Table Normal Style

[Linda]

I'm running Office 2003. I have created a template for theses and
dissertations at San Diego State University, which is based on the Normal
style that has been modified for 1.5 line spacing. However, for tables, I
would like to retain single spacing that is the default in Word.

Problem 1: I am not allowed to modify the Table Normal style. I did go to
Table Autoformat and changed the paragraph spacing for the Table Grid style
to single spacing, but when I selected an "example table" in the template
document (currently at 1.5 spacing) and applied the Table Grid style (I
customized the style list so that it would appear), nothing changed. I CAN
however insert a NEW table and it appears single spaced (that's good!).

Problem 2: Students often begin their theses in Word before using the
template and are taught to use the Master Doc/Insert subdocs feature. Even
doing this correctly, single-spaced tables in the original are changed to 1.5
spacing, apparently picking up the spacing from the Normal style, which I
assume is what "Table Normal" is based on. Students may have used any of the
autoformatted table styles available in Word and I would like them all to
remain intact. How can I modify our template to accommodate this?

Thanks.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

This is one of the reasons we advise modifying Body Text and using that as
the basic style for body text instead of Normal. See
http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/Formatting/NormalVsBodyStyles.htm. See also
http://www.shaunakelly.com/word/tablestyles/index.html

 

[Linda]

Thanks, Suzanne. Our original template did use Body Text but then students
had to go through 150+ pages of text and graphics to change all their
original text (in Normal) to Body Text. We thought this would be simpler for
them. Until we stumbled across this problem, of course.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

They can't use Find and Replace to replace Normal with Body Text? This would
be something useful for them to learn.

To tell the truth, the first thing I do with any document I get is to apply
Body Text (or Body Text First Indent, as appropriate) to the entire thing,
then go through and tag the headings and whatnot appropriately.

 

[Linda]

Ha! Yes, I thought of that, too. However, I typically get them AFTER they've
written their entire thesis (though I'm working on that). There are still a
large percent who know very little about Word and, other than using the
bullet or numbered list icons, have their entire thesis in Normal and all
"other" formatting has been done manually, still based on Normal. Even, for
some, tables! So using the Find & Replace would be equivalent to doing a
Select All and changing to Body Text. So...we may just need to rebuild the
template to include Body Text.

My next project, though is incorporating the autonumbering feature. Have you
written anything on that? It seems that autonumbering starts at the Heading 1
level. Is there any way to set the Chapter Title style for the top level so
that the first-level heading in a chapter (for which we are now using the
Heading 1 style) can be numbered at the 1.1 level? Heading 2 would be 1.1.1,
etc. Thanks.

 

[Linda]

Yes, we could tell them to do that, but for some, that would be equivalent to
saying: "Select All and change to Body Text." Some students don't even use
the table feature to create tables! We'll just have to go back to using Body
Text for text and get more students to start their writing within the
template.

My next project is to incorporate the autonumbering feature into the
template. Have you written anything on that? Mostly what I need to know is
whether it is possible to assign the top level to the Chapter Title style. It
seemed to me while I was researching this that the top level was assigned to
Heading 1 by default and I was not able to find a way to assign that to a
different style. Help with this would be terrific. Thanks...

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

You can use any styles you want, but the built-in heading styles have
certain "magic" properties. See these articles:

How to create numbered headings or outline numbering in your Word document
http://www.shaunakelly.com/word/numbering/OutlineNumbering.html

Why use Word’s built-in heading styles?
http://www.shaunakelly.com/word/numbering/UseBuiltInHeadingStyles.html

Ha! Yes, I thought of that, too. However, I typically get them AFTER they've
written their entire thesis (though I'm working on that). There are still a
large percent who know very little about Word and, other than using the
bullet or numbered list icons, have their entire thesis in Normal and all
"other" formatting has been done manually, still based on Normal. Even, for
some, tables! So using the Find & Replace would be equivalent to doing a
Select All and changing to Body Text. So...we may just need to rebuild the
template to include Body Text.

My next project, though is incorporating the autonumbering feature. Have you
written anything on that? It seems that autonumbering starts at the Heading 1
level. Is there any way to set the Chapter Title style for the top level so
that the first-level heading in a chapter (for which we are now using the
Heading 1 style) can be numbered at the 1.1 level? Heading 2 would be 1.1.1,
etc. Thanks.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

See reply to your duplicate post.

Yes, we could tell them to do that, but for some, that would be equivalent to
saying: "Select All and change to Body Text." Some students don't even use
the table feature to create tables! We'll just have to go back to using Body
Text for text and get more students to start their writing within the
template.

My next project is to incorporate the autonumbering feature into the
template. Have you written anything on that? Mostly what I need to know is
whether it is possible to assign the top level to the Chapter Title style. It
seemed to me while I was researching this that the top level was assigned to
Heading 1 by default and I was not able to find a way to assign that to a
different style. Help with this would be terrific. Thanks...

 

[Malcolm Patterson]

When presented with a document in something like typwriter manuscript format,
I usually use Ctrl+A followed by Ctrl+Shift+N to make it all Normal text.
Next, I execute Format/Autoformat.

All Normal paragraphs ending with periods are automatically converted to
Body Text.

All Normal paragraphs ending with no period are automatically converted to
headings (with some amazingly good guesses about heading level based on the
beginning of the sentence)

All instances of a hard carriage return (paragraph mark) between two Body
Text paragraphs to separate them from one another are removed.

It's an enormous timesaver.

I'm trying to find out how to alter the behavior of this autoformat
function, though--when the process is used on a memorandum, it has bizarre
styles that it automatically applies to To/From/Subject lines and the like.