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The purpose of
this Microsoft Word Tips & Microsoft Word Help page is to show you how to access
and use the "fancy" line drawing styles that were available in previous Word
versions in in your Word2007 documents. When you draw a line using
Word2003, you can select that line, select "Format AutoShape..." and add a
little flair to the line by apply one of several available line styles. |
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For whatever reason, the developers of
Word2007 apparently didn't like that feature and tried to take it away.
When you draw a line in Word2007 and attempt those same steps you are met
with a disabled style attribute box. Click the Insert
Tab>Illustrations Group>Shapes>Lines>Basic line and draw a line in the
document. |
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Select and right click the line then
select "Format AutoShape...." The style attribute is disabled. |
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Fortunately the developers where not
very thorough in their attempt to execute this feature. A drawing line
inserted with VBA can be fully formatted as the following illustration will
show. Insert a "fancy" line into a Word2007 document using the
following macro: |
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Sub InsertFancyLineWithVBA()
Dim oShp As Word.Shape
Set oShp = ActiveDocument.Shapes.AddLine(25, 25, 100, 100)
With oShp.Line
.Style = msoLineThickBetweenThin
.Weight = 6
End With
End Sub |
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The formatted line is inserted.
Better yet, it can now be fully formatted using the "Format AutoShape..."
style attribute. |
 
The same behavior is observed when a basic line is inserted using VBA or
if a line drawn with Word2003 is copy and pasted in a Word2007 document.
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Through a bit of VBA manipulation any
of the three basic line shapes (basic, arrow, double arrow) drawn with the
user interface in Word2007 can be converted by selecting the line and
running the following macro. Lines converted in this manner can then
be fully formatted using the "Format AutoShape..." style attribute. |
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Sub DuplicateAndReplaceLine()
'Declare variables
Dim oShp As Word.Shape
Dim bHFlip As Boolean
Dim bVFlip As Boolean
Dim oShpNew As Word.Shape
Dim i As Long, j As Long, k As Long, l As Long
Dim lngBAL As Long, lngBAS As Long, lngBAW As Long
Dim lngEAL As Long, lngEAS As Long, lngEAW As Long
Dim lngStyle As Long
Dim pWeight As String
'Get the cooridates and attributes of the
selected line
Set oShp = Selection.ShapeRange(1)
i = oShp.Left
j = oShp.Top
k = oShp.Height
l = oShp.Width
bHFlip = oShp.HorizontalFlip
bVFlip = oShp.VerticalFlip
With oShp.Line
lngStyle = .Style
pWeight = .Weight
lngBAL = .BeginArrowheadLength
lngBAS = .BeginArrowheadStyle
lngBAW = .BeginArrowheadWidth
lngEAL = .EndArrowheadLength
lngEAS = .EndArrowheadStyle
lngEAW = .EndArrowheadWidth
End With
'Delete the line
oShp.Delete
'Recreate the line as a fully formattable VBA
inserted line
Set oShpNew = ActiveDocument.Shapes.AddLine(i,
j, i + 72, j)
With oShpNew
.Left = i
.Top = j
.Width = l
.Height = k
If .HorizontalFlip <> bHFlip Then .Flip (msoFlipHorizontal)
If .VerticalFlip <> bVFlip Then .Flip (msoFlipVertical)
With .Line
.Style = lngStyle
.Weight = pWeight
.BeginArrowheadLength = lngBAL
.BeginArrowheadStyle = lngBAS
.BeginArrowheadWidth = lngBAW
.EndArrowheadLength = lngEAL
.EndArrowheadStyle = lngEAS
.EndArrowheadWidth = lngEAW
End With
End With
End Sub
Special thanks to friend and Word MVP Tony Jollans for assisting with the
line flip replication in this procedure. |
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See:
Installing Macros for instructions on how to set up and use the macro
listed above.
Add the DuplicateAndReplaceLine macro to your Quick Access Toolbar (QAT)
or see
Keyboard Shortcut for instructions on how to run a macro with a keyboard
shortcut. |
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