Changing Calibri...It's Reared Its Head Again

First, let me say that this post is for a special case that power user Ray--a reader of this blog--wrote to me about. Let me start by giving you the background explanation.

Background Explanation

Ray changed Calibri to Garamond inside of MS Word. If Ray opens a document inside of MS Word, he gets Garamond and all is right with the world.

However, shortcut lovin' Ray is opening new MS Word documents from Windows Explorer. When Ray has Windows Explorer open, he is right clicking in a folder, and using pop-up menus to open a new Word document.

Click the graphic to open a larger view.

Press the ESC key to return here.

When you open a new document using this method, it appears that Word opens the Normal/Blank Document template with the Office theme applied...ignoring your font change inside of Word; that is, you get Calibri font...Again!

So how you open a new document matters because of the apparent automatic application of the Office theme.

Workaround

I'm a never say die type of gal. So, after thinking about it a minute, there is a workaround. 

1. Use Ray's shortcut to open a Word document.
2. Click the Page Layout tab. 
3. Locate the Themes group, and click the drop-down arrow beside the Fonts button. A list of fort themes opens.
4. Select a font theme--in Ray's case Black Tie (Garamond). Word updates all of the styles in the new document to garamond or whatever font combination you selected. 

Since this will be a routine task for Ray, he should add the Theme button to his Quick Access toolbar. 

1. Right click in the Themes group to display a pop-up menu.
2. Click Add to Quick Access Toolbar. Word adds the Themes button to the toolbar at the top of the screen. 
3. To use the button, Ray has to open a document, click the button in the Quick Access toolbar, select the Font button, and then select a font combination.

Followup

I'm continuing to read to see if there's a way to change the Office theme to force the font change. A quick look online provided no answer. 

Change Calibri Follow Up...Another Way

Uh oh! My correspondent wrote to me and said my shortcut to change the default font didn't work for him. I tested it successfully on three computers! I've used the same shortcut for years.

Microsoft has another way to change the default font...OK, it's the official way to do it. Click here to go to the Microsoft Support site to see the instructions for Word 2003, 2007, and 2010.

I still like my way better...kick, moan, grip!

Change Calibri back to Times New Roman...Permanently

When you buy a new computer, you usually get a few surprises...some more pleasant than others. For anyone who is buying a computer right now and upgrading to the latest version of MS Word, you'll find that the default font has changed from Times New Roman to Calibri. Lots of people still like Times New Roman and so they begin a major fight with Word as they try to suppress Calibri. Changing the default font is easy to do if you know what to do. If you don't, it will make you crazy.

Editing the Normal Template
To make a permanent change to the base fonts that your version of MS Word uses, you need to edit the Normal template. As a general rule, I wouldn't suggest that you do so because this is the base template for every document or template you create. Think about it...the first page that opens is usually your starting place for everything you do. Now here's a little secret. If you mess up the Normal.dot or Normal.dotx, you can download another copy and start again.

This subject comes up because I've had someone write to me to ask how to do this task. I checked back in the posts on this blog and realized that I've never explained this task to you. So here goes it.

Word 2007/2010

1. Open MS Word and then stop. The document that appears on your screen is a copy of the Normal.dotx (template).
2. On the Home tab, in the Styles group, click the launch arrow in the lower right of the group. The Styles pane appears.
3. Right click on the Normal style, and select Modify from the pop-up menu. The Modify Style dialog appears.
4. In the Formatting group, select another font and size.
5. At the bottom of the dialog, click the check box New documents based on this template, and then click OK.
6. Close the document. You don't have to save changes.
7. Open a new blank document, display the Styles pane, and check your Normal style. The style should include the changes you've made.
8. Display All Styles so that you can check and see if the change cascaded throughout all of the styles in the Normal.dotx.
   --At the bottom of the Styles pane, click Options... The Styles Pane Options dialog appears.
   --In the field Select styles to show, select All styles from the drop-down list, and then click OK. The system shows all built-in Word styles. Every one that is based on the Normal style (almost every body type of style) will reflect the changes you've made.  

