All or nothing? How to show only 2-3 styles I define?

[Sandra]

I am in Word 2007. I am am experienced Word user, have been since 1984.

I also want to reduce the clutter and remove the "not allowed" table styles.
So far, I have found that I can show NO table styles (through the Manage
Styles dialog box and its various tabs)... or ALL of them.

Ideally, I want about 2 or 3 defined table styles and nothing else. Whatever
happened to the happy medium (allowable in 2003 and before since at least
1995) where I can show only the table styles allowed in this document?

I have seen a Word-2007-created document where it looks like someone
*actually* managed this. I am trying to find that person, but no luck so far.

Any ideas on how to remove the garbage so I can lock down the template to
relevant styles? I saw that I might be able to lose the tables by unloading
the buildingblocks.dotm, but this template/doc has to go out to other users,
and I might not be able to change that on their machines.

Am I missing something? Or have I lost the ability to control what table
styles show? (And ALL is not acceptable.)

[Stefan Blom]

Via Review tab | Protect Document you can select "Limit formatting to a
selection of styles" and then use the Settings button to choose exactly which
styles should be available to a document (or template). This applies to table
styles as well.
--
Stefan Blom
Microsoft Word MVP
(Message posted via msnews.microsoft.com)

Post by Sandra
I am in Word 2007. I am am experienced Word user, have been since 1984.
I also want to reduce the clutter and remove the "not allowed" table styles.
So far, I have found that I can show NO table styles (through the Manage
Styles dialog box and its various tabs)... or ALL of them.
Ideally, I want about 2 or 3 defined table styles and nothing else. Whatever
happened to the happy medium (allowable in 2003 and before since at least
1995) where I can show only the table styles allowed in this document?
I have seen a Word-2007-created document where it looks like someone
*actually* managed this. I am trying to find that person, but no luck so far.
Any ideas on how to remove the garbage so I can lock down the template to
relevant styles? I saw that I might be able to lose the tables by unloading
the buildingblocks.dotm, but this template/doc has to go out to other users,
and I might not be able to change that on their machines.
Am I missing something? Or have I lost the ability to control what table
styles show? (And ALL is not acceptable.)

[Sandra]

Thank you... that works if I am going to restrict all styles.

However, can I simply hide the unwanted table styles? Or is restricting the
only option?

Thanks,
Sandra

Post by Stefan Blom
Via Review tab | Protect Document you can select "Limit formatting to a
selection of styles" and then use the Settings button to choose exactly which
styles should be available to a document (or template). This applies to table
styles as well.
--
Stefan Blom
Microsoft Word MVP
(Message posted via msnews.microsoft.com)

Post by Sandra
I am in Word 2007. I am am experienced Word user, have been since 1984.
I also want to reduce the clutter and remove the "not allowed" table styles.
So far, I have found that I can show NO table styles (through the Manage
Styles dialog box and its various tabs)... or ALL of them.
Ideally, I want about 2 or 3 defined table styles and nothing else. Whatever
happened to the happy medium (allowable in 2003 and before since at least
1995) where I can show only the table styles allowed in this document?
I have seen a Word-2007-created document where it looks like someone
*actually* managed this. I am trying to find that person, but no luck so far.
Any ideas on how to remove the garbage so I can lock down the template to
relevant styles? I saw that I might be able to lose the tables by unloading
the buildingblocks.dotm, but this template/doc has to go out to other users,
and I might not be able to change that on their machines.
Am I missing something? Or have I lost the ability to control what table
styles show? (And ALL is not acceptable.)

.

[Stefan Blom]

The show/hide options, available on the Recommend tab of that same dialog box,
apply only to paragraph and character styles, unfortunately.
--
Stefan Blom
Microsoft Word MVP
(Message posted via msnews.microsoft.com)

Post by Sandra
Thank you... that works if I am going to restrict all styles.
However, can I simply hide the unwanted table styles? Or is restricting the
only option?
Thanks,
Sandra

Post by Stefan Blom
Via Review tab | Protect Document you can select "Limit formatting to a
selection of styles" and then use the Settings button to choose exactly which
styles should be available to a document (or template). This applies to table
styles as well.
--
Stefan Blom
Microsoft Word MVP
(Message posted via msnews.microsoft.com)

