Styles scrambled in document

I have a large document (~27 MB, ~700 pages) in which several styles (about 7 of them) are used consistently to format text in various parts of the document.

Lately I noticed that text that used to be formatted with StyleA or StyleB in several parts of the document is now formatted with StyleC, even though I made no such change manually, nor have I made any other 'dodgy' changes/edits to the document.

Any idea what might have happened, and is there any way to revert those sections of text to their initial style (A or B)?

Thanks.

Was this reply helpful?

Sorry this didn't help.

Great! Thanks for your feedback.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback, it helps us improve the site.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback.

The most likely culprit when text acquires an unwanted style is the "Define styles based on your formatting" setting at File | Options | Proofing | AutoCorrect Options | AutoFormat As You Type. If you have that option enabled, disable it at once! If it turns out that that was the cause, then at least you won't experience the problem in future.

As for repairing the document, if Style C has been consistently applied to either Style A or Style B, and if Style C is not used intentionally anywhere in the document, then you can reapply the correct style either using Replace (searching for Style C and replacing with Style A or B) or using Find In (or Select All x Instances if that option is available in the Style pane) to select all the instances of Style C and apply Style A or B as appropriate.

If Style C has been applied to some paragraphs of both Style A and Style B, or if Style C is legitimately used elsewhere in the document, then you'll need to use Find to search for Style C, stepping through the document one instance at a time and reapplying Style A or Style B (from the Style pane or Quick Styles gallery) as appropriate.

Microsoft MVP (Word) since 1999
Fairhope, Alabama USA
http://ssbarnhill.com
http://wordfaqs.ssbarnhill.com
Screen shots captured with TechSmith's Snagit

Was this reply helpful?

Sorry this didn't help.

Great! Thanks for your feedback.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback, it helps us improve the site.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback.

Thanks JairOV and Suzanne. That option was not enabled, so I guess we wont easily know why this corruption happened.

Unfortunately, style C is used in the document just as much as styles A and B. It looks like there's no other quick fix except the grueling task of making style-based find&replaces one occurrence at a time

Was this reply helpful?

Sorry this didn't help.

Great! Thanks for your feedback.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback, it helps us improve the site.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback.

 
 

Question Info


Last updated October 5, 2021 Views 61 Applies to: