Styles won't change

[Hans Näslund]

I asked this question last week, bu did not get any replies. It is therefore
repeated:

All of a sudden, Word does not allow me to change the fonts (or other format
attributes) of headings and other style formats - they are greyed out, and
when I try to change them, I get the error message that the style name is
already occupied.

I have tried to create a new normal.dot, but that did not help. Why is
this - and does anybody have any hints what I can do?

I am using Word 2000 with Windows 2000.

 

[Graham Mayor]

Do you have a default printer driver that will use fonts? See
http://www.gmayor.com/where_are_my_fonts.htm

--
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Graham Mayor - Word MVP

Web site www.gmayor.com
Word MVP web site www.mvps.org/word
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[Gregory]

H
As a rule, don't play with normal.dot, it's a special name with special prevelege
Create your one dot(s)
Greg

 

[Hans Näslund]

Yes, I have a printer which can manage all fonts, and all my fonts do show
up in Word, so that is not the problem.

The problem is that Word does not allow me to change the attributes of
existing styles - but I can create new styles...

Hans

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

How are you trying to modify them? Are you going to Format | Style,
selecting the desired style, clicking Modify, then selecting Format | Font?

 

[Hans Näslund]

Yes, exactly - and when I click on Modify, I get an error message telling me
that the format name is already occupied. If I try to go on and change the
font, I am not allowed to save the change, and the same error mnessage
appears.

Hans

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

What version of Word? I assume you're not trying to "modify" one style by
saving it under the name of an existing built-in style?

 

[Hans Näslund]

I am using Word 2000.

And yes - what I try to do is to modify some of the built-in styles - like
Header 1 and 2, etc. Should that really be impossible? It used to be
possible before...

Hans

 

[Charles Kenyon]

You can modify these styles but you can't delete them. You can't create a
new style and give it the name.

I assume you mean Heading 1, Heading 2, etc. Header is used for the
formatting of page headers.

For existing styles, the simplest method of modifying them is to click on
the "Modify" button when in the Styles dialog. Format => Styles...


--

Charles Kenyon

See the MVP FAQ: <URL: http://www.mvps.org/word/> which is awesome!
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[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

To clarify what Charles is saying: you can modify a built-in style (see
http://www.shaunakelly.com/word/styles/ModifyAStyle.html), but you can't
create a new style and save it with the name of a built-in style.

 

[Hans Näslund]

NO!!!

My problem is that I CANNOT modify some of the built-in styles (notably the
headings). As I explained before, when I try to do that I get the error
message that the style is already occupied, and as a consequence, no change
is possible.

(I am using Swedish versions of Windows and Office, so I'm trying to
translate the terms back into English.)

Hans

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Okay, just making sure. This is definitely not normal. Is the template
read-only? Or perhaps a password is required to modify it? I'm really out of
my depth here, as I've never seen this type of behavior. The new protection
options in Word 2003 could cause this, but I can't think of an explanation
for Word 2000.

 

[Charles Kenyon]

The only way you get a message that the style is already occupied is when
you try to give a new style the same name as the built-in style or modify
the name of an existing style to be the same as that of a built-in style.
You can't copy over the built-in heading styles (or at least the top ones).
The English message is "This style name already exists or is reserved for a
built-in style."

If you select the built-in Heading 1 style and click on the modify button,
you can modify it.
--

Charles Kenyon

See the MVP FAQ: <URL: http://www.mvps.org/word/> which is awesome!
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[Bengt Carlsson]

I wish you were right. I have the same problem as Hans. When
I try to modify a built-in style, Word react as if I was
creating a new style with the same name. "Style name is
occupied". I have checked the Rights and Security tab on
Normal.dot properties, but everything seems to be alright.

If I create a new style with its own name, it behaves
normal. Obviously there is something wrong in my Word 2002
and/or OS (Win Xp pro), but where? Both my the OS and Word
is patched with the latest.

Any ideas? My guess is that there something wrong in
priviligies, but I am administrator so I can figure out
what.

regards / Bengt

The only way you get a message that the style is already occupied is when
you try to give a new style the same name as the built-in style or modify
the name of an existing style to be the same as that of a built-in style.
You can't copy over the built-in heading styles (or at least the top ones).
The English message is "This style name already exists or is reserved for a
built-in style."

If you select the built-in Heading 1 style and click on the modify button,
you can modify it.
--

Charles Kenyon

See the MVP FAQ: <URL: http://www.mvps.org/word/> which is awesome!
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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.

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[Charles Kenyon]

Which version of Word (number and language)?

Which style does this happen with?

What operating system?


--

Charles Kenyon

See the MVP FAQ: <URL: http://www.mvps.org/word/> which is awesome!
--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
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.

 

[Bengt Carlsson]

Word version: Word 2002 (10.5815.4219) SP-2, Swedish
OS: Win XP Pro sp2.030422-1633, Swedish

It happens to Heading 1,2 and 3, and probably all the heading styles.
And moreover, when I try to apply for example Heading 2 it goes back to the
style for Heading 1 (Arial 16pt, Bold, Centered).

I have tried "Idenity and repair", and a complete reinstall of Office XP.

Earlier everything was OK with Word, but after a computer crash I had to
reinstall both OS and Office. Since then I have had these problem.

As long as I edit my own documents, I can solve the problem by not using the
built-in styles, but I often edit other people's docs and they use the
built-ins.

It could be a problem in some of the latest localized security-patches, so I
will try to uninstall and reinstall without updates and patches.

/Bengt

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Since both you and Hans are having this problem in the Swedish version of
Word, it seems to be a localized issue. I would imagine opening a support
incident with MS might be the best way to get the proper attention to this
problem (and possibly a hotfix).

 

[Bengt Carlsson]

I manage to solve the problem. A week ago I was working on translation
project in Trados. Trados complained about ; as list separator, so I
change it to <space>. Although I did not realise the connection then,
the space made Word think that Heading was one format and 1 (2,3) was
another. So when I tried to change the Heading format it said, quite
logical, that the name was occupied.

Changing back to default ( solve the problem. So be careful not to use
<space> as list separator.

Thanks for your help and interest anyhow.

Regards / Bengt

 

[Hans Näslund]

Yippee...

That solved my problem too!

Hans