insert > File to insert the OTHER document

The other document (again, as long as the names are the same) will now have the styles based on the template.

Gerry

 

[thanos54321]

Hi again,

Thanks for your contributions, nice to know that people are looking after me

I tried the last part, and sure, now they are based on the same template, but the problem still happens.

My document is actually in three parts, but part 1 and 3 were originally in the same document, and part 2 in a seperate document. So the problem is that when I insert part 2 in the middle, part 3's heading formats are screwed up. Numbering works fine, but it's just the space after the numbers that disappear. The weird part is, as I wrote originally, that even now when I'm 100% sure that the styles are exactly the same, they affect things differently.

Can it be some sort of a flag or something? When I look in the typographical mode or what its called (the weird inverted P), for all the headings that are formatted correctly, there is an arrow of varying length after the heading number, indicating the space that I've set up for the heading type. But when I get to the part that is screwed up, all the arrows are missing. Any ideas?

 

[thanos54321]

Correction: They have not disappeared, they are just usually much narrower so they look like they aren't there...

 

[thanos54321]

Hmm, I figured it out, there was some problems with tabs interfering with the settings in paragraph. Rather strange, but it works now. Anyway, guess I got my template discipline cleared up. Thanks for all the feedback!

 

[fumei]

1. Ah..yes, tabs.

2. Ah..yes, if you insert in the middle things depend on whether you are insert a file, or inserting by copy/paste.

Glad things worked out.

Gerry

 

[Madawc]

Glad you solved your problem. I had similar problems with program specifications. When I copied a whole paragraph from one documentation, numbering was often wrong. Sometimes the document receiving the paragraph would lose its numbering and be irrecoverable.

The solution I use now is to make the paragraph marks visible and copy the text without the paragraph mark visible. This means it 'forgets' its old numbering etc. and confirms to the document it has been copied into.

WHen there's a lot of material and it needs to change a lot, it can be worth copying it into Notes or WordPad to lose all the formatting.

Madawc Williams (East Anglia, UK)

 

[fumei]

Actually....to seriously use Word it always good to have Show/Hide ON. Being able to see the paragraph marks can make a huge difference. Simply because the vast majority of information is IN the paragraph mark itself.

Gerry