"Outline numbering with prefix"

[Ray Miller]

Hello to all! Thank GOD for the MVP's! We appreciate the time you take to
help us so much. This is my first post, but I've learned many things from
reading the website and the newsgroup.

I have created a Functional Requirements document. It is about 100 pgs. and
in addition to section, heading and page numbering, there is a list of
requirements that looks like this...

FR 1.
FR 1.1.
FR 1.2.
FR 1.2.1. up through about 5 levels (FR 1.2.1.1.1.)

I was less than excited to learn that this document I thought was complete
now must incorporate another list which basically mirrors the list above but
with a lowercase "n" in front of the "FR."

nFR 1.
nFR 2.
nFR 3.
nFR 3.1.

No sweat I thought overconfidently. The list that works utilize custom
styles I created and tied to a list style which applies the "FR" prefix for
me.

FR 1. is style RQMT.
FR 1.1. is RQMT L2.
FR 1.1.2. is RQMT L3, etc. (I don't know how to determine the name, if
there is one, of the list style.)

I copied these few styles into another document and then renamed them nRQMT,
nRQMT L2, etc. I then modified these styles, including their associated list
style so that they produced the "n." NO PROBLEMO! My ego was deflated when
I moved my new styles back into my original template with my old styles. The
new styles continued to work, however, the other 100 pages formatted with the
old styles all changed (to nFR....) . I'm assuming that I altered the list
style that my old styles used and that's why they have updated but I don't
see why given the list style behavior of constantly changing whenever it's
fiddled with. Why, when I wanted the list style to generate another copy,
does it have to change the list style that was okay and how do I accomplish
this?

Thanks TONS!

Ray

 

[Chuck Henrich]

You need to name the list template attached to your new styles so that their
numbering stays separate from the list template attached to your old styles.

Modifying your *new* style Level 1, drill down through
Format>Style>Modify>Format>Numbering>Bullets and Numbering>Customize and
click the More button, then in the "ListNum field list name" field of the
Customize Outline Numbered List dialog enter a unique name. Then do the same
for each of your other *new* styles, so that they all are linked to the same
named list template. Also make sure that in each level the "Link level to
style" field points to the correct *new* style name.

You may need to go through the same process for your old styles to make sure
each style sequence (old and new) is linked to the appropriate list template.

HTH

 

[Stefan Blom]

Copying numbered styles between documents or templates often gives
unexpected results. Sometimes it helps to copy the styles three times.
But it's probably easier to create the styles without numbering, copy
them to the other document, and then set up numbering according to the
instructions at:
http://www.shaunakelly.com/word/numbering/OutlineNumbering.html.

--
Stefan Blom
Microsoft Word MVP


in message
news:[email protected]...

 

[Chuck Henrich]

My understanding of the original post was that he was trying to set up a
numbering scheme based on an existing numbering scheme. The only way to do
that reliably without altering the original scheme is to use named list
templates in both the old and new styles and link the styles to the correct
list levels, so that the original list template stays unchanged.

Here's how (using the original poster's examples) - detailed instructions
for those who aren't used to editing list templates:

*First make sure the list template for the RQMT set of styles is named*

Open the document that needs the new style set.

Format>Style, choose RQMT, then Modify>Format>Numbering. An outline
numbering scheme should be selected in the List Gallery of the Bullets and
Numbering dialog, so click the Customize button.

In the Customize Outline Numbered List dialog, click the More button. At
the bottom of that dialog type a list template name in the "ListNum field
list name" field - eg "RQMTLT" (add "LT" to the style for "list template").

Still in the Customize Outline Numbered List dialog, click through every
Level to make sure the "Link level to style" field shows the correct style
name - eg level 1 should show "RQMT", level 2 should show "RQMT L2" etc.

When all the levels are set up, OK your way out of the dialogs until you're
back in the document, save it and close it.

*Copy your RQMT styles to a new document*

Create a new document, and while it's open use Tools>Templates and
Addins>Organizer to copy the RQMT styles into it.

*Rename the styles in the new document*

Eg RQMT becomes nRQMT, RQMT L2 becomes nRQMT L2 etc.

*Rename the list template in your new document*

In your new document, drill down into the Customize Outline Numbered List
dialog for style nRQMT (Format>Style, choose nRQMT, then
Modify>Format>Numbering>Customize) and make sure the More button is clicked.

You should see "RQMTLT" in the "ListNum field list name" (at least in
Word200+) because Word is smart enough to copy the named list template linked
to style RQMT.

Rename RQMTLT to nRQMTLT and OK your way back to your document.

Save and close your new document.

