17.7.5.1 docDefaults

This element specifies the set of default paragraph and run properties which shall be applied to every paragraph and run in the current WordprocessingML document. These properties are applied first in the style hierarchy; therefore they are superseded by any further conflicting formatting, but apply if no further formatting is present.

If this element is omitted, then the document defaults shall be application-defined by the hosting application.

[Example: Consider the following definition for the document defaults for a WordprocessingML document:

<w:docDefaults>
  <w:rPrDefault>
    <w:rPr>
      <w:b/>
    </w:rPr>
  </w:rPrDefault>
  <w:pPrDefault>
    <w:pPr>
      <w:jc w:val="center"/>
    </w:pPr>
  </w:pPrDefault>
</w:docDefaults>

The child elements of docDefaults specify a default paragraph property of centered text and a default run property of bold text. Applying this formatting to the following fragment from the main document part of the same document:

<w:body>
  <w:p>
    <w:r>
      <w:t>Hello, world</w:t>
    </w:r>
  </w:p>
</w:body>

This paragraph contains no formatting properties, therefore, using the style hierarchy the document default paragraph and run properties are applied as specified within the docDefaults element and the resulting paragraph is centered as specified in the jc element (17.3.1.13) as well as bold as specified via the b element (17.3.2.1). end example]

[Note: The W3C XML Schema definition of this element’s content model (CT_DocDefaults) is located in A.1. end note]