Space between numbered paragraphs

[Serayah]

Hi,

I wondered if someone could help out here: I'd like to have a space
between my automatically numbered paragraphs as I type them but the
problem is that when I press return twice the numbering stops and I
have to go up and re-click the numbering button again. Is there a way
to just continune typing - i.e press return twice and have Word
continue on the numbering?

Any help would be appreciated.

Seraya

 

[Tim Murray]

I wondered if someone could help out here: I'd like to have a space

between my automatically numbered paragraphs as I type them but the
problem is that when I press return twice the numbering stops and I
have to go up and re-click the numbering button again. Is there a way
to just continune typing - i.e press return twice and have Word
continue on the numbering?

Are you using a specific style (such as List Number) for your numbered list,
or are you modifying Normal?

 

[Serayah]

I'm just using the numbering by pressing the button on the formatting
tool bar - I'm not using any particular style.

 

[CyberTaz]

Keep in mind that when you press enter you are signaling the End of a
para & starting another. You can avoid such problems by only pressing
ENTER once at the end of a para and using Format>Paragraphs> to set
spacing before & after as desired. That way you don't get the "empty"
paras and you have more control over the document flow.

HTH |:>)

 

[Clive Huggan]

Serayah,

"CyberTaz", on his separate thread, has given the way around your problem
with the direct formatting that you use.

Do you use numbering in long documents, or just in documents that extend for
a few pages? If long documents there is somewhat increased chances of
corruption being caused to numbering, and you would be safer applying a
style that contains numbering rather than pressing the toolbar button.
Please post back if you want information on this approach and I'll provide
the details. It takes a bit of trouble to set up but once it's established
the benefit of lower chances of corruption are worthwhile.

Cheers,

Clive Huggan
Canberra, Australia
(My time zone is at least 5 hours different from the US and Europe, so my
follow-on responses to those regions can be delayed)
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[Serayah]

Thanks for all the help so far. I was aware about using space before
and space after on my paragraphs but I was after trying to get a full
return without having to apply this extra formatting. I remember in
past versions of Word (I currently have Word 2004) whenever I'd press
return (which would give me the next number) and then go up and put my
cursor at the end of the previous number and then press return again
(which would give me another number but a blank line (which I'd then
delete), Word would kind of sense what I was doing and then from then
on whenever I pressed return once, it'd automatically put in a blank
line as well as continue on with the automatic numbering. I don't even
remember setting it up this way - it just seemed to work. But this
version doesn't do this though.

Clive, for this particular document it's only a few pages long, but I
do work with longer documents from time to time and have experienced
corrupting of the numbering - especially when I email the file to
someone who has works on a Windows machine. I didn't think there was
any way around it so in the past I just ended up always doing my
numbering manually for longer documents. If you have instructions on
how to prevent this corruption I'd be really interested in knowing how
to do this - could you post the info?

Thanks very much.

 

[Clive Huggan]

Serayah,

Have a good look at:

www.shaunakelly.com/word/numbering/OutlineNumbering.html

(www.shaunakelly.com/word/bullets/controlbullets.html is worth a look, too)

and:

http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/Numbering/WordsNumberingExplained.htm

It takes some study (hence not being of much interest to people who only use
the feature in short documents), but the rewards in terms of simplicity and
stability of long documents are significant!

If you aren't too familiar with styles, download my notes on using Word,
"Bend Word to Your Will", from
http://www.word.mvps.org/FAQs/WordMac/Bend/BendWord.htm (it's free) and look
in the table of contents for the styles section, which among other things
leads to John McGhie's downloadable article on styles. (Other than the
styles section, most of this document is arranged in dictionary fashion; be
sure to read the introduction if you decide to read further than on styles.)

The key to stability in automated numbering (which includes automated
bulleting) is not to base the style containing the numbering on Normal --
for various reasons which include the problem you experienced when people on
Windows opened your doc, which incidentally was not a Windows/Mac problem
but a case of their definition of Normal interfering with your numbering.

I'm sorry that I'm not sufficiently familiar with previous behaviour with
numbering to throw light on what you experienced previously -- maybe someone
else will come along soon on that!

And what's the betting that John McGhie will be one of them?

Cheers,

Clive Huggan
Canberra, Australia
(My time zone is at least 5 hours different from the US and Europe, so my
follow-on responses to those regions can be delayed)
============================================================

* WAIT FOR CONSIDERED ADVICE: If you post a question, keep re-visiting the
newsgroup for several days after the first response comes in. Sometimes it
takes a few responses before the best or complete solution is proposed;
sometimes you'll be asked for further information so that a better answer
can be provided. Good tips about getting the best out of posting are at
http://word.mvps.org/FindHelp/Posting.htm(if you use Safari and it gives you
a blank page the first time, you may need to hit the circular arrow icon --
"Reload the current page" -- a few times).

============================================================

 

[Serayah]

Thanks Clive - I will read all of the suggested articles.

 

[Tim Murray]

but I was after trying to get a full
return without having to apply this extra formatting.

Sounds like you could replace "having to apply" with "going through the
effort of applying".

Learning styles will be so worth the effort that once you do, you can't
imagine how you got along without it before.

 

[CyberTaz]

I should probably be smacked soundly for what I'm about to print because it
is not the preferred way to get the job done, but in answer to your original
request (assuming you still choose to avoid the "appropriate" formatting}

to have a space between my automatically numbered paragraphs

When you get to the end of the para, press Shift+Enter to create a soft line
break, then press Enter to start your new sequentially numbered para!

(Please be gentle with the reprimands!) |:>)

 

[Beth Rosengard]

CyberTaz,

I won't reprimand you, if you won't beat me up for what *I'm* about to say
.

It occurs to me that the behavior Serayah has described ("Word would kind of
sense what I was doing and then from then on...") could be ascribed to one
or another of the AutoCorrect settings in "AutoFormat as you type",
namely...

Format beginning of list item like the one before it.
Automatic bulleted lists
Automatic numbered lists

We usually advise people to turn off these options but in Serayah's case,
maybe she should turn them on?

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Beth Rosengard
Mac MVP

Mac Word FAQ: <http://word.mvps.org/MacWordNew/index.htm>
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[CyberTaz]

It's a Deal |:>)

 

[John McGhie [MVP - Word and Word Macintosh]]

May you burn in HELL, the pair of you!!!

It's a Deal |:>)

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John McGhie <[email protected]>
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Sydney, Australia +61 4 1209 1410