Styles & Formatting Help

[Jim Wood]

My understanding is that Word formatting is 'contained' in the paragraph mark
at the end of each paragraph's text. Does this mean that all the formatting
is strictly on a paragraph-by-paragraph basis? What I am getting at is: what
are the implications of deleting some of the many, many 'styles' that appear
in the growing that comes up when I click on Format/Style? The list is
getting very long, and many of the styles shown there are not in use in most
of the documents I open and work on. If I delete a style, is it lost
forever; that is, will that formatting in an obscure document be lost when
the document is opened someday? I am hoping that the formatting remains with
the document. Thanks, Jim

 

[Jay Freedman]

My understanding is that Word formatting is 'contained' in the paragraph mark
at the end of each paragraph's text. Does this mean that all the formatting
is strictly on a paragraph-by-paragraph basis? What I am getting at is: what
are the implications of deleting some of the many, many 'styles' that appear
in the growing that comes up when I click on Format/Style? The list is
getting very long, and many of the styles shown there are not in use in most
of the documents I open and work on. If I delete a style, is it lost
forever; that is, will that formatting in an obscure document be lost when
the document is opened someday? I am hoping that the formatting remains with
the document. Thanks, Jim

Hi Jim,

Have a look at
http://www.microsoft.com/office/previous/xp/columns/column14.asp. In
particular, the answer there to "Where do styles come from" answers
your question: Yes, the formatting remains with the document. No, you
won't damage other existing documents by removing styles from another
document.

The appearance of a growing list of styles, at least in Word
2002/2003, is usually an illusion. As explained at
http://www.shaunakelly.com/word/sfpane/StylesAndFormattingPane.html#WordDoesNotCreateNewStyles
this is a consequence of an option you can turn off.

If you're actually creating new styles by using the New button, maybe
you should think twice before checking the Add to Template box in the
dialog. Try making different templates for different document types,
and putting in each one only the styles needed for that type.

 

[Jim Wood]

Thanks, Jay,

Your answer, plus the links to others' explanations, were just what the
doctor ordered. I'll turn that tic mark off right now and do some purging!

--Jim