Macro to insert AutoText table loses text formatting

[Lighthouseman]

I use AutoText to insert a small table that contains formatted text as a
letterhead, grid lines off, of course. But when I use a toolbar macro to
automatically set the top margin to .5" and insert the autotext, it loses all
the text formatting in the table. Can this be corrected?

 

[Charles Kenyon]

Why not construct a letterhead template and use that? You put your
letterhead in the first-page header and you don't mess with the margins of
the new document, you simply set them in the template.

Take a look at: How to set up letterhead or some other document where you
want one header on the first page and a different header on other pages.
http://www.addbalance.com/word/headersfooters.htm This gives step-by-step
instructions. (It also has the following links)

Some other pages to look at:

Letterhead Tips and Instructions
http://sbarnhill.mvps.org/WordFAQs/Letterhead.htm

Letterhead Textboxes and Styles tutorial
http://addbalance.com/word/download.htm#LetterheadTextboxesAndStylesTutorial

Template Basics
http://www.addbalance.com/usersguide/templates.htm

How to Create a Template - Part 2 - essential reading
http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/Customization/CreateATemplatePart2.htm

Word "Forms"
http://www.addbalance.com/word/wordwebresources.htm#Forms and

Word for Word Perfect Users
http://www.addbalance.com/word/wordperfect.htm if you are coming from a WP
environment (or even if you are not).

If you are interested in creating templates that will work with the letter
wizard or use that wizard, you should look at the chapter on Advanced
Document Formatting in Using Office 2003 (or whatever your version is),
Special Edition, by Ed Bott and Woody Leonhard. It has detailed instructions
including instructions on getting the fields you want from your Outlook
Contacts for addressing a letter. (Chapter 19 of SE Using Office 2003) You
should be able to get this through your public library or at Amazon.com
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=0789729555/balancecheckbookA/

Finally, take a look at the letter templates that come with Word. While they
are no great shakes as letterhead, they do use styles and AutoText lists
very well. If you use the same style names that are used in those templates
in your own letterhead for the same parts of the document, you will have
better luck with using the built-in AutoText entries in Word.

Hope this helps,
--

Charles Kenyon

Word New User FAQ & Web Directory: http://addbalance.com/word

Intermediate User's Guide to Microsoft Word (supplemented version of
Microsoft's Legal Users' Guide) http://addbalance.com/usersguide


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This message is posted to a newsgroup. Please post replies
and questions to the newsgroup so that others can learn
from my ignorance and your wisdom.

 

[Lighthouseman]

Thank you for your reply, Charles.
I already have a (write only) document listed as "letterhead" in the folder
for the purpose you propose. But the method I'm trying to use has two
advantages. A) The letterhead can be added quickly as an afterthought, and B)
It's easier to teach temporary help to "click the smiley face" than to teach
them to search for a file. One of the purposes of my job is to simplify and
increase efficiency. Alas, I may fail with this one. Thanks again.

 

[Charles Kenyon]

I put my letterhead (and other common templates) on a custom menu that is
added to the File menu. It has letterhead, bills, envelopes, and other
standard forms. To see how to create such a menu, see
http://addbalance.com/word/templates_menu.htm. You can attach it to a smiley
face if you want. For the afterthought situation, copy your text into a new
document. I accept that you like what you are doing, but you are doing it
the hard way.

It is losing the template because of the way Word handles styles, I suspect.
See the textbox and includetext tutorial at
http://addbalance.com/word/download.htm#Tutorials for a demonstration of how
this works. (Formatting of AutoText inserted works the same as text inserted
through the IncludeText field.)
--
Charles Kenyon

Word New User FAQ & Web Directory: http://addbalance.com/word

Intermediate User's Guide to Microsoft Word (supplemented version of
Microsoft's Legal Users' Guide) http://addbalance.com/usersguide


--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
This message is posted to a newsgroup. Please post replies
and questions to the newsgroup so that others can learn
from my ignorance and your wisdom.

 

[Lighthouseman]

Charles, you are absolutely correct, and I appreciate your answers. I found
much information in the links you recommended. I vow to change my ways. <S>
If you have any other thoughts on this, please add them. I love this stuff!
Thanks again.
Norm