Hiding outline numbered levels

[nodreads]

I have adapted the outline numbered levels to show headings that are useful
for writing fiction. Instead of showing numbers ( 1.0, 1.1, 1.1.1) my levels
show "Character 1", "Character 2" etc, and I can navigate between characters
using the tab and shift + tab keys. For example,

Character 1: Hello, isn't it a great day? (return, tab)
Character 2: What's so great about it? (return, shift + tab)
Character 1: I said gray day, bozo. (return, tab)
Character 2: Sorry. I had an ipod in my ear.

I want to be able to hide a level so I can see just the dialog from
character 1. Outline is not suitable because I can't easily navigate between
levels.

Is there some other way of doing this in word?

Thanks

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

If you assign TOC outline levels to your "outline-numbered" styles (in the
Format | Paragraph dialog), you will be able to display just Level 1 in
Outline view. You will not, however, be able to see just Character 2 unless
you swap the outline levels (assigning Level 1 to Character 2).

 

[nodreads]

FYI, I'm using Word 2000.
I'm not using styles. I created the numbered levels using Format > Bullets
and numbering > selecting a layout > customize.

I did as you suggested, using Format > paragraph > outline level. (I didn't
see the TOC to which you referred.) I assigned Levels 1 to 5 to my 5
characters. In print view I could call up any character using tab and shift +
tab. In outline view I could view level n and preceding levels. So far so
good.

However, when I changed the character the outline level didn't change. For
example in print view, "Character 4" (shift + tab) reverted back to
"Character 3", but remained at level 4.

This is confusing when, for example, I want to see the lines from Character
1. Let's say I've tab + shifted Character 4 to become Character 1. I then go
to outline and view level 1. Suddenly, some of Character 1's lines don't
appear.

Thanks

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

To make this work, you'll need a style for each character, and you'll need
to set up outline numbering as described in
http://www.shaunakelly.com/word/numbering/OutlineNumbering.html. I would
suggest setting up numbering using one of the outline lists that uses Word's
built-in heading styles because they already have TOC outline levels
assigned. Just use Heading 1 for Character 1, Heading 2 for Character 2, and
so on. If you're using the headings for something else, then define your own
custom styles or use the List Number series, but in that case you'll need to
modify the styles so that the TOC outline level matches the numbering level.