Getting numbered paragraph to appear conditionally in word 2003

[ZLYS]

I am trying to insert a numbered paragraph only in one condition of an
if statement and keep the preceding and following numbered paragraphs
numbered correctly and accordingly.

If condition A then:

4. preceding paragraph
5. conditional paragraph
6. following paragraph
7. etc.
8. etc.

If b then leave out conditional paragraph:

4. preceding paragraph
5. following paragraph
6. etc.
7. etc.

Everything I have tried thus far resulted in either a blank numbered
paragraph when the condition isnt met or losing the numbering on the
previous paragraph.

Any help would be appreciated!

 

[Peter Jamieson]

Doing auto-numbered paragraphs in Word mailmerge is, as you have discovered,
a pain.

One possibility is to use { SEQ } fields to do the numbering. However, {
SEQ } fields do not behave well inside IF fields.

As long as the number of possible combinations is small it may be simpler to
a. identify the "paragraph schemes" you need e.g. one with paras 1,2,3,4,
one with paras 1,2,3,4,7,8 or whatever
b. do not use autonumbering
c. put the complete text for each "paragraph scheme" in a different branch
of an IF field's results.

Nasty duplication but it's much more likely to work properly.

 

[ZLYS]

Thanks. Just did away with the auto numbering for this document like
you recommended.