Numbering paragraphs

[murfitUK]

Using Word 2000.

I have a document which contains chapter headings (using the Heading1 style)
and within each chapter there are subject headings (using the Heading2
style). I have set up numbering so that each heading1 starts with a single
number, and each heading2 within that chapter starts with the chapter
number. I'll show an example - it will make more sense!

1 CHAPTER ONE TITLE
1.1 Subject Heading
1.2 Next Subject Heading
1.3 Another Subject Heading

2 CHAPTER TWO TITLE
2.1 Yet Another Subject Heading
2.2 And Another Subject Heading

3 CHAPTER THREE
3.1 etc etc

I have already done this and it works. Its the next bit that I can't do...

Each subject then has a few paragraphs but I just cannot get them to number
properly. For example, the paras that go with 1.1 Subject Heading will be
numbered 1.1.1, 1.1.2, 1.1.3 etc. The paras under 1.2 Next Subject Heading
will be 1.2.1, 1.2.2, 1.2.3, 1.2.4 etc.

Try as I might I just can't figure out how to do it. I've messed about with
various options in the numbering section of Format -> Styles and I can get
it to work with styles that are headings but not for the ordinary paragragh
text. Had a look through the help files but couldn't find anything that
helped.

Would appreciate any advice/assistance on this.

Paul.

 

[Shauna Kelly]

Hi Paul

You have two options here. Either use Heading 4 for your "body text" and
modify Heading 4 so that it has the font and size you want for ordinary text
(no-one said a "heading" style has to be big and bold!). Or, create a custom
style specifically for this purpose.

For what it's worth, my preference would be to use Heading 4 and my
reasoning would be that, if you don't do that, you'll have a numbering
scheme that includes all the built-in heading styles *except* Heading 4. The
heading styles have magical properties (see
http://www.ShaunaKelly.com/word/numbering/UseBuiltInHeadingStyles.html ) and
some of the magic might get awfullly confused when Word doesn't quite know
what to do with Heading 4.

In either case, you will need to link the style you choose to the numbering
scheme used by your headings. Follow the instructions at
How to create numbered headings or outline numbering in your Microsoft Word
document
http://www.ShaunaKelly.com/word/numbering/OutlineNumbering.html

Within those instructions, when you get to level 4, link the style you chose
for your body text to level 4.

You will need to be 100% vigilant that when you need to edit the numbering
scheme you ***always*** start the process by clicking within a Heading 1
paragraph, and choosing Format > Style from there. And having done that,
when you get to the Bullets and Numberig dialog, where you see the 8 panes,
**always** choose the one that is already selected. In Word 2000, if you
don't do that you'll end up with a real mess.

By the way, if you've messed around with this document a lot, it will have
built up a lot of internal mess. If you don't have too much text yet, and
it's going to be anything other than a throw-away document, I suggest you
start again with a new, clean document. Set up your styles and numbering in
the new document, then copy the text from the old document. But *don't* just
paste; instead, do Edit > Paste Special and paste as unformatted text.
You'll then need to go through and re-apply your styles.

Hope this helps.

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

 

[Joseph N.]

You will need to be 100% vigilant that when you need to edit the
numbering scheme you ***always*** start the process by clicking
within a Heading 1 paragraph, and choosing Format > Style from
there. And having done that, when you get to the Bullets and
Numberig dialog, where you see the 8 panes, **always** choose
the one that is already selected. In Word 2000, if you don't do
that you'll end up with a real mess.

Shauna, I have not followed either of those practices when I've edited numbering schemes in Word 2002, either for the limited purposes of the active document or to refine the headings and bullets in a template. Would your advice be to let sleeping dogs lie, or to go back to each and every template and re-do the heading styles based on H1 and to redo the bullet styles based on the default gallery?

 

[Shauna Kelly]

Hi Joseph

The sleeping dogs tend to lie quietly for some time, and then get up and
bite you 2.5 minutes before your important document is due to be distributed
to your most important customer!

In Word 2002 and before, there's a problem if, in the Bullets and Numbering
Dialog, you don't always choose the pane that is already highlighted. The
reason is that behind-the-scenes Word keeps creating numbering schemes. And,
they get themselves a bit confused. Logically, a style could only belong to
one numbering scheme. But if you put your cursor in, say, a Heading 2
paragraph and start editing the numbering scheme from there, then Word can
end up allocating a style to more than one numbering scheme. Sooner or
later, Word will get confused by this. I suspect that one minor symptom of
this is the frequent frustration of indents apparently moving for no reason:
it's because one style is attached to two numbering schemes, the two
numbering schemes have different sets of indents, and Word sometimes uses
one, and sometimes uses the other.

There is no cure for this from the user interface, and no complete cure from
code, either. So the best way to proceed is prevention. Word's numbering has
got slightly better through each version over the last decade. Numbering in
Word 2002 is pretty good if (a) the template was created with numbering set
up cleanly and (b) people edit documents created from the template by always
always putting the cursor in a Heading 1styled paragraph and editing the
numbering scheme from there.

For what it's worth, this is one of the very many good reasons to avoid
creating a new document using File > Save As. When people do that, through
several generations of documents, the poor document can end up in a real
mess!

I'm not sure I can advise you about the particular circumstances of your
templates and docments, but I hope this helps provide some background.


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

 

[Joseph N.]

I'm not sure I can advise you about the particular circumstances
of your templates and docments, but I hope this helps provide
some background.

It does, thank you. Now I have to decide how much time I want to
take to reorder things....