Table Styles Randomly Getting Auto-Replaced with Auto-Generated Styles

[Paul Moloney]

I have a problem which is driving me crazy. I'm working on docs which
have a common template, in Word 2003 SP2. In the template is a house
style table style "Company Table" which is used for most tables in the
documents.

Periodically, for no apparent reason - that is, I could be working on
non-table text in any part of the document - a random style is applied
to every line in the table. For example, just a few moments ago, the
table style was removed from all tables; instead, each line now has a
style called "Style Outline numbered Bold Custom
Color(RGB(21114025))". I have no idea where this style came from; it's
certainly not in the original template or in the doc. Word is for some
reason creating this style on the fly and applying it to all tables in
the doc, but I have no idea why, but it's obviously related to lists
and/or numbering. Any help appreciated,

Thanks,

P.

[Lene Fredborg]

This may not be the answer to your question but I suggest you read the
following article:
http://www.shaunakelly.com/word/tablestyles/index.html

In general, table styles seem to cause problems. Maybe a better solution
would be to create one or more paragraph styles to be used in tables. That is
what I do and it always works.

--
Regards
Lene Fredborg
DocTools - Denmark
www.thedoctools.com
Document automation - add-ins, macros and templates for Microsoft Word

[Stefan Blom]

As Lene wrote, table styles are unpredictable.

Another possible source of trouble is "Keep track of formatting." If you
turn this option off in Tools | Options, Edit tab, do you still see the
mysterious entry?

--
Stefan Blom
Microsoft Word MVP

"Paul Moloney" wrote in message
news:09b5315f-dfae-4140...@v17g2000hsa.googlegroups.com...

[Klaus Linke]

>> Periodically, for no apparent reason - that is, I could be working
>> on non-table text in any part of the document - a random style is
>> applied to every line in the table.

"Lene Fredborg" <l...@REMOVETHISthedoctools.com> wrote:
> This may not be the answer to your question but I suggest you read the
> following article:
> http://www.shaunakelly.com/word/tablestyles/index.html
>
> In general, table styles seem to cause problems. Maybe a better solution
> would be to create one or more paragraph styles to be used in tables. That
> is
> what I do and it always works.

I've seen that particular bug a number of times myself.
If you're noticing in time, you can Undo (Ctrl+Z) until you hit the action
that triggered it.
In the cases I remember, it was the deletion of an unrelated other style --
so now I check the tables right after I clear out unused or faulty styles.

I've tried to create a reproducible scenario for that bug, without success.

"Keep track of formatting" (and the clean-up it runs in the background to
remove styles from the style list that aren't in use any more) may well be
involved: I've usually turned this option on.

Regards,
Klaus