Modify a style's text direction to not correspond to Normal

jmt356
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Modify a style's text direction to not correspond to Normal

Post by jmt356 »

In the past, I have defined a new style whose text direction does not correspond with that of the Normal style in my template. However, I have been trying to do this today but the text direction of all of the styles in a document I am working on are set to correspond to that of the Normal style, and the option to change the text direction in the Style dialogue box is grayed out.

How can I modify the style’s text direction, as I have done in the past?
Regards,

JMT

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HansV
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Re: Modify a style's text direction to not correspond to Nor

Post by HansV »

Just guessing, since I don't have support for right-to-left languages installed on my PC: have you set the language of the style to a right-to-left language?
Best wishes,
Hans

jmt356
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Re: Modify a style's text direction to not correspond to Nor

Post by jmt356 »

I can neither modify the language of the style I am working with nor of the Normal style to correspond to the language I need (Arabic). Regardless of what I try, the language remains as English (UK).
Regards,

JMT

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HansV
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Re: Modify a style's text direction to not correspond to Nor

Post by HansV »

I guess we'll need someone who has more extensive experience with right-to-left languages in Word to reply; I'm afraid I'm not much help here. Sorry.
Best wishes,
Hans

jmt356
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Re: Modify a style's text direction to not correspond to Nor

Post by jmt356 »

I just figured out a way to force Word to accept the user’s preferences with respect to a paragraph’s text direction in the Modify Style dialogue box. By default, Word grays out the Text Direction option in the Modify Style dialogue box.

The way to get around Word's limitation is as follows:
- Set the Style to automatically update;
- Select any instance of the style in the document;
- Modify the Text Direction as desired (Left to Right or Right to Left).
The Text Direction is now modified in the Style’s definition.
Regards,

JMT

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HansV
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Re: Modify a style's text direction to not correspond to Nor

Post by HansV »

Thanks for posting the solution. It sounds like a handy use of a bug in Word.
Best wishes,
Hans

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Jay Freedman
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Re: Modify a style's text direction to not correspond to Nor

Post by Jay Freedman »

Just remember to go back and turn off the Automatically Update setting immediately after changing the text direction. You don't want any other formatting changes to be picked up accidentally.