Inconsistent ability to modify Outline Level of custom Headings

Anonymous

I'm using Word for Mac 15.31 in MacOS Sierra 10.12.3, but this issue appears to be cross-platform, since a Word-for-PC user has experienced it as well (see end of this post):

Here's what should be the procedure for modifying the Outline Level of a custom Heading:

In the Styles Pane, click on the down-triangle next to the Heading whose Outline Level you want to adjust.
Then select: Modify Style –> Format –> Paragraph –> Indents and Spacing –> Outline Level.

However, usually the Outline Levels are grayed-out and thus not changeable (for both built-in Headings and custom Headings). The only procedure I've uncovered that consistently allows you to change the Outline Level for a custom Heading (this doesn't work for built-in Headings) is the following workaround. Suppose you want to change the Outline Level of "Custom Heading 1":

Highlight an existing Heading, whose style is "Custom Heading 1", in the document.
Go into the document's Paragraph dialog (as opposed to the Heading's Paragaph dialog), and change the Heading's Outline Level there.
Go back to the Styles Pane, click on the reverse triangle for Custom Heading 1, and then select "Update to Match Selection".

This roundabout method is obviously unnecessarily complicated and laborious — there's no good reason you shouldn't be able to do this directly, in the Styles Pane, with Modify Style –> Format –> Paragraph –> Indents and Spacing –> Outline Level. After all, why does Word offer "Outline Level" as an option under Modify Style, only to leave that option (usually) disabled?

[Note that all my custom Headings were created based on styles of built-in Headings.]

Further, as I mentioned above, when it comes to built-in Headings, even this procedure doesn't work.

But here's the additional puzzle: One's inability to directly modify the Outline Level of custom Headings (using Modify Style) is not consistent. For instance, suppose you click some body text, and then change that text to a custom Heading style. Then, usually, if you try Modify Style –> Format –> Paragraph –> Indents and Spacing –> Outline Level, you'll find that this custom Heading's Outline Level is no longer grayed out! [I.e., you just have to first change some text to that Heading, and then you can internally modify the Heading's Outline Level; the problem is if the text already is in that Heading style, in which case Outline Level will typically be grayed-out.] As a further oddity, if that custom Heading was based on a built-in Heading, if you go to the corresponding built-in Heading, you'll usually see its Outline Level is no longer grayed out either! But if you do some other stuff in the document, and then return to check either the custom Heading or the built-in Heading, you will see that their Outline Level pull-downs have reverted to a grayed-out status.

An inconsistent ability to modify the Outline Levels of Headings has also been observed by Word MVP Doug Robbins, who is using Word for PC (indicating this issue is cross-platform). He found that, for built-in Headings, sometimes Outline Level is grayed out, and sometimes it's not. Here's an excerpt from one of Doug Robbin's posts at https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/msoffice/forum/msoffice\_word-mso\_mac/three-issues-with-navigation-pane/9933f8eb-d25b-4c42-a743-623815949d60 :

~~For the Built-in Heading # styles, it is not possible to modify the level.~~ (checking again, I find that it is possible. I do not know why the Outline level: drop down was disabled when I took the screen shot.)

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Doug Robbins - MVP - Office Apps and Services 323.6K MVP Volunteer Moderator

Modify Heading 3 first, then before doing anything else, access the Modify Style dialog for Heading 3 and change the Style Based on from "Heading 2"

To (no style) - it's at the top of the list.

If you do not do that, when you subsequently modify the Heading 2 style, Heading 3 will inherit the modification because it is based on Heading 2

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50 additional answers

Anonymous

2017-03-11T22:56:26+00:00

Furthermore, the behavior I describe is not consistent between different templates. Here I try this with a new fresh template, "Catalog".

HERE'S THE TEMPLATE'S DEFAULT APPEARANCE. ALL HEADINGS ARE BASED ON "NORMAL":

HERE'S WHAT HAPPENS WHEN I CHANGE NORMAL'S TYPEFACE. NOTE THAT THE "SUBTITLE" AND "DATE" HEADINGS CHANGE, WHILE THE OTHERS ARE UNAFFECTED :

AND HERE'S WHAT HAPPENS WHEN I ADDITIONALLY CHANGE NORMAL'S FONT SIZE. IN THIS CASE IT'S ONLY HEADING 2 THAT'S AFFECTED; THE OTHERS ARE UNCHANGED. CAN OTHERS WHO HAVE MACS PLEASE TRY REPLICATING THIS BEHAVIOR?
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Anonymous

2017-03-11T22:51:23+00:00
When you create a new style its initial settings will come from the document defaults. As you specify formatting for your style, you are likely to change some settings while leaving others unchanged. When you select a based-on style, only those settings that you have left unchanged (that is, those that are equal to the document defaults) will change so that match the new "parent" style.
Thanks, Stefan,that helps me to understand what's going on with my question no. 3, but I'm afraid it doesn't explain what's going on with my question no. 1.

It seems you're saying that, when I change a parent style, only those parts of the daughter styles I haven't changed will be altered. However, that's not what's happening with the "Write a Journal" template shown in the screenshots pictured above. Note that my only action, after opening the template, was to change the typeface of Normal. I.e., I hadn't changed the typefaces (or anything at all) in any of the other Headings — all the daughter styles were "virgins". Thus, by your description, all of those virginal daughters (all of which are based on Normal) should have changed typeface. Yet the only one that did was Date. I.e., all the other Heading styles were acting as if I had changed their typefaces, when in fact I had not. [I subsequently tried changing the typeface of Date, at which point its typeface no longer changed when I changed Normal; so Date is the only Style that is working as you describe.] Further, the behavior is not consistent. When I changed the font size of Normal, none of the daughters styles pictured in the "Write a Journal" template, including Date, changed font size.
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Stefan Blom 353.4K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator

2017-03-08T09:18:50+00:00
1. When you create a new style its initial settings will come from the document defaults. As you specify formatting for your style, you are likely to change some settings while leaving others unchanged. When you select a based-on style, only those settings that you have left unchanged (that is, those that are equal to the document defaults) will change so that match the new "parent" style.
2. Update to Match Selection makes use of the settings at the insertion point. If there are conflicting settings, for example, if two paragraphs using different line spacing are selected, Word chooses one of these settings. I haven't experimented enough to figure out exactly what happens in such a case.
3. See #1 above.
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Anonymous

2017-03-06T04:09:12+00:00
It might help if I just restated my remaining questions as follows (I think this is clearer than what I posted above):
1. What is supposed to be standard behavior for "Style Based on —> Normal"? The screenshot above clearly shows that its behavior depends on the Style to which it's being applied, so what's the underlying principle that dictates when it does have an effect vs. when it doesn't?
2. What is supposed to be the standard behavior for "Update to Match Selection" — is it supposed to match the text's paragraph formatting (space before, space after, Widows/Orphans, etc.), or only the inherent style of the text itself (typeface, font size, etc.)? And does this likewise vary with the Style to which it is being applied? [I find sometimes it does match the paragraph formatting, while sometimes it doesn't.]
3. In some templates, why does Title lose its colored bar when I switch from "Style Based on —> Title" to "Style Based on —> No Style", while other built-in Styles can be switched to "Style Based on —> No Style" without losing their formatting?
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