Outlining and Styles

[Lost in Virginia]

Is there anyone who feels they are expert and would be available to chat
offline about outlining and styles. I considered myself an expert in
outlining and styles in Word 2003, but now I have 2007, and I can't seem to
get them to work. With the new "multi-level lists" being separate from the
style itself, how do I get them to talk to each other and stay linked up? I
actually spent the $50 to talk to a live microsoft technician yesterday, who
told me that if I make any modifications to the default style (like a
different font, or line spacing), the outline link is broken and will not
re-link. Can that possibly be true? That the multi-level list feature only
works with the default styles? The technician also said that my only other
option was to pull my table of contents by hand. OMG, now I know they can't
be right.

I am frequently editing large policies and procedures that are hundreds of
pages long and fully outlined and styled. I utilize styles and outlining for
the TOC, as well as the table of exhibits and figures. Many thanks!

Susan Testa
jstesta AT hotmail DOT com

 

[Stefan Blom]

You can still attach paragraph styles to the levels of a multilevel list.
However, you can't set up the list via the Modify Style dialog box. Instead,
do the following:

To edit an existing list, as well as most lists created in earlier versions
of Word, place the insertion point in the first level 1 paragraph of the
list (with a list of headings, that means the first Heading 1 paragraph of
the document). Then click Home tab | Multilevel List | Define New Multilevel
List. You are presented with a dialog box similar to the Customize Outline
Numbered List dialog of Word 97-2003 (and you may still find some parts of
http://www.shaunakelly.com/word/numbering/OutlineNumbering.html useful).
Click the More button to see all options, including the one to attach
paragraph styles to levels.

To create a new list, you can use Home tab | Multilevel List | Define New
Multilevel List, but you may want to choose the Define New List Style
command instead. You can still set up numbering associated with paragraph
styles, and you should do that. The advantage of list styles may be
increased stability, but above all you will find it easier to locate and
edit your numbered lists; list styles can be modified via the Manage Styles
dialog box, just like any other style in Word.

 

[Lost in Virginia]

Does this mean I have to write a custom list (with custom styles) every time
I start a new project?

I understand how to define a new multi-level list, and to link styles to it.
I created an outline template document for myself with my most frequently
used outline sets already established. I would like to then do a "File",
"Save As" to start my new project from the outline template base. What I
find when I do that is that the "Heading" set in particular reverts to the
Microsoft default and needs much modification before it's usable again.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Instead of using a "template document," why not save the document as a
full-fledged template (.dotm or .dotx)?

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

 

[Stefan Blom]

Save As should work if you want to reuse the same formatting (including the
contents). But, as Suzanne wrote, using a template is the recommended
approach; it's also safer.

Note that you can *modify* a list (as I described in my earlier reply), but
replacing the formatting, for example by applying a different list style, is
likely to fail.