Another paragraph style question...

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ninjagame
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Another paragraph style question...

Post by ninjagame »

Since Hamid, xiamenese, and phspaelti pointed me to the right direction regarding re-formatting, I've been re-formatting happily. Now I've got another question.

Sometimes in the files to be re-formatted there appears one style called "Normal". (I don't know if I invented this designation somewhere along the way or if it's some kind of default setting.) After re-formatting a document I usually "purify" the style list, i.e., delete all styles imported from the "old" format and not used in the "new" format. As for the "Normal" style, whenever I want to delete the style from the list, I keep getting the warning: "This paragraph style is currently being used in your document", etc.

I've tried the following:
1. Setting one paragraph to the "Normal" style;
2. Selecting the whole paragraph;
3. Using "Format" > "Paragraph Style" > "Select all Style" to select all occurrences (so I thought) of "Normal" in my document;
4. Changing the style to another paragraph style.

But still, whenever I try to delete the style after this process, the warning appears again.

I'd very much like to know a way to "go to" the first occurrence of "Normal" still retained in the document. I think it must be something in the "Find" menu but I don't know what. (The alternative would be to go through every paragraph, every header, every footer and so on of every document in order to find occurrences of "Normal".)

Any ideas?

Many thanks in advance!

- ninjagame
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phspaelti
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Re: Another paragraph style question...

Post by phspaelti »

ninjagame wrote: I keep getting the warning: "This paragraph style is currently being used in your document", etc.
Yeah, that message is one of my favorite too. One reason this type of warning pops up is because some other style is based on it. Does your document have the "Header" or "Footer" style? Apart from this is also the problem of "Next Style".

But even after removing all of these I still get the messge when trying to remove "Normal". I believe NWP 2.0 has actually made this style more central. If you really want to remove it, and you know it isn't being used, why don't you just delete it? The warning is really just meant to be helpful.
philip
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phspaelti
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Re: Another paragraph style question...

Post by phspaelti »

But back up your file first :)
philip
ninjagame
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Re: Another paragraph style question...

Post by ninjagame »

Thanks, phspaelti, for the answer. I've checked "Normal" and it's not based on anything else and the "Next style" is also "Normal". And, yes, I do delete it, mercilessly, while deleting all styles I don't use in the document.
At least I'm sure now that it's not my doing.

忍者亀
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xiamenese
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Re: Another paragraph style question...

Post by xiamenese »

"Normal" won't be based on some other style; some other style might be based on "Normal" — Header and Footer are good places to look. That would be enough for it to be flagged as "in use". I don't delete it, I make use of it. I usually set it up the way I want a first paragraph after a heading to look, with all the attributes I want; I then base all the other non-heading styles I want on it. I do the same with headings, usually basing them on Heading 1. In that way I can re-purpose a document easily by changing the attributes, particularly fonts.

For instance, for documents that I'm going to print to paper or PDF, I use Adobe Garamond Pro or perhaps Adobe Caslon Pro. But if I need to send that as an RTF or a .doc to a colleague, they don't have those fonts and rather than leave it up to whatever Chinese Word for Windows will substitute, I simply change the font in Normal to Times New Roman <ugh!>, change the font in Heading 1 to Arial <ugh!> and do a "Save As ..." All the body text will then take on the TNR attribute, and the Headings will all switch to Arial.

But that might not meet your needs.

Mark
ninjagame
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Re: Another paragraph style question...

Post by ninjagame »

Mark -

Usually I set up my templates in quite the same way. I start with one paragraph style and one character style and base all the other styles on them. Usually, I take the existing styles and re-define them.
Somehow "Normal" must have slipped by my attention. As for "Header" and "Footer", in my case the complication was that I needed different footers and headers for even and odd pages and for the first page. So, I couldn't just re-define the "Footer" and "Header" styles already existing.
But thanks again for pointing me in the direction of "Header" and Footer"!

ninjagame
rmark
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Re: Another paragraph style question...

Post by rmark »

Nisusians,

The Nisus New File shipped with Nisus Writer Pro and Nisus Writer Express includes a style called Normal upon which a number of other styles are based. This Normal style is presumed to be the "normal style of text you type". In a sense, it is the ground upon which all else is built. We don't require that you use it. It is there for your convenience. For a number of years, before we started using the term "normal" the primary style in my documents was "text". At some time in the past 10 years, I made the transition. I've not looked back.

I hope this helps clarify the matter.

Oh and as Philip mentioned:
But back up your file first :)
Write On!
Mark Hurvitz
Nisus Software Inc.
ninjagame
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Re: Another paragraph style question...

Post by ninjagame »

Mark,

Some additional clarification, since I brought the subject up.
I'm not in the least bothered by "Normal". In fact, I used it in one of my templates by modifying it and basing other styles on it. It's indeed very convenient.
The reason for my question was: I wasn't sure if, by removing it from the style list, I'd corrupt my formatting in places I hadn't thought of. Philip (phspaelti) and Mark (xiamenese) made it absolutely clear for me by pointing me to the "Header" and "Footer" styles which are based on "Normal" so that, if I tried to remove "Normal" without removing "Header" and "Footer" first, the warning message would appear with perfectly good reason. That's the answer I was looking for.
So, as far as I'm concerned, the case is closed.

ninjagame
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