Which Styles get saved in a Style Set? Word 2007-2016

When Style Sets were first introduced, was told (by MS) that, as you observed, the styles in the Style Gallery are those saved in the Style Set. One piece that I didn't see mentioned in this thread is the Document Defaults are also saved and when a Style Set is applied, the Document Defaults are also updated. This is the primary difference between using Style Sets and the Organizer. Actually, that may be the only difference. 

Here's what happens: When you apply a new Style Set, all styles in the Style Set file with the attribute of tw:qFormat="1" in styles.xml along with the Document Defaults are "copied" to the destination document. (They aren't really copied, the style properties in the destination document are updated in the xml.) If a style isn't part of the Style Set, it remains untouched when a new Style Set is applied. With that in mind, any custom styles that aren't defined in the Style Set will not be updated and remain in the Styles Gallery, provided the style includes that attribute and if it's in-use in the document. It will, however, inherit formatting from the Document Defaults.

If there are discrepancies when applying a Style Set to other documents, it's likely due to the Theme that's in use in the destination document and whether the styles were formatted using theme elements, such as Heading and Body fonts, theme colors, etc. rather than absolute formatting.

Another discrepancy possibility is there is a conflict between the Normal style and the Document Defaults. This shouldn't happen, but I've encountered it a couple times. As with most Word features that pertain to formatting, it's recommended the Normal style remain an empty style (especially in Style Sets) in order to avoid the table style bug and other style hierarchy issues.

For those not familiar with how the Normal style works in Word 2007 and up, when the file format changed to xml in Word 2007, the Document Defaults were no longer hard-coded and could be modified. (Prior to Word 2007, they were hard-coded in every document as TNR, 10pts, single space, etc.)  In all versions, the Normal style is empty by default. IOW, by default, there is no formatting defined for paragraphs or characters for the Normal style and all formatting is inherited from the Document Defaults.

Now that we can modify the Document Defaults, there's no reason to modify the Normal style and it should remain empty in order to avoid the issues previously described. The reason for those issues is due to order in which Word applies formatting: first it applies formats defined in the Document Defaults, then Table Styles, then Paragraph Styles, and then Character Styles. Since the Normal style is a Paragraph Style, when you're working with tables its formats are applied 3rd, which is why hierarchy issues could be encountered if it's not an empty style.

OK, I've found the answer to part of my questions.

1. When you create a Style Set, what gets saved is the styles that have been marked to appear in the Quick Styles Gallery.
2. When you apply a Style Set, it only changes the styles that are in the Style Set. Applying a Style Set to a document does not change settings for any styles that are not in the Style Set, except, for some styles it removes them from the Quick Style Gallery.

I used the following macro to remove all styles from the Quick Style Gallery:

Sub NoQuickStyles()

'   Set all styles in the active document to not be Quick Styles

'   Charles Kenyon  2018-02-05

'

    Dim ic As Long

    Dim ns As Long

    On Error Resume Next 'some styles to not permit listing as Quick Styles and will throw an error

    With ActiveDocument

        ns = .Styles.Count

        For ic = 1 To ns

        .Styles(ic).QuickStyle = False

        Next ic

    End With

End Sub

Then I experimented with setting a few styles as Quick Styles and saving a Style Set, then applying different Style Sets and going back. When I apply one of my pared quick style sets to an existing document, I still haven't figured out exactly what happens. It definitely strips the heading styles from Quick Styles even though the heading styles were not listed as quick styles in my list. Others can be left alone.

I will take a look and see what I can see in the XML.

I often work with both Word 2013 and 2010 running. I noticed that the Style Sets gallery (Change Styles) is refreshed when one accesses it. In 2010 this is using the Change Styles button, in 2013-16 it is when one goes to the Design tab. I noticed that if I created a new style set in Word 2010, it would immediately show up under Custom on the gallery in 2013, without any restart.

I had seen in one web page that placing any template or document in the QuickStyles folder would add that to the QuickStyles list without going through the Save QuickStyle command. I tested and that is correct.

Also, like the Building Blocks folder, sub-folders of the QuickStyles folder are also used. Any document or template placed in a sub-folder is also added to the Custom QuickStyles gallery.

Like you, I have little need for QuickStyle Sets (I like the Quick Style gallery on the Home tab with the previews.) If I were developing templates or forms for others, I would definitely be using them and Themes. As it is, I ado try to use theme colors and fonts in my own templates in case I decide I want to change the look of my work.

Hi Charles,

When you use the Save as a New Style Set, a dotx template is saved in the C:\Users[User Name]\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\QuickStyles folder and by looking at the Styles.xml in that template and comparing it with the Styles.xml for the document that was active when the New Style Set was created, the two are identical.

Hi Charles,

Quick Style sets enable you to choose a set of styles that are designed to work together. The colors and formats in a single style set create an attractive and readable document. For you to get more information about Quick Style set for a document, you may check this article. This article has its steps from Word 2007 to 2016.

Let us know how it goes and feel free to get back to us if you need further assistance.