Word styles "repairs"

[cherishwit]

sometimes, but not always, when I save Word documents, I get a message that offers three buttons as options. The message says something to along the lines of "Word has detected an error in your style" and do you want Word to make repairs? is the default button.

I suspect this is a styles related issue, specifically having to do with my normal style. I'm just getting ready to rename my normal.dot and start over, but I wonder if anyone else has encounterd this kind of problem and what you did.

thanks in advance,
cherishwit

 

[fumei]

1. Please state what version of Word this is.
2. This may be a time to start using styles as they are meant to be used.

Gerry

 

[tf1]

Also would you give us the exact error message please.

Regards: tf1

 

[cherishwit]

Sorry about the lack of information.

I'm running Word 2002 SP3 in Windows XP. Because the problem is intermittent and I can't "make" it happen, I don't know the exact wording of the message. Rest assured that, if I haven't been able to figure out how to avoid the message by the next time I get it, I'll post it here as soon as possible. In the meantime, I'd be interested in hearing from anyone who has experienced this problem.

fumei, what do you mean by your comment, "This may be a time to start using styles as they are meant to be used."?

Thanks for your interest,
cherishwit

 

[tf1]

I expect that Fumei suspects that under Tools, Options, Edit Tab, you have the Keep Track of Formatting option is checked. Because you are directly applying formatting to normal style rather than changing the style settings, Word is notifying you of the discrepancy and asking you if you want to change the style.

Regards: tf1

 

[cherishwit]

Hi and thanks for your quick response.

I did, indeed, have that option checked--it's already unchecked.

With regard to how I use styles, I often feel like I am the lone ranger because I DO change style settings instead of simply modifying the various formatting characteristics of a style. I'm an editor geek and I am constantly amazed at the lengths people go to to get their work to "look right," when styles are <dare I say infinitely?> more powerful and produce cleaner code AND appropriate format.

In fact, now that I think about it, the problem first surfaced when I was saving a client's document. . .

Do you think unchecking that option will resolve my problem?

Thanks ever,
chreishwit

 

[fumei]

Ack! The whole point of creating specific styles is that once they ARE created, you don't change them. Making manual formatting to paragraphs that are assigned styles totally messes the point of using styles.

Absolutely, style ARE - OK, maybe not infinitely more powerful - the only way to go for real format. Everything else is a kludge.

Yes, hopefully, unchecking it will solve this immediate issue.

Gerry

 

[cherishwit]

Hi Gerry,

I agree that the idea is to stick with a style once that style has been created. However, modifying styles--judiciously--is part of the power of the feature.

An example: While I was writing my dissertation, I was taking frequent drafts to my major professor who has both macular degeneration and another sight-limiting eye disease, so I used a style I called "diss body" for all of my text. During my work, diss body was double spaced, 14 pt. Times-New Roman.

When it came time to put the document in its final form, I modified the style to be 1.5 space (on a specified leading), 12 pt. Times New Roman. Other styles based on diss body automatically changed as well. This would have been a nightmare otherwise.

Thanks for your interest.

Chris