Outline Format - Indent From Roman Numeral

[John Gregory]

I've been fighting this "problem" for at least five years. I've never
investigated it because I don't use the outline format very often and seldom
do when making something for presentation. Today is one of those exceptions.

I've taken a blank page, clicked the outline button at the bottom, then went
to Format/Bullets & Numbers. I selected the Roman numerals style "IA1".

When I hit my forth heading (IV), the subject shot to the right a full half
inch, thus, making that heading (though not the Roman numeral itself) out of
line with the headings above. Yet when I click the button at the bottom left
corner from Outline to Normal View, everything is aligned properly. Likewise
when I look at Print Preview.

Why do I get this misalignment of an outline when I view the darn thing in
Outline View?

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Your hanging indent is not far enough to the right to accommodate longer
roman numerals.

 

[John Gregory]

Ho boy. That sounds terminal! Would you be kind enough to point me in the
direction when I can find out how I can extend my hanging indent please? I
just looked up "hanging indent" but although I now know what it is, I don't
know how to get a hold of it.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

In the Format | Bullets and Numbering dialog (Customize), you can set
"Number position" (for roman numerals, Right is a good choice), "Aligned
at," which specifies where the number is placed (the leftmost point for
left-aligned, the rightmost for right-aligned), "Tab space after," and
"Indent at." The critical one is "Tab space after," but usually you want
this to be the same as "Indent at," so you may need to change both. If the
tab position is not far enough to the right for (left-aligned) roman
numerals (or even double-digit arabic numerals), then the tab will go to the
next built-in tab stop (which is usually at 0.5" or 1"). You need to
experiment with changing the tab stop setting, but I would also advise
setting the number position to right so that all your numerals will be
aligned on the period following them.