Version: 2008
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)
Processor: Intel

Our school district recently upgraded Mac computers to Office 2008. There is general dissent that users don't like every shape object or line they draw to be blue. Is there a way to change the default to black? Who thinks everyone wants their shapes to be blue? I've looked through preference settings, how to change it on the Normal Template (the possibility of changing the Theme to grayscale does no good). Anyone know the way? Thanks! <br>
Linda

There are basically 2 options available to you -- one is per document the 
other universal;

Option 1: In a document create a shape, format it as you wish for that 
document, then Control/Right-Click the shape & select Set As Default 
AutoShape (may not be the exact wording - am going from memory which is 
always a treacherous path to pursue :-)). Any additional drawing objects you 
create will be formatted based on your changes.

Option 2: Open the Normal.dotm template & do as above. Save the file, delete 
the 'sample' shape, close & Save again as you do. New documents will use 
your newly defined default formatting. NOTE: The one exception is the shadow 
effect. Even if you remove it when you create your sample the original 
shadow setting will be retained. I know of no way to get rid of it other 
than as suggested in Option 1.

-- 
HTH |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac
<ldickes@officeformac.com> wrote in message 
news:59bb3a7d.-1@webcrossing.JaKIaxP2ac0...
> Version: 2008 Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard) Processor: Intel 
> Our school district recently upgraded Mac computers to Office 2008. There 
> is general dissent that users don't like every shape object or line they 
> draw to be blue. Is there a way to change the default to black? Who thinks 
> everyone wants their shapes to be blue? I've looked through preference 
> settings, how to change it on the Normal Template (the possibility of 
> changing the Theme to grayscale does no good). Anyone know the way? 
> Thanks!
> Linda 

I can't believe I missed this...I must have looked at the right-click menu a dozen times, and there it was all along. Thanks! (BTW - the menu command says Set AutoShape Defaults)

> There are basically 2 options available to you -- one is per document the  <br>
> other universal; <br>
>  <br>
> Option 1: In a document create a shape, format it as you wish for that  <br>
> document, then Control/Right-Click the shape &amp; select Set As Default  <br>
> AutoShape (may not be the exact wording - am going from memory which is  <br>
> always a treacherous path to pursue :-)). Any additional drawing objects you  <br>
> create will be formatted based on your changes. <br>
>  <br>
> Option 2: Open the Normal.dotm template &amp; do as above. Save the file, delete  <br>
> the 'sample' shape, close &amp; Save again as you do. New documents will use  <br>
> your newly defined default formatting. NOTE: The one exception is the shadow  <br>
> effect. Even if you remove it when you create your sample the original  <br>
> shadow setting will be retained. I know of no way to get rid of it other  <br>
> than as suggested in Option 1. <br>
>  <br>
> --  <br>
> HTH |:>) <br>
> Bob Jones <br>
> [MVP] Office:Mac <br>
>  wrote in message  <br>
> news:59bb3a7d.-1@webcrossing.JaKIaxP2ac0... <br>
> > Version: 2008 Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard) Processor: Intel  <br>
> > Our school district recently upgraded Mac computers to Office 2008. There  <br>
> > is general dissent that users don't like every shape object or line they  <br>
> > draw to be blue. Is there a way to change the default to black? Who thinks  <br>
> > everyone wants their shapes to be blue? I've looked through preference  <br>
> > settings, how to change it on the Normal Template (the possibility of  <br>
> > changing the Theme to grayscale does no good). Anyone know the way?  <br>
> > Thanks! <br>
> > Linda  <br>
>  <br>
> Thanks. I'll try this as soon as I can get Word 2008 to work again. I've followed the advise of so many people and Microsoft Word &quot;Help&quot;, that now the whole system freezes anytime I click Toolbar (in View Menu) or Customize Toolbar. Any of these choices bring back the dreaded spinning rainbow disc and Word stops responding. I may have to uninstall and reinstall the the whole Office Word software program.

Reinstalling Office is rarely a solution on a Mac, especially with complex
integrated suites of software. It's a Windows OS solution far more time
consuming than it's worth. You also have to go through the update process if
you do so, otherwise the bits are out of sync with the user files that don't
get touched by that process & things are likely to get worse rather than
better... You wind up with the same problem along with possible others.

Your first step should be to confirm that Office & OS X are fully updated,
then repair disk permissions & restart. If that alone doesn't correct the
problem follow the directions here for testing/replacing the Normal.dotm
template: http://word.mvps.org/mac/MacWordNormal.html

If you continue to have difficulty please post a NEW MESSAGE rather than a
REPLY to some other user's thread. Be sure to include all details including
any specific actions you may have taken to resolve it & what the effect was.

HTH |:>) 
Bob Jones 
[MVP] Office:Mac


On 3/3/10 8:26 PM, in article 59bb3a7d.2@webcrossing.JaKIaxP2ac0,
"BeaBop@officeformac.com" <BeaBop@officeformac.com> wrote:

>> There are basically 2 options available to you -- one is per document the
>> other universal;
>>  
>> Option 1: In a document create a shape, format it as you wish for that
>> document, then Control/Right-Click the shape & select Set As Default
>> AutoShape (may not be the exact wording - am going from memory which is
>> always a treacherous path to pursue :-)). Any additional drawing objects you
>> create will be formatted based on your changes.
>>  
>> Option 2: Open the Normal.dotm template & do as above. Save the file, delete
>> the 'sample' shape, close & Save again as you do. New documents will use
>> your newly defined default formatting. NOTE: The one exception is the shadow
>> effect. Even if you remove it when you create your sample the original
>> shadow setting will be retained. I know of no way to get rid of it other
>> than as suggested in Option 1.
>>  
>> --  
>> HTH |:>) 
>> Bob Jones 
>> [MVP] Office:Mac
>>  wrote in message
>> news:59bb3a7d.-1@webcrossing.JaKIaxP2ac0...
>>> Version: 2008 Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard) Processor: Intel
>>> Our school district recently upgraded Mac computers to Office 2008. There
>>> is general dissent that users don't like every shape object or line they
>>> draw to be blue. Is there a way to change the default to black? Who thinks
>>> everyone wants their shapes to be blue? I've looked through preference
>>> settings, how to change it on the Normal Template (the possibility of
>>> changing the Theme to grayscale does no good). Anyone know the way?
>>> Thanks! 
>>> Linda  
>>  
>> Thanks. I'll try this as soon as I can get Word 2008 to work again. I've
>> followed the advise of so many people and Microsoft Word "Help", that now the
>> whole system freezes anytime I click Toolbar (in View Menu) or Customize
>> Toolbar. Any of these choices bring back the dreaded spinning rainbow disc
>> and Word stops responding. I may have to uninstall and reinstall the the
>> whole Office Word software program.