Troubleshoot using styles and reapplying formatting

A style has changed unexpectedly.

Applying a style turns off bold, italic, or underlining.

The format you apply by using a paragraph style or character style may change the existing character formatting of the text. For example, when you apply a built-in heading style such as Heading 1 to underlined text, the underlining disappears. This will not occur if you format the characters after you apply the style.

When I used the Style Gallery, the template didn't change.

The Style Gallery is not used for changing the template attached to your document; you use it to view or apply styles from other templates to your document. To attach a different template to your document, click Templates and Add-Ins on the Tools menu.

Text with the same style applied looks different.

Some text may have been formatted manually with Microsoft Word formatting commands. You can compare the formatting of two text selections by using the Reveal Formatting task pane.

  1. On the Format menu, click Reveal Formatting, and then select the first instance of formatting you want to compare.

  2. Select the Compare to another selection check box, and then select the second instance of formatting to compare.

  3. Under Formatting differences, any differences between the two selections will be described.

You can also remove manual formatting from a text selection and restore the settings of its style. To remove manual formatting from a paragraph, select the paragraph ù including the paragraph mark ù and then press CTRL+Q. To remove manual formatting from characters, select the characters, and then press CTRL+SPACEBAR.

Not all the styles appear in the Styles and Formatting task pane.

I can't redefine the Normal style.

When you apply a style to text, change the text formatting, and then reapply the style, Microsoft Word can prompt you to either update the style based on the new formatting or reapply the style as it was last defined.

By contrast, when you apply the Normal style to text, Word does not give you the option of updating the style. Instead of prompting you either to redefine or reapply the Normal style, Word automatically reapplies the Normal style, and overwrites the formatting changes you made.

To redefine the Normal style, do the following:

  1. If the Styles and Formatting task pane is not open, click Styles and Formatting on the Formatting toolbar.
  2. In the Styles and Formatting task pane, right-click Normal, and then click Modify.
  3. To permanently redefine the Normal style, select the Add to template check box.
  4. Make any changes that you want.
  5. To see more options, click Format, and then click the attribute ù such as Font or Numbering ù you want to change.
  6. Make the changes you want, and then click OK.
  7. Repeat steps 4 and 5 for any additional attributes you want to change.

I can't copy styles between documents or templates.

Your access to the document or template to which you want to copy styles, macros, or AutoText entries might be restricted in one of the following ways:

I can no longer see the Styles and Formatting task pane.

I can no longer see the Style area.

The Style area is available in normal view only. On the View menu, click Normal.

There are too many descriptions in the Styles and Formatting task pane.

By default, formatting that's in use, common heading styles, and styles you have created are displayed in the Styles and Formatting task pane.