Body Text formatting when Outlining

[Hitch]

I have a large document which uses outline levels. This document came to me
in straight text, 80+ single-spaced pages of "body text," period. I switched
on over to Outline view, and created the headings, using Heading 1, 2, 3, and
so forth, which works great. However, here is where I just can't seem to
"get" what happens with the EXISTING body text. Setting the headings to be
modified with (Style for following) "Body Text" or "Body Text 2" (in Modify)
does not seem to do ANYTHING when you have *existing* body text that's all
sitting merrily at the left margin. (Setting up what follows is spiffy for
text you are CREATING, but doesn't seem to do bupkus for text that already
exists).

I want the body text (which is unnumbered, mixed in with Sections, which are
outline numbered Level 2 headings) after Heading 1 at the left margin, so
that's easy. I want the unnumbered body text after Heading 2 indented, say
..5; then the unnumbered body text after Heading 3 indented to follow Heading
3's indent. I realize I can do this manually, but is that the ONLY way to do
this? To set up three different body Text styles and MANUALLY apply them,
paragraph by paragraph (or set of paragraphs under each heading)?

I've tried promoting the body text under Heading 1 to Level 1 (using the
drop-down, not the left/right arrows, so it wouldn't become a formatted
heading), so that it's effectively Level 1 Body Text, but while that
addresses the indentation, it inserts a TOC field code so that the entire
body text shows up in my TOC...which I do NOT want.

Is this just one of those "it's so obvious that I can't see it" things?
It's making me crazy, because I have to send this bloody thing out to 3
clients, all of whom will be making revisions to it, and if I don't get the
formatting SET before I send it out, I'm going to be re-doing this thing
until Hades freezes over. I mean, all the happy-happy-joy-joy over using the
"follows" option in Modify seems to be oriented for NEW text, not text that
is being edited. I'm moderately au fait with the outlining feature -
probably more than the average bear - and I can generate sophisticated TOC's
without pulling my hair out, but I can't figure out a quick way to do THIS
body text formatting.

Any and all help will be appreciated. I have read all of Barnhill's and
Kelly's essays on this - outlining, numbering, you-name-it, but frankly
everybody seems to just ignore body text; there's a whopping couple of
paragraphs about using Body Text 2 and 3 on the MVP.org site, but again, that
seems to be about text that you are GOING TO BE typing...not text you are
FIXING. Help, anyone???

 

[Hitch]

Guys:

Well, I have REPEATEDLY tried "style for following," using the mvps.org
instructions for using Body text 2 and Body Text 3 styles...but it just is
NOT working. No matter WHAT I do, if I type heading (e.g., a Level 2
Heading) text, promote it to Level 2, and then hit "return," (once ONLY, of
course) I get another level 2 heading, NOT Body Text 2 styled (indented,
based on Body Text) text. If I "demote" the to-be-body-text text to "body
text," using EITHER the drop-down or the right-arrows, it turns into plain
old NON-INDENTED Body Text, not Body Text 2.

I have searched this list and the MS Word KB's, MVP.org, Shauna Kelly's
stuff; taken the training courses, scoured the help...and nothing. EVERYBODY
knows how to indent HEADINGS automatically, but automatically indenting the
following body text to match the particular heading indent(s) seems to be
like the Holy Grail - nonexistent. I saw a post here from late 2005 asking
the same question, and the response was "to use styles," without any
indication that it could be done automatedly. It seems like the only way to
do this is to MANUALLY select every single bleeping paragraph (or series of
paragraphs under an indented heading) and then assign the Body Text 2 or Body
Text 3 style to it/them, one or a series at a time. IS THERE ANOTHER WAY,
PLEASE!!!!!???????

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

I believe that the "Style for following paragraph" is not observed when you
are in Outline view.

 

[Daiya Mitchell]

ah, that's right. On the assumption that you are outlining your
headings, not adding body text. In fact, I've found that very useful.

 

[Daiya Mitchell]

I realize I can do this manually, but is that the ONLY way to do
this? To set up three different body Text styles and MANUALLY apply them,
paragraph by paragraph (or set of paragraphs under each heading)?

Yep, I think so. The "following" setting does only apply when you are
typing new text, as you found.

Possibly a quicker way--in Outline View, select a Heading 1. Go back to
regular view, that whole section should be selected. Run a Find and
Replace (for that selection only) that leaves the boxes empty, but
formats Find as Body Text and Replace as
YourCustomBodyTextStyleForThatLevel. (I'd try this ON A COPY)

Also, it's possible to assign a keyboard shortcut to a style, could help
speed things up.

It's making me crazy, because I have to send this bloody thing out to 3
clients, all of whom will be making revisions to it, and if I don't get the
formatting SET before I send it out, I'm going to be re-doing this thing
until Hades freezes over.

Betcha 50 cents they'll mess it up and you'll have to redo it anyhow.

