Library of styles

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Yohanan
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Joined: 2017-12-21 04:36:37

Library of styles

Post by Yohanan »

For any reason, when I import styles from the style library I have created into one of the numerous files I have, there are some superfluous styles like Normal 1, Footnotes 1. Moreover, since I use NWP, from one file to another I always have to made corrections to get the same styles available in all the files - right now the styles are not united from one file to another. So this is my question: is there a way to create a new Library Style on the basis of my Template "New Nisus File.dot" ? This would harmonise, I guess all my files.
adryan
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Re: Library of styles

Post by adryan »

G'day, Yohanan et al

My suggestion would be that you create a series of template documents, each designed for a specific purpose and containing a tailor-made set of Styles appropriate for documents derived from that template.

You might have different templates for business letters, specific legal documents and screenplays, for example. Each will have its distinct set of Styles.

Open a Nisus New File document and add, create, modify and delete Styles as desired. Then save the file as a Document Template (so it has a .dot file extension) with a meaningful filename. Whenever you open that template file subsequently, it will open as an Untitled document with its specific Style set visible in the Styles Palette. You aren't restricted to using only those Styles in your new document: you can always import others from your Style Library if you wish. It's helpful to group related Styles in folders in the Style Library, to make retrieval easier.

The Nisus New File template itself might just have a few more-or-less generic Styles for more-or-less generic situations.

With this approach, you have Styles handy for the purpose at hand, without the need to trawl through a long list of irrelevant ones to find the one you want.

Cheers,
Adrian
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martin
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Re: Library of styles

Post by martin »

I'd just like to clarify that although the Style Library is a good tool for holding often-used styles, it does not have any provisions for keeping existing document stylesheets in sync. Once you import a style from the Style Library into another document that style is now a separate entity with a life of its own. The imported style can be modified or deleted in that document without any effect on the Style Library. The opposite is also true: changes to the style in the Style Library won't automatically be propagated to the document that imported the style.

So you can see that the Style Library may not help with this problem:
right now the styles are not united from one file to another
Only good style hygiene can prevent that kind of problem, where you have a variety of similarly named styles that enforce different formatting. A common cause of this problem is copy-paste introducing new styles into a document. It's easy to be unaware that styles are being added to a file as you paste or import new material.

The good news is that Nisus Writer can help you clear up unwanted styles. Let's say you have two styles in your file, "Normal" and "Normal 1". You want to get rid of "Normal 1" and standardize your text to use just "Normal". Here's what you might do:

1. Place the selection in any paragraph using the unwanted style (eg: Normal 1).
2. Use the menu Format > Paragraph Style > Select All in Style to select all text using that unwanted style.
    Note: similar commands are available from the status bar's paragraph style icon.
3. Apply the desired new style to all the selected paragraphs, eg: use the menu Format > Paragraph Style > Normal.

If you want to swap multiple styles with a single new style it might be easier to use the menu Macro > Find > Select By Style. That macro can easily select all text using multiple styles at once. Once the text is selected the process is the same: just apply the new desired style. The Formatting Examiner palette is also a good tool for finding and selecting all text using particular formatting.

I hope that helps!
raybythelake
Posts: 12
Joined: 2020-03-03 11:20:26

Re: Library of styles

Post by raybythelake »

Very confused about the Style library concept. What I'd like to do is simply modify the default set of styles that is displayed in a new document to include any new styles I create.

For example, I have a specific style I'd like to use for Bullet lists. I defined that as "Bullet" in a new document. This name does NOT conflict with any of the default style names. This bullet style appears in that doc but not in any new document. OK, so I gather I have to save this bullet style to something called a library. So far, so good.

However, in a new document, I can access the library, see the bullet style, but I can't apply it to any text in the new document.

What I'm missing is HOW the library of styles can be displayed in or applied to text in any new document.

Appreciate being pointed to somewhere that clarifies the USE of library and how that relates to the DOCUMENT library concept. I've been all over the online documentation and seem to be getting more and more confused. Thanks for any assistance on this matter.
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phspaelti
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Re: Library of styles

Post by phspaelti »

Hello ray,
If you want your style "Bullet" to appear automatically in every new document you make from now on you shouldn't save it in the Style Library. You should add it to your Nisus New File. You can get access to that file in Preferences > New File > Advanced.

