Mar 06 2023 11:08 AM
I recently began using Word 2016 on Win 10 and I use the Styles pane a lot, with set formatting styles I have created. Every time I click on text in my document, the selector in the styles pane jumps to that formatting style in the list. How can I make it stop doing this? It didn't do this in Word 2013 (if I clicked on a paragraph of body text the styles pane didn't move to display body text in the list) and I'm pretty sure it didn't do this when I used Word 2016 in Win 7 (if I remember correctly). I want the styles pane to not move through the list of styles no matter what I select in the document, and I cannot find any settings for this anywhere. Please help, I know it sounds like a nitpick to be fussing about but it TRIPLES the time it takes me to do my job.
Mar 06 2023 11:37 AM - edited Mar 06 2023 11:44 AM
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.
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.
Mar 06 2023 03:02 PM - edited Mar 06 2023 03:07 PM
@tcf1984 I would suggest adding the Styles that you want to use to the Style Gallery, removing ones that you do not use so that the ones that you do use are readily available.
Alternatively, make use of the Apply Styles Dialog (CTRL+SHIFT+S)