changing styles doesn't work for me

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blindcorpse
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Joined: 2008-05-25 18:03:18

changing styles doesn't work for me

Post by blindcorpse »

Over the years I have created numerous similarly named styles, and I am now trying to make my usage consistent. But NWP (I'm at ver. 1.3) is not working the way I expect it to, and I can't figure out what I'm doing wrong. (I've searched the documentation and this forum.) Please note that it's not a matter of changing the style of individual selections of text, but changing all the text formatted in one style to another style, so I can then eliminate the unused style from my document entirely.

As an example, I have used "ChinesePlain", "Chinese Plain", or "Chinese Text Plain", but now I want to consolidate on using "Text Chinese Plain" in all my documents. This way I can have all my character styles sort neatly following the model "Text Languagename Size". And then, as an added plus, the hotkey combinations I've created work consistently throughout.

I can supposedly select all text formatted in a given style by going to Format--Character Style--Select All Style. After selecting all the text formatted in that style, I should be able to apply a new style to the entire selection, then delete the unwanted style. Isn't that right? Somehow it isn't working for me.

I welcome your suggestions!
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martin
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Re: changing styles doesn't work for me

Post by martin »

Welcome to the forum- we welcome all customers, living or undead :P

As to the problem: could you be more specific as to how your expectations are not met? What exactly goes wrong after you apply the "Text Chinese Plain" style?

One possible point of confusion I might anticipate: do you base other styles on the old styles you are trying to flush from your document? For example, you might base your "Normal" style on an old "ChinesePlain" style. Text in the document that has "Normal" applied won't be included when selecting all text in the "ChinesePlain" style.
blindcorpse
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Re: changing styles doesn't work for me

Post by blindcorpse »

The answer to your question is simple: nothing happens. That is, I select all text to which the given style is applied, then click another style -- which I'm assuming should change all the selected text to that style, right? But nothing happens.

And in response to your other question, no, I'm not using nested styles in this case.
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martin
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Re: changing styles doesn't work for me

Post by martin »

blindcorpse wrote:The answer to your question is simple: nothing happens. That is, I select all text to which the given style is applied, then click another style -- which I'm assuming should change all the selected text to that style, right? But nothing happens.
You assume correctly- I'm surprised you don't at least get a "beep" sound. Could you send the file to me so I can try to reproduce and diagnose the problem? Please use the menu Help > Send Feedback. Hopefully we can get this working for you, thanks.
exegete77
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Re: changing styles doesn't work for me

Post by exegete77 »

Just a thought: After selecting all paragraphs with that style, can you go to Format > Remove Attributes and Styles? And while it is still selected, can you apply a new style that way?
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greenmorpher
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Re: changing styles doesn't work for me

Post by greenmorpher »

You may also be assuming, blindcorpse, that some of the stuff you are trying to change is part of a style when it is not. For example, if you ahve a PARAGRAPH Style whicvh incorporates some character attributes, when you switch to the new style, it will affect stuff which is in the former PARAGRAPH Style but not individually applied character attributes, e.g. italics, bold.

Likewise, if you have a PARAGRAPH Style which incorporates some character attributes, but you are applying it to text which has had a CHARACTER Style applied to it, the PARAGRAPH Style will apply its paragraph parameters but will not change the characteristics associated with the CHARACTER Style, e.g. font, style.

If you have a PARAGRAPH Style which incorporates some character attributes (or not), you can apply a CHARACTER Style and that will change the characters but not the paragraph attributes, e.g. spacing, indent, etc., (I find this very handy -- I work on screen in different fonts than I print with. These are appy the screen fonts along with various paragraph attributes through Paragraph Styles. When I am ready to print, I select Style range, then apply the appropriate Character Style to that to add my print fonts to it.)

Note that in applying a Paragraph Style, you may select the paragraph or just have the cursor in that paragraph. To apply a Character Style you must have the text selected.

Cheers, Geoff

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blindcorpse
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Re: changing styles doesn't work for me

Post by blindcorpse »

Um, I guess I should color the font red, and put in this smilie: :oops:

Right now I tried to reproduce the problem I described, and everything was working as it should. That is, in the file window I could select one text string defined as Character Style "ChinesePlain", then I could go to the Format pull-down menu and select all text of that style. Then by clicking on "Text Chinese Plain" I could change all the selected text to that Character Style. Finally, I could then change the view to see Styles and could neatly delete the unwanted "ChinesePlain" -- without any of those frightening messages saying the style was used somewhere in the document.

Now I can't remember what file(s) I was working in when I had the problem. I've been through all the recently opened files, and I can't reproduce it. Hence, color me embarassed!

If the problem rears its ugly head again, I'll be back like a flash. Otherwise, sorry for troubling you, and thanks for your help! :D
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