Numbering fixed in Word 2003?

[J]

Has numbering been fixed in Word 2003? Or is it the same mess it was in Word 97 & 2000? I refused to upgrade to Word XP because numbering was essentially the same, and went to WordPerfect instead--but I'm too used to the Word keystrokes, etc., and integration with Outlook. Does anyone know if numbering is essentially the same in version 2003 (i.e., the way the program handles numbering, inserting new numbering schemes invisibly, etc., making numbering behave erratically)?
J

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Actually, numbering is greatly improved in Word 2002. I know that "fixing"
numbering is a priority with the Word dev team, though we may not see
dramatic changes till Word 12.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://www.mvps.org/word
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

Has numbering been fixed in Word 2003? Or is it the same mess it was in

Word 97 & 2000? I refused to upgrade to Word XP because numbering was
essentially the same, and went to WordPerfect instead--but I'm too used to
the Word keystrokes, etc., and integration with Outlook. Does anyone know if
numbering is essentially the same in version 2003 (i.e., the way the program
handles numbering, inserting new numbering schemes invisibly, etc., making
numbering behave erratically)?

 

[Guest]

I would have to disagree with that assessment - it is
still a mess.

Right now I have a problem with the toolbar numbering
button. Whenever I click on it, depending on which
paragraph the cursor is in, instead of creating a numbered
item it changes the paragraph to a heading !!!

I've reset all the numbering options in the B&N dialog to
default values to no avail.

 

[Shauna Kelly]

Hi Anonymous

To get better results, you might try the following:

1. Tools > Autocorrect Options > Autoformat as you type. Un-tick
everything in the "Apply as you type" and "Automatically as you type"
sections. However, you can tick the "Set left- and first indent with
tabs and backspaces" since it does no harm, and lots of people rely on
it.

2. Don't use the toolbar numbering button. Instead, use numbered styles.
For headings, follow the instructions at
http://www.ShaunaKelly.com/word/numbering/OutlineNumbering.html. For
simpler numbering, use the built-in List Number styles.

Hope this helps.

Shauna Kelly. Microsoft MVP.
http://www.shaunakelly.com/word
Melbourne, Australia

 

[Guest]

Actually I had already done what you suggest. I think it
is a bug in Word. The problem only occurred if I pressed
the numbering button on the first paragraph following a
heading where the second item in the list had already been
numbered (don't know if the latter is important).
Clicking the number button elsewhere worked OK.

Thanks for your tips - the Web site you mention was really
useful in rationlizing my heading styles.

 

[J]

Thanks, anonymous--that pretty much answered my question
It sounds like it is basically the same mess as before. The whole idea of "Don't use the toolbar numbering button. Instead, use numbered styles. For headings, follow the instructions at . . ." tells me the system is still a shambles.

 

[Bruce Brown]

Not quite, J. The whole "system" is not a shambles, but part of it is
-- that part being toolbar numbering, bulleting and its Word 2002
extension into outline numbering known as List Styles.

Klaus Linke offered a simple but brilliant insight a while back that
apparently nobody paid attention to. His advice was: on all your
templates, get rid of the numbering and bulleting icons on the
Formatting toolbar and replace them with icons that look the same but
instead simply apply one of the five built-in List Number styles or
one of the five built-in List Bullet styles. In addition to that, I
would suggest creating a third icon for outline numbering that applies
the built-in Heading 1 style. Then you've got all your bases covered.

When Suzanne says she knows the Word development team is working hard
on fixing numbering, well, it must be so and more power to them. But
if they merely took Klaus's advice they could fix a vast portion of
the numbering problems *right now, today*, never mind decades from
now.

By trying to make it easy for unskilled users by way of toolbar
numbering and bulleting as presently configured (as well as by E-Z
numbering re-starts) Word injects instability and potential havoc into
documents with complex numbering requirements. However, J, by
following a relatively few "best practices" for numbering, you'd be
surprised at how problem-free numbering can be, even in monster
documents.

Take Klaus's inspired advice to heart; your documents will be better
off for it.

- Bruce

 

[J]

Bruce,
Thanks for the response.
I suspect that the numbering problems run so deep that your recommendations will only help some of them. Even ignoring the numbering toolbar icons, I have wasted time attempting to use Format--Numbering, or Styles--Outline numbering--customizing. Unfortunately, changes made may or may not apply, and then only to be overruled by some other parameter. Don't get me wrong--Word does a stellar job with tables, and navigating in documents is top-notch. However, if you have a document that uses numbering, especially outlines, you are likely to either be frustrated, or be so totally unable to overcome the "mind of its own" behavior in Word as to make all but manual numbering and indenting impossible. Reading some of the work-arounds is laughable--the idea is to have a word processor, not an obstacle or enigma!
As to the "working hard fixing numbering," well, it seems remarkable they continue to develop new features and upgrades, but still can't fix numbering. It's not like the product just landed from space--they wrote the thing! It has been a MS product for apprximately 20 years!
My main interest was to help decide whether to upgrade to the "latest greatest" version Word. Looks like I should just keep waiting. Thanks!