Using Hidden Styles

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated November 30, 2019)
This tip applies to Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and Word in Microsoft 365


5

Philip is revising a long styles list in a template and came across the Hide Until Used feature in the Recommend tab of the Manage Styles dialog box. If he marks a style as hidden, it doesn't show up in the styles list, so how can it be used?

Using styles within a template is a great tool for creating consistent formatting within one or more documents. The styles list can become long, however, and you might not need to use every style in every document. The Hide Until Used option is located in the Recommend tab in the Manage Styles dialog box that is in the Styles Window (Ctrl+Alt+Shift+S). Hide Until Used allows you to hide any style that is not being used at the current time. This option makes it easier to manage the formatting of a project without deleting a style that will be used in a future document.

If you hide a style and later discover that you need to use it, just go back to the Style Pane Options dialog box, select the style that you want to use and click on Show.

To manage your styles list:

  1. Press Ctrl+Alt+Shift+S. Word displays the Styles task pane.
  2. Click the Manage Styles button. (This button is at bottom of Styles task pane; it looks like the letter A with a check mark next to it.) Word displays the Manage Styles dialog box. (See Figure 1.)
  3. Figure 1. The Manage Styles tool at bottom of the Styles Task Pane.

  4. Make sure the Recommend tab is displayed. (See Figure 2.)
  5. Figure 2. The Recommend tab of the Manage Styles dialog box.

  6. Select the style that you are not using.
  7. Click on Hide Until Used. The style remains on the list with the addition of Hide Until Used at the end of the name.
  8. Click OK.

Word now displays the styles list in the Styles task pane according to your selections. If you want to later see the style you just hid (so that you really can use it), all you need to do is follow these steps:

  1. Press Ctrl+Alt+Shift+S to display the Styles task pane.
  2. Click the Options link at the bottom of the Styles task pane. Word displays the Style Pane Options dialog box. (See Figure 3.)
  3. Figure 3. The Style Pane Options dialog box.

  4. Using the Select Styles to Show drop-down list, choose All Styles.
  5. Click OK.

The styles you previously marked as Hide Until Used now show up in the Styles task pane and can be applied in your document, as desired. Once the style is used in the document, even if you go back and change what is shown in the task pane, the Hide Until Used style, since it is now used, will appear.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (8020) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and Word in Microsoft 365.

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

Merging Formatted Data

Using the mail merge feature of Word, you can make data from Access databases accessible for your documents. How ...

Discover More

Debugging a Macro

Create a macro and you are faced with the (sometimes) challenge of debugging it. Here's how to make that task as simple ...

Discover More

Inserting an Image On a Specific Page

Macros are great for processing a document just the way you want. You can even use them to insert graphics, as described ...

Discover More

Create Custom Apps with VBA! Discover how to extend the capabilities of Office 2013 (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Access) with VBA programming, using it for writing macros, automating Office applications, and creating custom applications. Check out Mastering VBA for Office 2013 today!

More WordTips (ribbon)

Preventing Styles from Changing

It is frustrating to spend a lot of time working on a document, getting your styles just right, and then have those ...

Discover More

Viewing Your Custom Styles

If you develop a set of preferred styles, you may want to use those styles with a document you receive from someone else. ...

Discover More

Using Alternating Styles

Alternating styles can come in handy when you have to switch between one type of paragraph and another, automatically, as ...

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 2 + 8?

2024-02-09 11:29:47

Tisha Lane

How do these settings affect when a style is "added to Style gallery" and would a hidden style that is added to the style gallery be saved in a style set?


2021-10-08 19:55:42

Rose

As I work with clients who can't be trusted with styles, I want certain styles to be usable yet always hidden. I.e., I know the styles are there and how to use them, but the clients do not.

For example, I want to use TOCs 1-9 and the Table of Figures style, but I never want clients to see the styles. After being taught how to do it, I am ok if they update the ToCs on their own. I just don't want them messing with the styles.

However, marking the styles ALWAYS HIDDEN fails whenever the TOC or Table of Figures is updated with "Update Entire Table." Do that, then (a) Word resets the styles to SHOW and(b) the styles appear in the styles pane.

Updating just the page numbers seems to be ok; the styles remain hidden.

It's easy enough to understand why this would happen when a style is "Hide until used." Not so easy to understand why it happens with "Always Hide."

What say you, Mr. Wyatt. Why does this happen and is there a way to do what I want to do?

(see Figure 1 below)

Figure 1. Styles marked "Always Hidden" reappear


2021-03-09 12:51:40

Leslie

This 'hide until used' command has never worked for me. The style still shows up even if it is not used in the document.
Just use Hide and Show to organize styles.


2020-03-24 09:34:08

Paul Stregevsky

Carole,
When a black box obscures the numbers in your outline numbering, your outline-numbering styles are corrupted. They can't be fixed from within your document. You must import the styles from an uncorrupted file or create a new set.
There's also a macro that can fix it: https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/office/forum/office_2010-word/ms-word-header-styles-are-showing-black-boxes/c427b21c-dcda-46ce-a506-b9a16c9f2f3f


2020-03-23 11:42:19

Carole Sigouin

After following your instructions, I'm still getting Heading 3 number shown with a black box. The heading title is showing as designed but not the numbering. Would this be another problem?
(see Figure 1 below)

Figure 1. H3 Numbering in black box


This Site

Got a version of Word that uses the ribbon interface (Word 2007 or later)? This site is for you! If you use an earlier version of Word, visit our WordTips site focusing on the menu 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.