The Style Library is more like a repository where you keep specialized tools that you may want to use on occasion. You get styles from the Style Library into a currently open document in any of a number of ways:

Method 1: using the Menus. Insert > New Style > Import from Style Library…
This will give you a list of all your styles in the Library with checkboxes. Click on all the ones you want to add to the document

Method 2: using the Document Manager
Select the Style Library, then select the Style Collection. You will see all the styles in that collection. From there you can drag any that you want into the current open file.

One of the best things about the Style Library is that you can have several style collections where all the styles have the same names but different formatting. This allows for a method of switching styles that is similar to the "Design Themes" used in other programs.
philip
raybythelake
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Joined: 2020-03-03 11:20:26

Re: Library of styles

Post by raybythelake »

Thank you, Philip. Your response was very helpful. Especially method #2. Your entire explanation would be a great addition to the Style section in the User Manual.

Ray
raybythelake
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Re: Library of styles

Post by raybythelake »

Not quite there. How do I drag from Library to the current list of style in the new document I have opened? Note attached screen shot of what happens to me when I try to do that.

Ray
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raybythelake
Posts: 12
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Re: Library of styles

Post by raybythelake »

Using your method #1, it lets me select the library and says it's inserting the new style from the style library, however I cannot see the style in the style set of the new document. Strange. This seems like it should be easy, yet it's still eluding me.
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phspaelti
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Re: Library of styles

Post by phspaelti »

raybythelake wrote: 2020-04-20 10:55:46 Not quite there. How do I drag from Library to the current list of style in the new document I have opened? Note attached screen shot of what happens to me when I try to do that.
Hi Ray,
Wow that screen shot is a work of art 8)
I guess my explanation was not that great after all. You should drag the style to the actual document window, not the palette. If you hover over the document it should give you a green "+". That will let you know that the style is being added.
raybythelake wrote: 2020-04-20 11:00:22 Using your method #1, it lets me select the library and says it's inserting the new style from the style library, however I cannot see the style in the style set of the new document. Strange. This seems like it should be easy, yet it's still eluding me.
I'm not sure what's happening here. But let me say first, that in your screenshot you seem to be trying to import a list style. List styles will show up in list style menus, not with the character styles, just to be clear. So here my screenshots of the process:

Import style menu:
Screen Shot 2020-04-20 at 20.51.58 .png
Screen Shot 2020-04-20 at 20.51.58 .png (205.45 KiB) Viewed 12412 times
Choosing the (List) style:
Screen Shot 2020-04-21 at 14.26.19 .png
Screen Shot 2020-04-21 at 14.26.19 .png (83.33 KiB) Viewed 12412 times
Checking that the List style has been imported:
Screen Shot 2020-04-21 at 14.27.09 .png
Screen Shot 2020-04-21 at 14.27.09 .png (109.54 KiB) Viewed 12412 times
Hope this helps.
philip
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phspaelti
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Re: Library of styles

Post by phspaelti »

phspaelti wrote: 2020-04-20 21:35:24 You should drag the style to the actual document window, not the palette. If you hover over the document it should give you a green "+". That will let you know that the style is being added.
:P :drunk: :P

Okay. And I stand corrected.

First, apparently you need to drag onto the palette after all. Either way you need to wait for the plus to appear, which seems to take a bit some of the time. This may be so, but I wish Nisus would allow dragging into the document window.

Second, with List styles the plus does appear "in places", but apparently the style is not added. As Ray experienced. That just has to be a bug.

Finally. What works best, including with List styles, is to drag onto the style sheet. But here too, make sure to wait for the plus to appear.
philip
raybythelake
Posts: 12
Joined: 2020-03-03 11:20:26

Re: Library of styles

Post by raybythelake »

That helps a lot. Thanks. So it takes a bit of patience to get the "+" sign. Will work through your suggestions. Appreciate your taking the time to explain it in more detail. This should get me out of the woods.

Ray
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