 

[Hitch]

Oh, that's just....AAARRRGGHHHH!!! If I understand you two folks, answering
all three posts at once:

1. IF I want to use Outline view, I have to define all my headers, then
SWITCH back to Print View (or whatever) to get the "following" setting to
work? Can that be real? Why on EARTH would that setting only work in Print
View (dumb, dumb, dumb, MS)? Suzanne, mvp.org folks, or Shauna Kelly -
detailed info on BODY TEXT would be a WONDERFUL article for users needing
WP-level functionality, or advanced typesetting functions for ANY
reason...just a suggestion, I've been beating my head against the wall for
two days.
2. Daiya - I freely admit that your suggestion about "find and replace" is
not something I would have thought of, and I'm not sure I understand your
instructions..."Find as body text" and replace with "Replace with Body Text 2
(or whatever)?" Hell, I never knew I could "find" a style. I will mutter
off and see if I can figure it out, now that I know that using "follows" in
Outline View (in which I do ALL my work) doesn't WORK.
3. Daiya - oh, yep, they'll screw it up all right...but when the
indentation level goes hither and yon, one of them gets near-hysterical and
then things get REALLY BAD. It would be funny if I didn't have filing
deadlines on this project at the end of March!

THANK YOU BOTH for your assistance. REALLY. At least I know I'm not
completely crazy, which is what I've been thinking for the last 24 hours, not
figuring out why the blasted "follows" thing wouldn't work even on NEW
text!!! (Not in Outline view...what a bugger).

 

[Hitch]

Hi, Suzanne:

Okay...then I have a REALLY STUPID question, AFTER giving this some thought.
As you would be entering ALL of your headings for a lengthy document in
Outline View - when would "style for following paragraph" ever actually WORK?
Mechanically, what would actually happen? You would enter ALL of your
headings in Outline View - 1st ,2nd, etc., and then flip back to "print
layout" view (or whatever), then what? Place your cursor at the END of each
heading, hit <enter>, and THEN and only then add your Body Text, to get the
Body Text 2 or 3 style? That's pretty accursed tedious, don't you think? On
my 80 pages, it's going to be a nightmare.

This is just....damned dumb. I cannot believe that MS never thought to
create a simple switch or option that would make indenting body text to the
level of the preceding heading the DEFAULT option, or at least an option you
could select for the entire document. Who uses headings that don't indent,
and who puts left-margin body text under indented headings? And who wants to
be constrained to constantly switching back and forth between views (and
careful cursor placement) in order to get something THIS FUNDAMENTAL to work?
Cripes.

Thanks for the info, but I'm still agape at the idea that auto-indentation
is such an alien concept to Word.

Regards,

 

[Daiya Mitchell]

Hi Hitch,

Not to blame you, but I think that if you accept that your way of
working does not match Word's, it will be less frustrating for you.

Who uses headings that don't indent,
and who puts left-margin body text under indented headings?

Me. It's never crossed my mind to do otherwise. And, honestly, I
don't think I've seen anyone else ask this question.

And who wants to
be constrained to constantly switching back and forth between views (and
careful cursor placement) in order to get something THIS FUNDAMENTAL to work?

Well, outline view is not designed to make it easy to *write* the
document, but to make it easy to plan, re-order, navigate, or otherwise
manage. It may be of general use if you read this article on outline view:
http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/Formatting/UsingOLView.htm

See other post for comments on your specific problem right now.

Daiya

 

[Daiya Mitchell]

Hi Hitch,

You need several different styles of Body Text, one for each
indentation, and yes, you'll have to apply them manually. Actually,
though, I'm not sure Find and Replace will help at all, because the
annoyance is that you'll need to manually select each section of text to
be changed. So, quick methods of selection:

Outline View should offer you a quick way of selecting only the text you
want replaced in that search.

Another, probably better method of quick selection: use the little
circle between the double arrows at the bottom of the scroll bar, and
set the Browse Object to next heading. Then clicking the double arrow
will jump you to the next heading. If you hit F8 to enter Extended
Selection mode, then when it jumps to the next heading, it will also
select all the text it jumped over.

Once the text is selected, you can apply a style the way you normally
do. I think Find and Replace would be superfluous here, on second thought.

Hit ESC to exit Extended Selection mode, or double-click the EXT on the
status bar at the bottom of the window.

Daiya

PS. to other post--if you prefer to do all your work in Outline View,
you might find that doing the actual writing/composing in Normal View
rather than Page Layout is also comfortable for you. Re your #1, see my
other post.

PPS. If you did ever want to Find and Replace styles, you would need to
click on the More button in the dialog, and use the Format menu in the
dialog to apply a Style to the empty Find and Replace fields. Experiment

 

[Stefan Blom]

Hitch,

To quickly apply the body text styles, you can assign keyboard
shortcuts to them.

Note also that the body text styles can be set up as an outline-
numbered list (with no numbering applied). Then you can change
styles by promoting/demoting numbering levels (using
Alt+Shift+left/right arrow).

--
Stefan Blom
Microsoft Word MVP


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