RE: MS Word - changing old docs to new styles

Subject: RE: MS Word - changing old docs to new styles
From: "Dan Goldstein" <DGoldstein -at- riverainmedical -dot- com>
To: <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>
Date: Fri, 15 Dec 2006 10:00:24 -0500

Not clear from your post if the existing formatting is manual or
style-based.

In the former case, the easiest method would be a Find-and-Replace,
where the Find What field specifies the existing manual format (e.g.,
Arial 16 pt Bold Space Before 12 pt Keep With Next), and the Replace
With field specifies the desired style (e.g., Heading 1).

In the latter case, where styles have been applied but they're not
consistent with the template, consider CTRL+A, CTRL+Q. This applies your
template's definitions to all paragraphs.

-- Dan Goldstein

> -----Original Message-----
> From: neilson
> Sent: Friday, December 15, 2006 9:49 AM
> To: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
> Subject: MS Word - changing old docs to new styles
>
> I have a large set of docs that have become variously
> formatted over time. I would like them to adhere to one set
> of standard styles, and I know exactly how I would do it if I
> were using a markup language: I would write a few emacs
> macros that would identify the non-standard markup and make it
> right.
>
> Unfortunately, everything is in MS Word, and I'm not having
> too much luck finding any way to do the work other than
> slogging through the docs making replacements for everything
> by hand, hoping I'm doing it right, and then checking up to
> make sure Word hasn't decided to mess up something else while
> I was in there. Yes, I attach my new template instead of
> Normal.dot, but there's still all the by-hand work to do.
>
> I'd really like to have an automated way to handle this
> problem, as additional "existing" docs continue to appear as
> SMEs take old pre-standards documentation and use it as a
> template for new material.
>
> Am I missing some tool or technique that'll make it easy?
>
> Should I export all to XML and run an emacs macro on the XML
> code? Word's XML is, to say the least, immense.
>

This message contains confidential information intended only for the use of the addressee(s). If you are not the addressee, or the person responsible for delivering it to the addressee, you are hereby notified that reading, disseminating, distributing, copying, electronic storing or the taking of any action in reliance on the contents of this message is strictly prohibited. If you have received this message by mistake, please notify us, by replying to the sender, and delete the original message immediately thereafter. Thank you.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

WebWorks ePublisher Pro for Word features support for every major Help
format plus PDF, HTML and more. Flexible, precise, and efficient content
delivery. Try it today! http://www.webworks.com/techwr-l

Create HTML or Microsoft Word content and convert to Help file formats or
printed documentation. Features include single source authoring, team authoring,
Web-based technology, and PDF output. http://www.DocToHelp.com/TechwrlList

---
You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as archive -at- infoinfocus -dot- com -dot-

To unsubscribe send a blank email to
techwr-l-unsubscribe -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
or visit http://lists.techwr-l.com/mailman/options/techwr-l/archive%40infoinfocus.com


To subscribe, send a blank email to techwr-l-join -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com

Send administrative questions to admin -at- techwr-l -dot- com -dot- Visit
http://www.techwr-l.com/techwhirl/ for more resources and info.


References:
MS Word - changing old docs to new styles: From: neilson

Previous by Author: RE: Writing software documentation without the software
Next by Author: RE: Writing Test
Previous by Thread: RE: MS Word - changing old docs to new styles
Next by Thread: RE: MS Word - changing old docs to new styles


What this post helpful? Share it with friends and colleagues:


Sponsored Ads