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RE: Protecting styles in Word documents; was, "RE: Justifying FM (was About The Cloud: Quick-Read Suggestions)"
Subject:RE: Protecting styles in Word documents; was, "RE: Justifying FM (was About The Cloud: Quick-Read Suggestions)" From:"Porrello, Leonard" <lporrello -at- illumina -dot- com> To:Peter Neilson <neilson -at- windstream -dot- net>, "techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com> Date:Thu, 11 Apr 2013 17:29:39 +0000
The locking styles functionality in Word is very useful in organizations that are interested in maintaining styles standards across many departments and authors. For tech writers in particular, it saves time. Instead of having to modify styles extensively or copy-and-paste content back into an original (and then revise/edit), you can simply revise/edit the new content.
Having said that, I generally send out PDF for review and ask for comments. In some environments, however, that wouldn't fly.
-----Original Message-----
From: techwr-l-bounces+lporrello=illumina -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com [mailto:techwr-l-bounces+lporrello=illumina -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com] On Behalf Of Peter Neilson
Sent: Thursday, April 11, 2013 10:22 AM
To: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Subject: Re: Protecting styles in Word documents; was, "RE: Justifying FM (was About The Cloud: Quick-Read Suggestions)"
Am I missing something? Why not simply keep you own "original" file, and by using your innate expertise in editing insert the corrections that others make on their copies? Surely it's simpler than letting a flock of reviewers all stomp on the original. The only downside I can see is the SME who says, "I thought I changed all those code examples to be in boldface. Where did my boldface go?"
On Thu, 11 Apr 2013 11:14:45 -0400, Porrello, Leonard <lporrello -at- illumina -dot- com> wrote:
> Sorry if I missed something. I am coming into this thread late.
> William said, "I cannot count the number of times that I have had to
> repair manuals that were final release ready because someone reviewing
> them decided to make a change using their normal template and mess up
> the styles."
>
> A few weeks ago, someone pointed out that Word 2010 and later enable
> you to lock and password protect the template and styles so that there
> ain't be no messin' wit dem by nobody.
>
> To test this functionality, do the following:
> 1. Open the Styles pane (Ctrl+Shift+Alt+S or click the "open"
> arrow in the ribbon).
> 2. Select the Manage Styles icon.
> 3. Select the Restrict tab. By default, styles are set to "Hide
> Until Used".
> 4. Select each style that you want to restrict (or multi-select
> with the shift key).
> 5. Restrict the styles.
> 6. Select Limit formatting to permitted styles.
> 7. Select OK. The Start Enforcing Protection dialog box will
> appear.
> 8. Enter a password, and then select OK.
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