Using the Style Organizer

Word also has the capability to copy styles from other documents and templates into your current document. This provides you with an easy way to add already existing styles to a document (rather than reinventing the wheel or style).

To copy styles from another document or template, follow these steps:

1. Select the Tools menu, and then choose Templates and Add-Ins .

2. In the Templates and Add-Ins dialog box, click the Organizer button. The Organizer dialog box appears as shown in Figure 10.4.

   Figure 10.4. The Organizer dialog box makes it easy for you to copy a style or styles from one document to another.

   

3. The styles in the current document appear on the left side of the Organizer dialog box. Styles in the template that your current document was based on are shown on the right side of the Organizer dialog box (all documents are based on a template, even if it is just the Word Normal template). To close the template file on the right side of the dialog box, click the Close File button (in Figure 10.4, click Close File under the Normal.dot template on the right of the dialog box).

4. Now you can open a new template or document and copy the styles that it contains to the current document (shown on the left of the dialog box). Click Open File on the right side of the Organizer dialog box. Locate the document or template from which you want to copy the styles. Double-click the file in the Open dialog box to open the file.

5. You are returned to the Organizer dialog box, and the styles for the recently opened template or document are listed on the right side of the dialog box. To copy a style or styles, select the style and click the Copy button. The style is copied to the styles in your current document.

   

   Copy More Than One Style at a Time To select several styles to copy to your document simultaneously , click the first style you want to copy and then hold down the Shift key and click the last style you want to copy. All the styles in between these two are also selected. To select styles that are not in a series, click the first style you want to copy, and then hold down the Ctrl key and click any other styles you want to select.

   
   

6. When you have finished copying styles (styles can be copied from either of the documents in the Organizer dialog box), click Close to close the Organizer dialog box.

As you can see, the Organizer makes it very easy for you to share the styles that you create between your documents. Remember, styles that you create reside only in the document where you create them. The only way to copy those styles to another document is to use the Style Organizer.