*Copy your new styles to your original document*

Open your old document and use Tools>Templates and Addins>Organizer to copy
the new nRQMT styles into it from your new document.

*Check to make sure your new list template copied over*

In the old document, drill down into the Customize Outline Numbered List
dialog for style nRQMT (Format>Style, choose nRQMT, then
Modify>Format>Numbering>Customize) and make sure the More button is clicked.

You should see "nRQMTLT" in the "ListNum field list name".

*Modify the numbering for your new set of styles (nRQMT)*

In the old document, change the numbering for your new styles - your old
styles won't be affected so long as "ListNum field list name" shows that
you're working with your new list template nRQMTLT.

***
Regarding copying numbered styles in general, if you name your list
templates and link the levels to the correct styles, your numbering will
stick. If you don't, it's very likely it won't. Copying styles that aren't
properly linked to named list templates multiple times won't make any
difference because Word will have no way of accurately matching styles with
list levels.

HTH

 

[Ray Miller]

Mr. Henrich accurately interpreted the problem I was having. I do wish I had
had his second posting before I started trying to deal with this issue.
Nevertheless, Mr. Henrich's first post pointed me in the right direction. I
never would have thought the "ListNum field list name" box would be used for
the purpose that it is. I fumbled the next 2 days trying to get it right and
eventually was able to. Surprisingly I believe I followed Mr. Henrich's step
by step instructions from his second post.

The only comments I would make that might confuse someone trying to
accomplish this feat are as follows:

Everytime I went in to the customize area of the numbering dialogs, it was
clear that my list templates were either multiplying and/or changing, usually
both. This made me extremely suspicious that perhaps the list template I
needed to work with was no longer in the same position it had been previously.

I made two misteps during the naming of the list templates. Initially, I
tried to name the same list template for each style compromising my list.
Then I tried to assign a different list template name for each style which I
quickly proved to be even further off track. The trick (if I'm not mistaken)
is that you only have to put the list template name in one time when you
define the first style of the list. Then you can move from level to level
within the dialog box and not need to keep filling in that field.

I probably haven't explained this two issues very clearly but they did cause
me trouble and perhaps someone else will clue us in.

Thanks for the help, Mr. Henrich and I will heed the other gentleman's
advice to avoid copying styles with automatic numbering between documents
whenever possible.

Regards,

Ray Miller

 

[Chuck Henrich]

Glad I could help, and you can call me Chuck. ;-)

You're spot on about creating a named list template once and defining all
the levels at the same time. Of course that means you have to create all
your styles first, so that they can be linked to the correct list levels when
you're defining your numbering (in the "Link level to style" field").

You're also right that the list gallery (the set of panels showing numbering
schemes in the Bullets and Numbering dialog) is an unreliable way to drill
down into a specific list template. That's why you need to edit your
numbering by editing the Style (Format>Style>etc) instead of trying to edit
the numbering by using Format>Bullets and Numbering. When you drill down to
edit the numbering for a style the list gallery _should_ highlight the
attached list template which you can verify by checking to make sure that the
"ListNum field list name" field contains your list template name.

"ListNum field list name" is a bizarre name for that field and it's even
stranger that it's not properly documented.

The importance of naming list templates can't be stressed enough if you're
going to avoid list template proliferation - otherwise as you point out every
time you make a change to unnamed list numbering Word seems to create a new
(unnamed) list template. In earlier versions apparently (according to an
article in the MS KnowledgeBase) you could end up with over a thousand list
templates in one document. Yikes.

You can safely copy paragraph numbering styles between documents provided
that your list templates are named, being aware that if you copy a style with
an attached named list template into another document with the same list
template name it will overwrite the list template in the target. But that's
true with copying styles anyway.

 

[Stefan Blom]

For more about the technical aspects of numbering in Word, see the
article at
http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/Numbering/WordsNumberingExplained.htm

--
Stefan Blom
Microsoft Word MVP


in message

 

[Chuck Henrich]

Hi Stefan

Thanks for posting the link. Unfortunately the article needs to be updated
- what it says is true enough but as I've stressed before, if you name your
list templates you avoid the randomness described in the article. I didn't
see any mention of naming list templates in the article. If you'd like some
assistance with the updating I'd be happy to help.

Also, the link "How to cure Word's List Numbering with a dose of VBA"
appears to be broken.

 

[Stefan Blom]

Although some details are perhaps not up to date, the main point of the
article still holds true (as far as I can tell).

Note that you are welcome to make suggestions at
http://word.mvps.org/Suggestions/index.htm.

As for the article titled "How to cure Word's List Numbering with a dose
of VBA" it wasn't so much an article as a list of links to threads at
the newsgroup archives at http://www.google.com.