Explaining DocConfig – Essential

A DocConfig is a set of rules for styles and style preferences that can be applied to a document through the OnStyle interface. Think of it as a style guide that ensures consistency in your documents. Once applied, it adjusts styles, sets margins and page sizes, and sets the proofing language based on the configuration.

It’s important to note that a DocConfig affects individual documents, not the MS Word application itself. When applied (assigned to a document), it makes stylistic adjustments, such as modifying heading styles, ensuring that your document complies with your organization’s formatting standards. Any changes you make—such as adding new headings—will automatically follow the DocConfig rules. Similarly, all style-based checks and fixes will align with the predefined settings.

Important Note: When you assign a DocConfig to a document, any original settings affected by it will be overwritten and cannot be restored by OnStyle. For this reason, it’s strongly recommended to create a backup copy of your document before assigning a DocConfig. Once applied, you’ll instantly see the changes reflected in your document.

Assigning a DocConfig is not mandatory, but it is essential for accessing all OnStyle features. Authoring (editing) functions only become available when a DocConfig is assigned. For details on using OnStyle without a DocConfig, refer to the Operation Without a DocConfig section.

Assigning a DocConfig is quick and straightforward. Just follow these steps:

Once assigned, OnStyle remembers the settings, and you can start using all available functions based on the configuration. If needed, you can also:

Assign Again: Reapply the same DocConfig. Changes made to OnStyle-specific styles, or page layout settings will be overwritten and lost.

Remove Assign: Detach the previously assigned DocConfig from the document. This option will not revert the document to the pre-DocConfig stage and will not undo changes made by the user or the DocConfig.

With Partial Assign, you can selectively apply specific styles, margin settings, or proofing language preferences, giving you greater control over your document. This is particularly useful if you:

To enable Partial Assign:

Once enabled, every time you assign a DocConfig, OnStyle will prompt you to select which styles and settings to apply.

⚠ Warning: Unselecting all styles is strongly discouraged, as it may lead to unexpected behavior and document issues.

Without an assigned DocConfig, OnStyle operates with limited functionality. When you first open the add-in in a document, no DocConfig is assigned by default. In this mode:

For example, in the Essential Edition, this includes 68 verification and 49 correction modules.

What if you want to make style, layout, proofing language, margin, etc., changes that don’t align with the DocConfig settings? The good news is that you can. While OnStyle ensures consistency, you can still customize styles and layout elements as needed. However, keep in mind that:

With OnStyle Essential Edition, you get a structured framework for document formatting while still having room for customization when needed.

The Essential edition of OnStyle comes with a widely usable, multipurpose DocConfig. It controls 48 styles, 85 automated checks, and 63 automated fixes. This configuration was carefully created to satisfy the broadest possible range of document formatting needs while ensuring controlled editing.

Style Specifications

In the Essential DocConfig there are 20 modified MS Word built-in styles and 28 new styles implemented.

The following MS Word built-in styles are affected:

The following new styles are introduced:

For detailed description of style modifications, and details of new styles see the Modified Built-in Styles: Specifications and Details and New OnStyle Styles: Specifications and Details section.

Page Layout Specifications

The Essential DocConfig sets the page size to Letter. A4 is also an available setting within OnStyle for the user with the following margin settings:

Additional, custom page sizes with custom margins can still be configured with Word’s built-in tools.

Proofing Language Specifications

The Essential DocConfig sets the proofing language across the document to English (United States). The proofing language can be changed manually after the DocConfig application. Note that changing the proofing language will result in “Language Issue” inspection results when running a Validation. If the change was intentional, the result for the issues can be ignored.