Well, I spent ages editing my Normal template to give me just the 
formatting I want. But then I tried to go edit another document, and 
every time I touch anything, the formatting just goes crazy. Stuff like 
I ask for a bullet list and I get a level 3 heading. (WTF?) And all the 
margins and alignments are all over the place and... basically the more 
I touch the document, the more screwed up it gets. It just randomly 
changes formatting on me.

Damn, I am *so* glad that using Word isn't my major job function! >_<

Post a reply to this message

And lo on Thu, 22 Nov 2007 15:19:09 -0000, Invisible <voi### [at] devnull> did  
spake, saying:

> Well, I spent ages editing my Normal template to give me just the  
> formatting I want.

Which is where you went wrong, you don't fiddle with Normal you create a  
new one.

> But then I tried to go edit another document, and every time I touch  
> anything, the formatting just goes crazy. Stuff like I ask for a bullet  
> list and I get a level 3 heading. (WTF?) And all the margins and  
> alignments are all over the place and... basically the more I touch the  
> document, the more screwed up it gets. It just randomly changes  
> formatting on me.

Because most of the templates are based on Normal.

> Damn, I am *so* glad that using Word isn't my major job function! >_<

If you want to start from scratch save your normal template under a  
different name then delete it. When it starts up Word will create a new  
untouched Normal.dot template. I'm trying to remember if this will wipe  
your dictionary additions or not, as well as any additional menu items you  
might have created so be warned.

-- 
Phil Cook

--
I once tried to be apathetic, but I just couldn't be bothered
http://flipc.blogspot.com

Post a reply to this message

Phil Cook wrote:
> And lo on Thu, 22 Nov 2007 15:19:09 -0000, Invisible <voi### [at] devnull> did 
> spake, saying:
> 
>> Well, I spent ages editing my Normal template to give me just the 
>> formatting I want.
> 
> Which is where you went wrong, you don't fiddle with Normal you create a 
> new one.

Hmm, I see.

So if I do that, how do I then use all my custom styles in new documents?

>> But then I tried to go edit another document, and every time I touch 
>> anything, the formatting just goes crazy. Stuff like I ask for a 
>> bullet list and I get a level 3 heading. (WTF?) And all the margins 
>> and alignments are all over the place and... basically the more I 
>> touch the document, the more screwed up it gets. It just randomly 
>> changes formatting on me.
> 
> Because most of the templates are based on Normal.

Interesting design choice. (But then, the paperclip is far more 
questionable, IMO...)

>> Damn, I am *so* glad that using Word isn't my major job function! >_<
> 
> If you want to start from scratch save your normal template under a 
> different name then delete it. When it starts up Word will create a new 
> untouched Normal.dot template.

OK. I'll do that then...

> I'm trying to remember if this will wipe 
> your dictionary additions or not, as well as any additional menu items 
> you might have created so be warned.

There are no such additions to wipe, currently.

Post a reply to this message

And lo on Thu, 22 Nov 2007 15:50:01 -0000, Invisible <voi### [at] devnull> did  
spake, saying:

> Phil Cook wrote:
>> And lo on Thu, 22 Nov 2007 15:19:09 -0000, Invisible <voi### [at] devnull>  
>> did spake, saying:
>>
>>> Well, I spent ages editing my Normal template to give me just the  
>>> formatting I want.
>>  Which is where you went wrong, you don't fiddle with Normal you create  
>> a new one.
>
> Hmm, I see.
>
> So if I do that, how do I then use all my custom styles in new documents?

You select File|New... which asks what template you want to use, or create  
a shortcut directly to it.

>>> But then I tried to go edit another document, and every time I touch  
>>> anything, the formatting just goes crazy. Stuff like I ask for a  
>>> bullet list and I get a level 3 heading. (WTF?) And all the margins  
>>> and alignments are all over the place and... basically the more I  
>>> touch the document, the more screwed up it gets. It just randomly  
>>> changes formatting on me.
>>  Because most of the templates are based on Normal.
>
> Interesting design choice. (But then, the paperclip is far more  
> questionable, IMO...)
>
>>> Damn, I am *so* glad that using Word isn't my major job function! >_<
>>  If you want to start from scratch save your normal template under a  
>> different name then delete it. When it starts up Word will create a new  
>> untouched Normal.dot template.
>
> OK. I'll do that then...

Remember you can't rename or delete a template currently in use in Word,  
so you can just find and rename Normal.dot to Andrew.dot when Word is not  
running. Sorry I'm so used to talking to people who only know how to work  
in Word ask them to go to Explorer and they panic :-)

>> I'm trying to remember if this will wipe your dictionary additions or  
>> not, as well as any additional menu items you might have created so be  
>> warned.
>
> There are no such additions to wipe, currently.

Then no problem.

-- 
Phil Cook

--
I once tried to be apathetic, but I just couldn't be bothered
http://flipc.blogspot.com

Post a reply to this message

Phil Cook wrote:

>>>  If you want to start from scratch save your normal template under a 
>>> different name then delete it. When it starts up Word will create a 
>>> new untouched Normal.dot template.
>>
>> OK. I'll do that then...
> 
> Remember you can't rename or delete a template currently in use in Word, 
> so you can just find and rename Normal.dot to Andrew.dot when Word is 
> not running. Sorry I'm so used to talking to people who only know how to 
> work in Word ask them to go to Explorer and they panic :-)

I just tried this. All my custom styles vanished, but I still *cannot* 
convince Word to format this damn report correctly! >_<

(Also, somehow turning on numbered lists activates the custom list style 
that should have been deleted...)

