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General discussion

Automatically Formatting Word 2007 Documents

May 5, 2010 10:04AM PDT

Hello,

I am writing a book using Word 2007. The book will have many chapters. Each chapter will have it's own file. I need a way to automatically change the formatting of all files, when I change the formatting of one file. I tried template files, yet applying a template file to a document file did not change the header/footer/margins formatting. I am aware of scripting, yet I am trying not to write software. Is there a way?

Thanks,
TI

Discussion is locked

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If it is going to be possible,
May 6, 2010 5:12AM PDT

then I would suspect it is going to be some type of advanced VBS code, ie, Macros.

But there may be a clue there. Word 2007 should be the same as the Word I use, XP(2002), in that it allows users to record their own macros. If you could start recording a macro, take the steps you need to reformat a chapter/file, then when you're done, stop recording the macro. Then open the other files and run the same macro on the other chapters/files.

When you define the macro you would have to ensure it is saved globally, and not just for the one document.

Also, although I am sure you already have multiple backups of your book, I would create copies of each file first, move those copies elsewhere on the disk, I mean a different folder, and try this out on the copies. It's easier to make mistake and to learn how to do this on copies than on the original files.

Hope that helps.

Mark

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This looks like a job for....
May 14, 2010 4:15AM PDT