Just an f.y.i.
The same process works for Heading 1, if you've set it up so that other Heading styles are based on Heading 1. Your system may or may not be set up in this manner. If yes, change Heading 1 and the change cascades throughout all of the Heading styles. If no (your system may be set up based on the Normal style), you must change each Heading style. I thought I'd mention Headings since newer versions of Word use Calibri for Heading styles too.

Email me if you have additional questions.

Word 2003
And just in case my Word 2003 users are suffering...

1. Open MS Word and then stop. The document that appears on your screen is a copy of the Normal.dot (template).
2. Open the Styles and Formatting pane.
   --Click the button.
   
   --Or select the Format menu, and then Styles and Formatting.
3. Right click on the Normal style, and select Modify from the pop-up menu. The Modify Style dialog appears.
4. In the Formatting group, select another font and size.
5. At the bottom of the dialog, click the check box Add to template, and then click OK.
6. Close the document. You don't have to save changes.
7. Open a new blank document, display the Styles and Formatting pane, and check your Normal style. The style should reflect the changes you've made.
8. At the bottom of the Styles and Formatting pane, select All Styles in the Show field. The system shows all built-in Word styles. Every one that is based on the Normal style (almost every body type of style) will reflect the changes you've made.

 

 

P.S. If this method doesn't work for you, be sure to read Change Calibri Follow Up...Another Way.

 



Modify Style Dialog...for global changes

When you display the Modify Style dialog, it looks like you’re just controlling font-related information. You might ask, “So what’s the big deal?” The big deal is the Format button, which gives you access to all sorts of other dialogs that let you control every aspect of a given style. The picture below is just a preview of posts to come in that we will be going through each of the Format options…we have a long way to go.

We’ll start today with Properties on the Modify Style dialog.

Name

The name of the style. If you try to create a new style and you get an error message saying the name already exist, display all styles, find the style, and alter it to make it your own.

Style type

The type of style.  Most likely, you’ll be using paragraph and character styles.

• A paragraph style applies to an entire paragraph.
• A character style applies only to selected text.

When you display the Styles (or Styles and Formatting) pane, Word gives you a hint on the style type by adding a symbol to the right of the style name. 

• A paragraph mark (¶) is the symbol for for a paragraph style.
• An a (underlined, lower cased) is the symbol for a character style.

When you add a new style, you need to understand the difference between the types of styles so that you pick the right type for the style you are adding.

Style based on

The style from which the current style inherits its characteristics. For example, the font for your style is defaulting to 12 points, red, and italic. Your new style is doing so because it is inheriting those characteristics from the based on style.

The based on style is just a starting point. The changes you make for this style make it unique in your list of style. However, if you make changes to the based on style, the current style can change because it inherits change made to the based on style.

When you create a new style, you might want to pick (no style) from the drop-down list. You have to define every aspect of the style; however, it will not change when you make other changes to styles.

Frequently, the base style is Normal. Normal is the lowest level body text style and the default style when you open a new Word document. I frequently change these based on styles because you can make a change to the Normal style that cascades through every style in the pane when you meant to make one small change for one style.

This effect is referred to as cascading…which should make you think of a cascading style sheet...yep, you just got high tech...when you understand how the style sheets in Word inherit, you understand cascading. And cascading is cascading is cascading wherever you see or use it.

Style for following paragraph

This field will save you lots and lots of time and clicking. When you are typing along and you press the Enter key, the style that is in this field is the style that Word applies to your next paragraph.

Here’s how you can use that piece of information. In the Styles (or Styles and Formatting) pane, right-click a Heading style, and then click Modify. The Modify Style dialog appears. If you haven’t altered anything, the paragraph style will be Normal. Click the drop-down arrow. You can make the following paragraph style anything you want it to be. When I set up a book template, one of the first things I do is change all of the Normal paragraph style to Body Text. When I apply a Heading style and I press Enter, the next style that appears is Body Text. I don’t have to pick anything. I can just keep typing because I’ve told Word to always give me a Body Text style when I press Enter after a Heading style.

Next Post

We’ll tackle Formatting next.