Numbering - skip a level

[BruceM]

I used to have a '72 Nova. Quite a good car in a lot of ways, but as it aged
it required some customized treatment in certain situations. For instance, I
sometimes had to hop out of the car at intersections and kick the headlights
to get them working again.
Word's numbering reminds me of that car sometimes, except that it needed
special treatment right out of the box. However, I have come to a place
where I don't know where to kick it. I have inherited a numbering system.
It goes something like this:
Section 1 Blah blah blah
1.1 Blah BLAH blah blah
(a) Blah!

And so forth. I am well-acquainted with styles, and use them regularly. I
have read Shauna Kelly's piece on numbering, MVP articles, and all of that.
I have generally been successful at wrestling outline numbering into
submission, but this one has me stumped. I want to use outline numbering
because I will be adding a table of contents. I generally use my own defined
styles for outline numbering rather than modifying built-in heading styles,
and have done so here. I will call the levels L1, L2, etc. I based L1 on no
style, L2 on L1, etc. (cascading styles).
I go to L1 to define numbering for all levels. L1 numbering is formatted
with no character (sometimes it is Introduction, sometimes Section 1,
sometimes Appendix 1, and so forth). No problem there. The difficulty
arises at L2, which I would like to format as 1.1, 1.2, etc., but since L1
has no character L2 defaults to 1., 2., etc. I tried skipping Level 2
numbering and applying L2 to Level 3 numbering so that L2 will use 1.1, etc.
as the numbering character. The trouble comes when I reach the second
instance of L1 (i.e. when I get to Section 2). At that point I cannot get L2
numbering to restart, even though I have specified in the numbering dialog
that it is to restart numbering after Level 1. I have applied the L1 style
to the paragraph that begins with "Section 2", but the numbering plows ahead
with 1.3 when it should be 2.1. I link numbering levels to styles, by the
way.
Any ideas for dealing with this? Changing the numbering format is not among
my options.

 

[Margaret Aldis]

Hi Bruce

In order to have the L2 style move on from 1.n to 2.1, two things have to
happen - one is that the higher level has to have moved from 1 to 2, the
other is that L2's level restarts. That obviously all happens automatically
in the 'standard' case where L2 uses L1's number and restarts after L1, but
if there is no numbering appearing in the doc for the higher level you have
to get inventive!

The simplest solution is to give L1 a number format, but use the Font button
to set it to hidden font (you must also set the 'Follow number with' to
nothing). Then link L2 to level two, picking up number from level one in the
usual way. However, do test this in your context because I have a vague
memory that there could be an interaction with the TOC in that case - the
hidden numbers may cause some problem?

Alternatively you might want to stick with your intervening numbered level 2
style to provide the number, but restart L2 after that, and format the whole
style as hidden. In this case, each time you have an L1 you'll have to also
insert a dummy paragraph in this style to move the numbering on.

Yet another possibility would be to use a LISTNUM field to set the higher
level number - this may suit you better if you don't like hidden text -
white font in a frame placed in the margin, with field shading showing, may
produce a more comfortable view?

Hope this gives some ideas for where an appropriate kick might be aimed <g>.

 

[Stefan Blom]

Are you saying that you want level one to be numbered but its
numbering should only display before level two numbers? Then you can
define numbering for level one but format it as hidden via the
Customize Outline Numbered style dialog box.

 

[BruceM]

Thanks to both for the input. I had come to a similar conclusion about
either having a dummy Level 2 style or formatting the Level 1 number as
hidden text. In the end I decided against the dummy paragraph becuase it
would be too easy to either eliminate the paragraph and have the numbering
system fall apart or to have the previous paragraph inherit its formatting.
If there is a TOC problem with hidden text I will try formatting the Level 1
number as white font instead.

 

[Klaus Linke]

You can also set up the styles (list template) with Heading 1 numbered, and then
remove the Heading 1 numbering through VBA:

With ActiveDocument.Styles(wdStyleHeading1).ListTemplate.ListLevels(1)
.NumberFormat = ""
.NumberPosition = CentimetersToPoints(0)
.TextPosition = CentimetersToPoints(0)
.TabPosition = CentimetersToPoints(0)
End With

Since you can't do that from the user interface, it might be dangerous.
And as soon as you open the numbering dialog, the Heading 1 number re-appears.

A quick test worked, and the TOC came out fine.
But hidden numbering seems a good (and less risky) solution...

Regards,
Klaus