Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. If you are using a later version (Word 2007 or later), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for later versions of Word, click here: Putting Style Names Next to Paragraphs on a Printout.

Putting Style Names Next to Paragraphs on a Printout

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated May 6, 2020)
This tip applies to Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003


Steve notes that, in Normal view, if you set the "style area width" to something like an inch, you can see the style names beside each paragraph of text. This is very handy if you are editing using styles. Steve believes that it would be even handier if you could print the document in this view, so it included the style names beside each paragraph. He wonders if there is a way to do this.

There is no way to do this; unfortunately Word has never provided a way. It is possible to "fake" the data by putting your document text in the right column of a two-column table and typing the names of the styles in the left column, but that approach is not easy at all.

Another approach that seems half-way reasonable is to take a screen shot of your document and then edit the screen shot so that it doesn't include any extraneous information such as menus. You can then paste the screen shot into another document and print it. One advantage to using this approach is that you can "annotate" the screen shot so that it includes callouts explaining the use of the styles or instructions to the reader.

If you would like a more automated approach, you might try recording or developing a macro that accomplishes the following general steps:

  1. Record the style of each paragraph's style in the entire document.
  2. Change the paragraph formatting of all paragraphs to a style not in use.
  3. Turn on Track Changes.
  4. Go through each paragraph and set the paragraph's style back to the style recorded in step 1.
  5. Print the document with markup showing.
  6. Close the document without saving it.

While the style name won't appear at the left of the printout, as it does on-screen with the style area showing, it will show in the balloons at the right side of the document. (The balloons are put there by the Track Changes feature.)

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (9687) applies to Microsoft Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. You can find a version of this tip for the ribbon interface of Word (Word 2007 and later) here: Putting Style Names Next to Paragraphs on a Printout.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. ...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Understanding Views

Want to see how your document will look before it's printed? Or, do you want to see what things will look like if you put ...

Discover More

Moving the Insertion Point to the Beginning of a Line

If you need to move the insertion point within your macro, then you'll want to note the HomeKey method, described in this ...

Discover More

Getting Notification a Recalculation is Necessary

Want to be notified whenever your worksheet needs to be recalculated? Excel may already have you covered, as described in ...

Discover More

The First and Last Word on Word! Bestselling For Dummies author Dan Gookin puts his usual fun and friendly candor back to work to show you how to navigate Word 2019. Spend more time working and less time trying to figure it all out! Check out Word 2019 For Dummies today!

More WordTips (menu)

Cut and Paste Formatting

What happens when you copy information from one document and paste it into another? It is possible for what you paste to ...

Discover More

Protecting Styles

If you spend a lot of time getting your document styles set "just right," you don't want to take the chance that they ...

Discover More

Quickly Copying Styles

You can easily use regular editing techniques to copy styles from one document to another. Here's how to make quick work ...

Discover More
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

View most recent newsletter.

Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] (all 7 characters, in the sequence shown) in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

What is nine minus 1?

There are currently no comments for this tip. (Be the first to leave your comment—just use the simple form above!)


This Site

Got a version of Word that uses the menu interface (Word 97, Word 2000, Word 2002, or Word 2003)? This site is for you! If you use a later version of Word, visit our WordTips site focusing on the ribbon interface.

Videos
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)

View the most recent newsletter.