Damnit, as if writing the actual report wasn't already vastly too complex...

Post a reply to this message

And lo on Thu, 22 Nov 2007 16:21:04 -0000, Invisible <voi### [at] devnull> did  
spake, saying:

> Phil Cook wrote:
>
>>>>  If you want to start from scratch save your normal template under a  
>>>> different name then delete it. When it starts up Word will create a  
>>>> new untouched Normal.dot template.
>>>
>>> OK. I'll do that then...
>>  Remember you can't rename or delete a template currently in use in  
>> Word, so you can just find and rename Normal.dot to Andrew.dot when  
>> Word is not running. Sorry I'm so used to talking to people who only  
>> know how to work in Word ask them to go to Explorer and they panic :-)
>
> I just tried this. All my custom styles vanished, but I still *cannot*  
> convince Word to format this damn report correctly! >_<
>
> (Also, somehow turning on numbered lists activates the custom list style  
> that should have been deleted...)
>
> Damnit, as if writing the actual report wasn't already vastly too  
> complex...

Okay trying to remember if this is the same in Word03, but try  
Tools|Templates and Add-ins. The Document Template should be Normal and  
untick any Add-ins. Then You should have an Organizer... button. This  
should show what styles are available in the Normal template you should  
have (on the right), delete any that look like bullets.

-- 
Phil Cook

--
I once tried to be apathetic, but I just couldn't be bothered
http://flipc.blogspot.com

Post a reply to this message

"Phil Cook" <phi### [at] nospamrocainfreeservecouk> wrote in message
news:op.t17cf5q8c3xi7v@news.povray.org...
>
> Okay trying to remember if this is the same in Word03, but try
> Tools|Templates and Add-ins. The Document Template should be Normal and
> untick any Add-ins. Then You should have an Organizer... button. This
> should show what styles are available in the Normal template you should
> have (on the right), delete any that look like bullets.
>

In addition... (based on Word 2000 and may have changed. I only have 2000
and 2007 here)

Format -> AutoFormat. Click the Options button, go to the AutoFormat as you
Type tab and play with the selections there. Unselect anything that it's
doing that you'd rather it didn't.

I'd suggest uncheck Automatic Numbered Lists, based on your earlier
comments.

Post a reply to this message

I have now reached the point where I wish I'd never ever touched Word. 
This is getting ridiculous!

I'm trying to edit two documents. One is a report template from HQ. 
(Note that it's not an *actual* Word template, it's just a normal Word 
document with lots of text you're supposed to edit.) The other is a set 
of test scripts.

Both are now utterly buggy. Any attempt to do any kind of formatting 
produces wildly unpredictable results. For example, I press the button 
for bullet list and I get a level 3 heading (??!?). Or I press the 
button for Bold text and I get a checkbox list.

(Interestingly, the checkbox list style was in that template I deleted. 
Yet this style keeps magically coming back to life in every new document 
I start... I can't get rid of it!)

I wish I'd never started with this whole thing. I have mere days to get 
these documents finalised, and I just...can't...make...Word...work!!

Man, as if the documents themselves weren't challenging enough...

Post a reply to this message

Phil Cook wrote:
> And lo on Wed, 21 Nov 2007 19:08:51 -0000, Tom Austin <taustin> did 
> spake, saying:
> 
>> Invisible wrote:
>>> This probably isn't news to you, but... numbered lists seem to be 
>>> spectacularly broken in Word 2003.
>>>  I mean, sure, they were always a little quirky in Word 97. But now 
>>> I've upgraded to Word 2003, it seems just downright *broken*. I've 
>>> got a couple of pages, each one with a numbered list on it. And I 
>>> point-blank *cannot* make each such list start counting from 1.
>>>  I can make *some* of them count from 1, but then that makes the 
>>> others reset to start counting from where it left off. Or, sometimes, 
>>> makes them start counting from some seemingly arbitrary number like 138.
>>>  What in the name of God...?
>>>  Seriously, is this behaviour "normal" for Word now?
>>
>>
>> It is perfectly expected - there's rational behind how it all works.
>> It's easy once you figure it out.
>> Good luck in doing that ;-)
> 
> Talking to an older guy who despairs of every 'getting' computers and 
> bemoaning his own stupidity I point out he's not stupid it's just that 
> computers tend to use their own rules of logic that he's not familiar 
> with. "In Windows to stop the computer press Start" makes sense if you 
> consider each action has to be initiated and the Start button is(can be) 
> the beginning of all such actions.
> 
> Of course it doesn't help when they break their own rules; consider how 
> windows open in Excel2k compared to Word2k, or in Andy's case they 
> create invisible rules you can't see.
> 

I don't think I made my sarcasm apparent enough.
I have not figured out how to use word myself.

Tom

Post a reply to this message

Phil Cook wrote:

> invisible rules

Why thank you. :-)

Post a reply to this message