Meaning of a Language Attribute

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I’m sorry I cannot define the Subject precisely in a few words!

Bearing in mind that I’m using Word 97 SR 2, am in the UK, and have set the Language of all documents to be English (United Kingdom) via Tools / Language / Set Language, I am puzzled to find that when I click on Context Sensitive Help (Shift+F1, or “Arrow with Question Mark”) and then click on a word in a paragraph, then I get under Font Formatting, Paragraph Style something like:

Font: Times New Roman, 12 pt, (FE) English (United States), (Other) English (United Kingdom)

Can anyone explain what does “FE” mean, and why both attributes aren’t English (United Kingdom)? It doesn’t seem to cause any problem, fortunately!

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If I create a New document and type text into it, it shows as Paragraph Type: English (United Kingdom). Copying in some text from my offending document (which WAS converted/saved as an RTF) gives the same results as in my previous message. Trying a few other documents seems to point towards a problem (if such it can be called) with using the RTF file format…

Later… Thought I’d look this up on TechNet, and found
WD97: File Saved in RTF Has Extra Language Property [Q162437], and
WD2000: Odd Normal Paragraph Style Descriptions in Older Files [Q220317], and even
WD98: Save As RTF Adds Extra Language Property to Normal Style [Q179019]!
Which seems to adequately define the problem, if not actually solve it! Thanks very much for the pointer…

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John,

I first encounered this about three years ago (in Word 97) and wrote this little script to get rid of any FE language settings:

Dim Sty As Style

For Each Sty In ActiveDocument.Styles
If Sty.InUse = True Then
Sty.LanguageIDFarEast = wdNoProofing
Sty.LanguageID = wdEnglishUK
End If
Next Sty

Is this of any help?

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Robin – thanks very much for the code, but owing to complete ignorance, I don’t know what to do with it! Do I record it as a macro (first time ever!)?

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This Star Post by Andrew Cronnolly will give you step-by-step instructions.

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Thanks very much, Karen – I’ll follow the kiddie’s guide! John

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John,

Karen MacKenzie has already pointed you to a posting that tells you how to record your first macro. Unfortunately, in this case I don?t think you can record this macro because it isn?t possible to execute the necessary commands in Word 97. (Well, I couldn?t find a way, which was why I wrote the macro.)

Here?s how to get my code into your own macro:

1 In Word 97 go to Macro on the Tools menu and select Macros? from the side menu (or key Alt+F8).

2 In the ?Macro name:? box type in a name for the macro you are about to correct (I called mine ?ClearFE?).

3 By default, your macro will be saved in Normal.dot. If you want it stored in any other template, you will need to select that template name from the list in the drop-down box labelled ?Macros in:?. (This lists only those templates that are currently active. The template you want to use will be available if the document you start from is attached to it.)

4 Click the Create button. This will fire up the Visual Basic editor in a separate window, within which will be another window containing the skeleton code for your new macro. (The first time you do this it is scary. The first time I did it in Word 97 I took fright and didn?t go back again for 3 months.)

5 Copy the seven lines of code from my previous posting (everything from ?Dim Sty As Style? to ?Next Sty?) and paste it into your macro code where the cursor is flashing above the line that reads ?End Sub?.

6 While in the Visual Basic window key Ctrl+S to save your macro and key Alt+Q to close the Visual Basic window and return to Word.

Now when you key Alt+F8 you will find the name of your new macro in the list of macros and you can run it by selecting it and clicking Run. By using Tools Customize you can assign a keyboard shortcut to your macro, or place it on a menu or toolbar, but that?s another story.

I hope this is helpful as a first step into VBA territory.

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Robin, your expositionary style is exemplary! (You don’t teach courses, do you?!). I shall fortify myself with much gin, and try as you describe… John

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