Forum Discussion
Word 2016 Styles Pane
Brief answer: Sorry, you cannot change this.
I observe the same behavior in Word 2010 as well as more recent versions.
Why do you want to do this?
Someone here may be able to suggest a workaround that you will find acceptable.
Word has a number of ways to control styles, one of which is the Apply Styles dialog. See MVP Suzanne Barnhill's page on managing styles to see some of the options. Managing Word Styles by Suzanne Barnhill, MVP
I have added several controls to my QAT that help with styles. Here is a link to a free Add-In that does that. Styles QAT Add-In It has no macros and you can do this yourself without the Add-In.
Note, this is not the place to get any changes made in Word nor the attention of developers at Microsoft. This is an independent user-to-user support forum. MS does not see anything you post here. The way to get their attention is through the feedback mechanisms.
- How do I give feedback on Microsoft Office?
- Word Feedback Portal – allows a public feedback that can be voted on
- Microsoft applications Feedback Portal (pick an application)
- Send Feedback to MS Developers
- Bonus Reading related to MS Feedback system
My personal preference is to use the Word Feedback Portal. If you do, please get a share link and post it here so that others seeing this thread can go there and vote and comment. While you are there, check for other posts and feel free to vote and comment on those as well!
* I am sometimes critical of Microsoft. However, I recognize that Microsoft is a huge company and the left hand often does not know what the right hand is doing.
There is tremendous pressure to get improvements and fixes into the hands of users, but they do need to stay in business. These problems for users are not, I am sure, deliberate. The employees there really do want users to have a pleasant experience and to be able to use the truly amazing powers of their software. The priorities can be changed by feedback, which is why I encourage use of those mechanisms. The squeaky wheel gets attention.