Outline numbering & layout in Word 2007

[rengewwj]

I create large technical documents. I start them in paragraph mode and do
stream of consciousness for headings and sub-headings (sometimes with many
"sub-subs"). Then I want numbering applied as in 1, 1.1 (indented a litte),
1.1.1 (indented a little more), 2 (vertically in line with 1), 2.1
(vertically in line with 1.1) 2.1.1 (vertically in line with 1.1.1), etc.

The multilevel list menu shows this exact format. Click on it and I get
whatever numbering it feels like throwing my way, sometimes all flush left,
sometimes indented, sometimes the third levels are all 1.1.1, 1.1.2, 1.1.3,
even if they're in position after the 10th Heading 1.

I've read and tried the oft recommended Shauna Kelly article. Nice but it
doesn't work. Do I have corrupted software or a corrupted master style sheet
or what?

How do I get back to "out of the box" and a simply multi-level listing with
the common indenting seen in Technical Manuals everywhere?

Thanks.

Then, sometimes I'll have a new thought and want to pop

 

[Stefan Blom]

Since you are using Word 2007, you cannot follow the exact steps of the
article at http://www.shaunakelly.com/word/numbering/OutlineNumbering.html,
but the general principles still apply. In what way doesn't it work for you?

 

[rengewwj]

"Let me count the ways." Seriously, it just doesn't want to behave. Last
night, I started with a clean boot, clean sheet of paper, into paragraph
mode, entered a bunch of Level 1's, several Level 2's, and a couple of sets
of Level 3's at two different locations in the hierarchy, separated by about
3 blocks of 1's-2's. Finished the entire entry process. Did the right click
Modify on the Level 1 and 2 sheets so that I could set them as per the Kelly
sheet's "based on" instructions. There was no Level 3 button shown so I
forced the Modify screen to appear (don't remember how). Selected the top
Level 1 and pulled up the Multilevel List screen and selected to the desired
format.

Only that top Level 1 changed .... to 1.1.1.1, but at the Level 1 flush left
and point size! Went to Change List Level; manually selected Level 1 and it
formatted as they should.

Couldn't make the entire list go to format in the usual "Select all xx
instances" method so I selected the entire Level 1, #1 line, double clicked
the format painter and then clicked down through the list of all Level 1's.
All formatting went to the correct presentation.

Repeated for Level 2 and Level 3.

Level 3 didn't "number up" as it should have -- it simply indented and
changed point size (properly). Don't remember what I did but eventually I
got numbers to show up. In both the cases of Level 2 and 3 I had to manually
Change List Level to get it to its appropriate numbering format because they
defaulted to a Level 4 numbering; and, all 1.1.1.1's. Once you manually
select the correct Level, everything goes to correct and I was able to use
the format painter.

If I go to paragraph mode right now, go to the end of a Level 3 line, do a
carriage return, I'll get an new Level 3, properly numbered; but, if I then
demote it to Level 4 or 5 or whatever, the number vanishes. If I then go to
Multilevel and click on the desired format button, I get 1.1.1.1 for a
number. Maddening.

And, ominously, I went to an old document, copied a block of company
boilerplate and pasted it into this new document WITH the Cut, Copy, Paste
Advanced Option for "Pasting between documents" set to "Match destination
formatting" and it not only kept the old document's formatting but it added a
Style Button (unwanted) from the old document! I could just scream.

 

[Stefan Blom]

But did you use the multilevel list dialog box to assign *paragraph styles*
to each numbering level, similar to how this is described (for older
versions) in Shauna's article? If you do that, you should be able to apply
numbering by applying styles.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

FWIW, there's a description of how to assign multilevel list levels to
styles in http://sbarnhill.mvps.org/WordFAQs/QandA2007.htm (even though that
article is not about numbering per se).

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
http://word.mvps.org