Post by Sandra
I am in Word 2007. I am am experienced Word user, have been since 1984.
I also want to reduce the clutter and remove the "not allowed" table styles.
So far, I have found that I can show NO table styles (through the Manage
Styles dialog box and its various tabs)... or ALL of them.
Ideally, I want about 2 or 3 defined table styles and nothing else. Whatever
happened to the happy medium (allowable in 2003 and before since at least
1995) where I can show only the table styles allowed in this document?
I have seen a Word-2007-created document where it looks like someone
*actually* managed this. I am trying to find that person, but no luck so far.
Any ideas on how to remove the garbage so I can lock down the template to
relevant styles? I saw that I might be able to lose the tables by unloading
the buildingblocks.dotm, but this template/doc has to go out to other users,
and I might not be able to change that on their machines.
Am I missing something? Or have I lost the ability to control what table
styles show? (And ALL is not acceptable.)

.

[Sandra]

Thank you ... that is what I was afraid of.

I cannot lock the styles down yet, the template is evolving as the document
keeps growing.

But I did find a way to change the BuildingBlocks.dotx to get rid of the
extra table styles.

Thanks again,
Sandra

Post by Stefan Blom
The show/hide options, available on the Recommend tab of that same dialog box,
apply only to paragraph and character styles, unfortunately.
--
Stefan Blom
Microsoft Word MVP
(Message posted via msnews.microsoft.com)

Post by Sandra
Thank you... that works if I am going to restrict all styles.
However, can I simply hide the unwanted table styles? Or is restricting the
only option?
Thanks,
Sandra

Post by Stefan Blom
Via Review tab | Protect Document you can select "Limit formatting to a
selection of styles" and then use the Settings button to choose exactly which
styles should be available to a document (or template). This applies to table
styles as well.
--
Stefan Blom
Microsoft Word MVP
(Message posted via msnews.microsoft.com)

Post by Sandra
I am in Word 2007. I am am experienced Word user, have been since 1984.
I also want to reduce the clutter and remove the "not allowed" table styles.
So far, I have found that I can show NO table styles (through the Manage
Styles dialog box and its various tabs)... or ALL of them.
Ideally, I want about 2 or 3 defined table styles and nothing else. Whatever
happened to the happy medium (allowable in 2003 and before since at least
1995) where I can show only the table styles allowed in this document?
I have seen a Word-2007-created document where it looks like someone
*actually* managed this. I am trying to find that person, but no luck so far.
Any ideas on how to remove the garbage so I can lock down the template to
relevant styles? I saw that I might be able to lose the tables by unloading
the buildingblocks.dotm, but this template/doc has to go out to other users,
and I might not be able to change that on their machines.
Am I missing something? Or have I lost the ability to control what table
styles show? (And ALL is not acceptable.)

.

.

[Stefan Blom]

Post by Sandra
But I did find a way to change the BuildingBlocks.dotx to get rid of the
extra table styles.

Interesting. Would you like to share the tip?
--
Stefan Blom
Microsoft Word MVP
(Message posted via msnews.microsoft.com)

Post by Sandra
Thank you ... that is what I was afraid of.
I cannot lock the styles down yet, the template is evolving as the document
keeps growing.
But I did find a way to change the BuildingBlocks.dotx to get rid of the
extra table styles.
Thanks again,
Sandra

Post by Stefan Blom
The show/hide options, available on the Recommend tab of that same dialog box,
apply only to paragraph and character styles, unfortunately.
--
Stefan Blom
Microsoft Word MVP
(Message posted via msnews.microsoft.com)

Post by Sandra
Thank you... that works if I am going to restrict all styles.
However, can I simply hide the unwanted table styles? Or is restricting the
only option?
Thanks,
Sandra

Post by Stefan Blom
Via Review tab | Protect Document you can select "Limit formatting to a
selection of styles" and then use the Settings button to choose exactly which
styles should be available to a document (or template). This applies to table
styles as well.
--
Stefan Blom
Microsoft Word MVP
(Message posted via msnews.microsoft.com)

