Can't change default style in Word

Anonymous
2011-09-26T22:54:58+00:00

I have been able to change the default font to what I want, and the default margins, but cannot find a way to change the default style.  I want to have it default to "No Spacing" instead of "Normal". 

Note:  I edited this on 9/27/11 to put "Normal" instead of "Paragraph", which I had erroneously put in originally.

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Anonymous
2011-09-26T23:21:24+00:00

That setting doesn't ring a bell. Where do you set it?

When all else fails to change a default, I suggest opening the template for edting, NORMAL.DOTM is the default, and make changes there.

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  1. Suzanne S Barnhill 279.4K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2011-09-29T23:53:04+00:00

    The "style for following paragraph" for all the built-in heading styles is, by default, Normal.

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  2. Stefan Blom 353.5K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2011-09-30T07:59:16+00:00

    OK, I see your point. That setting would also have to be modified in Normal.dotm of course.

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  3. Anonymous
    2012-08-31T03:56:32+00:00

    I know this is long, but I just did this and it worked, so I hope it wasn't just a fluke.  I hope this works for everyone else.

    :-)

    Open a new document.

    If you click on the little arrow that kind of points to the corner under "Change Styles", a list should appear.

    Normal should have a box around it. If you hover over the paragraph symbol, you'll see an arrow that will bring up a drop-down menu.

    Click on the drop-down arrow.

    Select Modify.

    Under "Formatting" and directly under the Font Color drop-down menu (it should say "Automatic"), you'll see 2 "boxes"....the first one has 2 little blue arrows pointing away from each other and the second one has 2 little arrows pointing towards each other.

    Click the one with the arrows pointing TOWARDS each other.  When you hover over it, it will say "Decrease Paragraph Spacing".

    Click it twice or as many times as you can.  It will stop when there are no more spaces to delete.

    Now at the bottom, click on "New documents based on this template"

    (Side Note:  If you want to change the default Font or Size of your new documents, you can change it here)

    Click OK

    Close the original drop-down menu if it's still open (Click on the "X")

    Now click on "Change Styles" (the entire button).

    In the drop-down menu, select "Set as Default"

    Now close your document.

    Open a new document.

    Type something and press Enter.

    The space should be deleted.

    :-)

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  4. Anonymous
    2012-08-31T10:28:30+00:00

    Thanks for the reply. I was able to do what I wanted by changing NORMAL.DOTM.

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