Numbered Headings that won't retain their position.

[Frogmouth]

I have set up several templates for various documents and they all share one
one common problem that is driving me crazy.

The numbered headings keep randomly indenting.

The templates were set up with five layers of numbered headings (H1 through
H5). All the headings were positioned hard left with no indent.
Everything about the templates works well - except the random indenting of
the headings. Just one of the headings (usually H2 or H3) will indent for no
apparent reason. When a document, based on the template is opened, all the H2
or H3 headings will be indented by 7cm or so.

Usually, if I tick the 'Automatically update the Document Styles' tick box
in the 'Templates and Add-ins' dialogue box it corrects the error - but not
always. Sometimes I have to import the style from another document.

Any ideas, anyone.

Thanks in anticipation,

 

[Stefan Blom]

Make sure that the indent settings are specified in the Customize
Outline Numbered List dialog box (see
http://www.shaunakelly.com/word/numbering/OutlineNumbering.html), not
in the Paragraph dialog box, and that the options referring to
WordPerfect are cleared in Tools | Options, General tab.

Also note that the "Automatically update document styles" option in
Tools | Templates and Add-Ins could cause trouble with numbered
styles; you'd better keep it turned off, if possible.

--
Stefan Blom
Microsoft Word MVP


in message
news:[email protected]...

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

In addition to what Stefan has said, note that (as detailed in Shauna's
article) you need to link the numbering levels to specific heading styles.

 

[Frogmouth]

Hi Stefan and Suzanne,
Thank you for your rapid response - greatly appreciated.

I'm afraid that numberied headings is something that is destined to remain a
mystery to me. I have tried numerous ways of setting them up but always seem
to have some problem or other. I have recently read Shauna Kelly's excellent
article and used her procedure to set up the current templates that are
causing me grief.

I have been a tech writer for more years than I care to remember and have
been using MS Word since the '80's. I understand the use of styles and have
set up countless templates but I will be the first to admit that I do not
fully understand the inner workings of this program. On a very general note,
it would seem to me that whatever one does, somewhere lurks a tickbox
(checked or not) that will cause Word to override what you want to achieve
(TIC - tongue in cheek).

With regard to the numbering of headings - I do think it has something to do
with the default tabs setting. I arrived at this conclusion because the
amount that the indent modifies itself is always a multiple of 0.63cm. By way
of an experiment I am going to change measurement units to inches and tabs
settings to 'every one inch'.
I will see if that changes anything - If I discover anything earth
shattering, I will keep you posted.

Once again - thanks for your input.