So I glanced over it... I don't know that my structure is any better, technically, than yours. But, you could replace the ProcessStoryTypes, ProcessShape functions with my structure, maybe adjust my AddShapesRangesIn sub to be a bit more robust the way your ProcessShape works (to add ranges of canvasitem shapes, etc), and then you wouldn't have to have the SrchAndRplInStry function buried at multiple places... you'd just have a For Each loop of the StoryRanges_Real be an accurate collection of ranges to search through.

It doesn't really get around some of the other issues (although I notice my structure doesn't seem, at least in 2010, to leave the blank paragraph in there post-processing), but it's a somewhat more clear structure.

But it might just be re-arranging the deck-chairs... *shrug*