Post by Sandra
I am in Word 2007. I am am experienced Word user, have been since 1984.
I also want to reduce the clutter and remove the "not allowed" table styles.
So far, I have found that I can show NO table styles (through the Manage
Styles dialog box and its various tabs)... or ALL of them.
Ideally, I want about 2 or 3 defined table styles and nothing else. Whatever
happened to the happy medium (allowable in 2003 and before since at least
1995) where I can show only the table styles allowed in this document?
I have seen a Word-2007-created document where it looks like someone
*actually* managed this. I am trying to find that person, but no luck so far.
Any ideas on how to remove the garbage so I can lock down the template to
relevant styles? I saw that I might be able to lose the tables by unloading
the buildingblocks.dotm, but this template/doc has to go out to other users,
and I might not be able to change that on their machines.
Am I missing something? Or have I lost the ability to control what table
styles show? (And ALL is not acceptable.)

.

.

[Sandra]

The BuildingBlocks.dotx contains the Word 2007 (and I'm guessing 2010, but I
haven't spent much time there yet) table gallery. In other words, all those
colorful (but not necessarily useful) table formats that Word offers are
contained in this file. It acts as a "Normal.dot*" for tables; change this
file, and you can control what standard tables *every* document on that
machine will display.

However, this is a protected document. Mine did not show the read-only
attribute, but attempts to copy over it indicated that the file was
read-only. This message occurred even when no Word documents/instances were
open. I eventually had to use administrative rights to allow all users to
change it, then used administrative rights again to copy over it.

Someone else had a problem indicating that they were NOT getting the table
gallery, and the answer included how to regenerate this file. That told me it
even existed.

And, by the way, for users as anti-automatic update checkbox checked as I
am, even fixing your Normal*.dotx in 2007/2010 is not enough; this file also
has the TOC and Index styles set to automatically update. Double-check the
auto-update features in the Word Options/Proofing area; they might not have
held either. If I am understanding this correctly, this is essentially like
the Normal.dot template layer, not visible to the user, but very significant
to how some underlying things operate.

Because the file is such a pain to overwrite, I have been looking for an
easily distributable way to hand out 1 file (with minimal instructions)
rather than try to convey all these steps to 100+ Word users at various
levels of expertise.


BTW, I am now on the quest for any other gallery files.
What else can I customize to make the authoring experience of my users more
streamlined and directed to best formatting practices?

Hope that helps,

Sandra

Post by Stefan Blom

Post by Sandra
But I did find a way to change the BuildingBlocks.dotx to get rid of the
extra table styles.

Interesting. Would you like to share the tip?
--
Stefan Blom
Microsoft Word MVP
(Message posted via msnews.microsoft.com)

Post by Sandra
Thank you ... that is what I was afraid of.
I cannot lock the styles down yet, the template is evolving as the document
keeps growing.
But I did find a way to change the BuildingBlocks.dotx to get rid of the
extra table styles.
Thanks again,
Sandra

Post by Stefan Blom
The show/hide options, available on the Recommend tab of that same dialog box,
apply only to paragraph and character styles, unfortunately.
--
Stefan Blom
Microsoft Word MVP
(Message posted via msnews.microsoft.com)

Post by Sandra
Thank you... that works if I am going to restrict all styles.
However, can I simply hide the unwanted table styles? Or is restricting the
only option?
Thanks,
Sandra

Post by Stefan Blom
Via Review tab | Protect Document you can select "Limit formatting to a
selection of styles" and then use the Settings button to choose exactly which
styles should be available to a document (or template). This applies to table
styles as well.
--
Stefan Blom
Microsoft Word MVP
(Message posted via msnews.microsoft.com)

Post by Sandra
I am in Word 2007. I am am experienced Word user, have been since 1984.
I also want to reduce the clutter and remove the "not allowed" table
styles.
So far, I have found that I can show NO table styles (through the Manage
Styles dialog box and its various tabs)... or ALL of them.
Ideally, I want about 2 or 3 defined table styles and nothing else.
Whatever
happened to the happy medium (allowable in 2003 and before since at least
1995) where I can show only the table styles allowed in this document?
I have seen a Word-2007-created document where it looks like someone
*actually* managed this. I am trying to find that person, but no luck so
far.
Any ideas on how to remove the garbage so I can lock down the template to
relevant styles? I saw that I might be able to lose the tables by unloading
the buildingblocks.dotm, but this template/doc has to go out to other
users,
and I might not be able to change that on their machines.
Am I missing something? Or have I lost the ability to control what table
styles show? (And ALL is not acceptable.)

