numbered list: removing formatting, retaining numbers?

[Peter]

Hi,

I have a 3 column table for which I would like to auto-number the rows (many
rows!). So I insert a 4th column to the very left and create a numbered list
in the column. Neat. Serves my purpose. I don't think there is another way of
achieving this automatically - please correct me if I am wrong!

But, after numbering, I would like to have the possibility to re-arrange the
rows without the row numbers changing. That is, if I move row 25 up to after
row 11, I would like the new vertical sequence to read 9, 10, 11, 25, 12,
13.

But since it is a list, it auto-adjusts as soon as I make any changes to the
list.

How can I get around this, and retain the numbers but removing the 'list' ?

Or should I rather generate the numbers in a different manner?

Thanks!

/peter

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

You can convert the numbers to text. Here's Stefan Blom's explanation of how
to do that:

To convert autonumbering (paragraph/outline numbering and LISTNUM
fields) to plain text, do the following: Make sure the active
document is the one you want to convert. Then press ALT+F11 to
display the Visual Basic Editor. On the View menu, click
Immediate Window. In the Immediate Window, type

ActiveDocument.ConvertNumbersToText

and press ENTER.

Note that if paragraph/outline numbering was applied with styles,
it isn't completely gone (CTRL+Q will bring it back!) unless you
also clear it from the style definitions.

[Note that the macro above will convert *all* field numbering to text; it
may be that there is a way to do it for selected text (for example, by using
Selection.ConvertNumbersToText instead), but that is beyond my abilities;
perhaps Stefan will chime in with help.]

 

[Stefan Blom]

To remove number formatting in a selection, use

Selection.Range.ListFormat.ConvertNumbersToText

instead.

--
Stefan Blom
Microsoft Word MVP

You can convert the numbers to text. Here's Stefan Blom's explanation of how
to do that:

To convert autonumbering (paragraph/outline numbering and LISTNUM
fields) to plain text, do the following: Make sure the active
document is the one you want to convert. Then press ALT+F11 to
display the Visual Basic Editor. On the View menu, click
Immediate Window. In the Immediate Window, type

ActiveDocument.ConvertNumbersToText

and press ENTER.

Note that if paragraph/outline numbering was applied with styles,
it isn't completely gone (CTRL+Q will bring it back!) unless you
also clear it from the style definitions.

[Note that the macro above will convert *all* field numbering to text; it
may be that there is a way to do it for selected text (for example, by using
Selection.ConvertNumbersToText instead), but that is beyond my abilities;
perhaps Stefan will chime in with help.]

Hi,

I have a 3 column table for which I would like to auto-number the

rows

(many
rows!). So I insert a 4th column to the very left and create a

numbered

list
in the column. Neat. Serves my purpose. I don't think there is

another way
of

achieving this automatically - please correct me if I am wrong!

But, after numbering, I would like to have the possibility to

re-arrange

the
rows without the row numbers changing. That is, if I move row 25 up

to

after
row 11, I would like the new vertical sequence to read 9, 10, 11, 25, 12,
13.

But since it is a list, it auto-adjusts as soon as I make any

changes to
the

list.

How can I get around this, and retain the numbers but removing the

'list'

?

Or should I rather generate the numbers in a different manner?

Thanks!

/peter

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Thanks, Stefan. I knew there would be a way!

To remove number formatting in a selection, use

Selection.Range.ListFormat.ConvertNumbersToText

instead.

--
Stefan Blom
Microsoft Word MVP

You can convert the numbers to text. Here's Stefan Blom's explanation of how
to do that:

To convert autonumbering (paragraph/outline numbering and LISTNUM
fields) to plain text, do the following: Make sure the active
document is the one you want to convert. Then press ALT+F11 to
display the Visual Basic Editor. On the View menu, click
Immediate Window. In the Immediate Window, type

ActiveDocument.ConvertNumbersToText

and press ENTER.

Note that if paragraph/outline numbering was applied with styles,
it isn't completely gone (CTRL+Q will bring it back!) unless you
also clear it from the style definitions.

[Note that the macro above will convert *all* field numbering to text; it
may be that there is a way to do it for selected text (for example, by using
Selection.ConvertNumbersToText instead), but that is beyond my abilities;
perhaps Stefan will chime in with help.]

Hi,

I have a 3 column table for which I would like to auto-number the

rows

(many
rows!). So I insert a 4th column to the very left and create a

numbered

list
in the column. Neat. Serves my purpose. I don't think there is

another way
of

achieving this automatically - please correct me if I am wrong!

But, after numbering, I would like to have the possibility to

re-arrange

the
rows without the row numbers changing. That is, if I move row 25 up

to

after
row 11, I would like the new vertical sequence to read 9, 10, 11, 25, 12,
13.

But since it is a list, it auto-adjusts as soon as I make any

changes to
the

list.

How can I get around this, and retain the numbers but removing the

'list'

?

Or should I rather generate the numbers in a different manner?

Thanks!

/peter

 

[Peter]

Thanks both for your swift reply!

WOW! [falling off the chair]

I have always wondered what this Visual Basic editor was good for. Compliled
a few macros once in a while but never got to see what the rest of the
iceberg was all about. Thanks a lot!

If I may, I have 2 follow-ups:

1) It seems it could be worth spending a few hours getting to know the
commands available in the Visual Basic editor. What in your opinion woud be a
good way to go about it? Shall I just read the helpfiles or is there a good
'Dummies' book or something that is more accessible (although the 'for
Dummies' books I have look into for other applications have always been too
simple for my purposes.)

2) After running the 'Selection.Range.ListFormat.ConvertNumbersToText' the
cells of my table became vertically bigger since there is some kind of
carriage return after each number. If I place the cursor after each number
and hit the delete button whatever there is is deleted and the cell will
contain nothing else but my number and the size of the cell will go back to
its original size 'single row size'. Now, trying to search/replace(with
nothing) to get rid of this in the whole table I realise that it is not a
carriage return nor a paragraph mark nor a blank space. I really miss the
WordPerfect 5.1 from 1995 where I could call up a code window and see how
each line in a document is formatted and thus find out what kind of
character/element I should search for in my search/replace endeavour. How can
I find this out? I guess the VB editor may become involved but I could not
manage by myself.

Thanks a lot!

/peter

 

[Peter]

Nevermind followup question no.2... I managed to find the Show/hide, and Show
formatting buttons and they seem to give me the info I want... funny, I have
always customized/uncluttered my toolbars and thus these buttons always
remained hidden from me and thus I have often wanted to use them but had no
idea they existed... :-(

Question no.1 though would be much appreciated. When I search on Amazon I
only find books for people who want to progam in Visual Basic and that's not
really what I want (I think?).

/peter

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

One place to start is
http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/MacrosVBA/VBABasicsIn15Mins.htm. For the second,
see http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/General/RevealCodes.htm