To import styles from other documents
You can import paragraph and character styles from another InDesign document (any version) into the active document. You can determine which styles are loaded, and what should occur if a loaded style has the same name as a style in the current document.
In the Character Styles or Paragraph Styles palette, do one of the following:
Choose Load Character Styles or Load Paragraph Styles in the Styles palette menu or the Control palette menu.
Choose Load All Styles in the Styles palette menu or the Control palette menu to load both character and paragraph styles.
Double-click the InDesign document containing the styles you want to import.
In the Load Styles dialog box, make sure that a check mark appears next to the styles you want to import. If any existing style has the same name as one of the imported styles, choose one of the following options under Conflict With Existing Style, and then click OK:
Use Incoming Style Definition Overwrites the existing style with the loaded style and applies its new attributes to all text in the current document that used the old style. The definitions of the incoming and existing styles are displayed at the bottom of the Load Styles dialog box so that you can view a comparison.
Auto-Rename Renames the loaded style. For example, if both documents have a Subheading style, the loaded style is renamed “Subheading copy” in the current document.
You can also use the Books feature to share styles.