.

.

.

[Stefan Blom]

Thank you for sharing this. I'm not sure if messing with the Building
Blocks.dotx file is recommended, though. :-)

As far as "distribution" is concerned, I guess you could use a login script to
copy your customized Building Blocks.dotx file to each user's profile.
--
Stefan Blom
Microsoft Word MVP
(Message posted via news.eternal-september.org)

Post by Sandra
The BuildingBlocks.dotx contains the Word 2007 (and I'm guessing 2010, but I
haven't spent much time there yet) table gallery. In other words, all those
colorful (but not necessarily useful) table formats that Word offers are
contained in this file. It acts as a "Normal.dot*" for tables; change this
file, and you can control what standard tables *every* document on that
machine will display.
However, this is a protected document. Mine did not show the read-only
attribute, but attempts to copy over it indicated that the file was
read-only. This message occurred even when no Word documents/instances were
open. I eventually had to use administrative rights to allow all users to
change it, then used administrative rights again to copy over it.
Someone else had a problem indicating that they were NOT getting the table
gallery, and the answer included how to regenerate this file. That told me it
even existed.
And, by the way, for users as anti-automatic update checkbox checked as I
am, even fixing your Normal*.dotx in 2007/2010 is not enough; this file also
has the TOC and Index styles set to automatically update. Double-check the
auto-update features in the Word Options/Proofing area; they might not have
held either. If I am understanding this correctly, this is essentially like
the Normal.dot template layer, not visible to the user, but very significant
to how some underlying things operate.
Because the file is such a pain to overwrite, I have been looking for an
easily distributable way to hand out 1 file (with minimal instructions)
rather than try to convey all these steps to 100+ Word users at various
levels of expertise.
BTW, I am now on the quest for any other gallery files.
What else can I customize to make the authoring experience of my users more
streamlined and directed to best formatting practices?
Hope that helps,
Sandra

Post by Stefan Blom

Post by Sandra
But I did find a way to change the BuildingBlocks.dotx to get rid of the
extra table styles.

Interesting. Would you like to share the tip?
--
Stefan Blom
Microsoft Word MVP
(Message posted via msnews.microsoft.com)

Post by Sandra
Thank you ... that is what I was afraid of.
I cannot lock the styles down yet, the template is evolving as the document
keeps growing.
But I did find a way to change the BuildingBlocks.dotx to get rid of the
extra table styles.
Thanks again,
Sandra

Post by Stefan Blom
The show/hide options, available on the Recommend tab of that same dialog box,
apply only to paragraph and character styles, unfortunately.
--
Stefan Blom
Microsoft Word MVP
(Message posted via msnews.microsoft.com)

Post by Sandra
Thank you... that works if I am going to restrict all styles.
However, can I simply hide the unwanted table styles? Or is restricting the
only option?
Thanks,
Sandra

Post by Stefan Blom
Via Review tab | Protect Document you can select "Limit formatting to a
selection of styles" and then use the Settings button to choose exactly which
styles should be available to a document (or template). This applies to table
styles as well.
--
Stefan Blom
Microsoft Word MVP
(Message posted via msnews.microsoft.com)

Post by Sandra
I am in Word 2007. I am am experienced Word user, have been since 1984.
I also want to reduce the clutter and remove the "not allowed" table
styles.
So far, I have found that I can show NO table styles (through the Manage
Styles dialog box and its various tabs)... or ALL of them.
Ideally, I want about 2 or 3 defined table styles and nothing else.
Whatever
happened to the happy medium (allowable in 2003 and before since at least
1995) where I can show only the table styles allowed in this document?
I have seen a Word-2007-created document where it looks like someone
*actually* managed this. I am trying to find that person, but no luck so
far.
Any ideas on how to remove the garbage so I can lock down the
template
to
relevant styles? I saw that I might be able to lose the tables by
unloading
the buildingblocks.dotm, but this template/doc has to go out to other
users,
and I might not be able to change that on their machines.
Am I missing something? Or have I lost the ability to control what table
styles show? (And ALL is not acceptable.)

.

.

.