Word 2003: Defining a new paragraph style with an associated customizedsimple numbered list.

[Markus Schöpflin]

I try to create a paragraph style in Word 2003 that should look like this:

[AD1] blahblah
[AD2] blahblah
[AD3] blahblah
....

But whenever I add simple numbering (not outline) to the paragraph style
and customize the numbering to look it like I want, I always end up with a
paragraph style that has an outline list style attached to it (where the
first level looks like the numbering I just configured), and not a simple
list style.

Is there no way to force Word to use a simple list and not an outline list
when assigning numbering to a paragraph style?

TIA,
Markus

(Well, actually I can think of a way, but this involves saving the document
as docx, extracting the XML, and in numbering.xml directly modify the list
definition identified by the abstractNumId linked to the numId of the
numbering as stated in the paragraph style definition found in styles.xml.
And I'd rather not do this.)

 

[Stefan Blom]

If you are trying to set up a list style, you will always get an
outline-numbered list.

However, if you are accessing the Numbered tab of the Bullets and Numbering
dialog box via the Modify Style dialog box (click Format, Numbering in the
dialog box), you should get a single-level list.

Having said that, I'd like to point out that the difference between numbered
(single-level) and outline (multi-level) lists is less apparent than it used
to be in Word 97 (say); you have probably noticed this yourself.

 

[Markus Schöpflin]

If you are trying to set up a list style, you will always get an
outline-numbered list.

However, if you are accessing the Numbered tab of the Bullets and Numbering
dialog box via the Modify Style dialog box (click Format, Numbering in the
dialog box), you should get a single-level list.

That's what I do, I open the dialogue for modifying the paragraph style,
then Format, Numbering (I think that's called list gallery in English, is
it?), then I select a numbering from the second tab and customize the
numbering to my needs. And this gives me a multi-level list.

I just checked with a simple test document I created with Word 2003. I
saved the document as docx (using the docx plug-in from MS) to be able to
look at the resulting list definitions.

The test document contains two paragraph styles, one has a simple
predefined numbering attached with no customization, the other has a simple
numbering attached with I have customized at bit.

Both numberings end up as multilevel list. For example (for the list I have
customized):

<w:abstractNum w:abstractNumId="0">
...
<w:multiLevelType w:val="hybridMultilevel" />
<w:lvl w:ilvl="0" w:tplc="15247A70">
<w:start w:val="1" />
<w:numFmt w:val="decimal" />
<wStyle w:val="Test2" />
<w:lvlText w:val="[TEST.%1]" />
...
</w:lvl>
<w:lvl w:ilvl="1" w:tplc="04070019" w:tentative="1">
...
</w:abstractNum>

 

[Stefan Blom]

Well, I did say that the difference between single-level and multi-level
lists have decreased recently.

I'm just guessing here, but I suspect that is what "hybridMultilevel"
indicates.

--
Stefan Blom
Microsoft Word MVP

If you are trying to set up a list style, you will always get an
outline-numbered list.

However, if you are accessing the Numbered tab of the Bullets and
Numbering dialog box via the Modify Style dialog box (click Format,
Numbering in the dialog box), you should get a single-level list.

That's what I do, I open the dialogue for modifying the paragraph style,
then Format, Numbering (I think that's called list gallery in English, is
it?), then I select a numbering from the second tab and customize the
numbering to my needs. And this gives me a multi-level list.

I just checked with a simple test document I created with Word 2003. I
saved the document as docx (using the docx plug-in from MS) to be able to
look at the resulting list definitions.

The test document contains two paragraph styles, one has a simple
predefined numbering attached with no customization, the other has a
simple numbering attached with I have customized at bit.

Both numberings end up as multilevel list. For example (for the list I
have customized):

<w:abstractNum w:abstractNumId="0">
...
<w:multiLevelType w:val="hybridMultilevel" />
<w:lvl w:ilvl="0" w:tplc="15247A70">
<w:start w:val="1" />
<w:numFmt w:val="decimal" />
<wStyle w:val="Test2" />
<w:lvlText w:val="[TEST.%1]" />
...
</w:lvl>
<w:lvl w:ilvl="1" w:tplc="04070019" w:tentative="1">
...
</w:abstractNum>

Having said that, I'd like to point out that the difference between
numbered (single-level) and outline (multi-level) lists is less apparent
than it used to be in Word 97 (say); you have probably noticed this
yourself.

 

[Markus Schöpflin]

This reply is just to share what I found out, digging a little deeper.
Maybe it is of interest to some of the readers of this list.

Well, I did say that the difference between single-level and multi-level
lists have decreased recently.

I finally checked in the OOXML reference (should have done that in the
first place). From the reference text for multiLevelType:

"This element specifies the type of numbering defined by a given abstract
numbering type. This information shall only be used by a consumer to
determine user interface behaviors for this numbering definition, and shall
not be used to limit the behavior of the list (i.e. a list with multiple
levels marked as singleLevel shall not be prevented from using levels 2
through 9)."

This makes it look like the distinction between single-level and
multi-level lists is simply no longer existent in the document format
itself, only Word keeps up the illusion.

I was certainly aware of what you stated above, but not about the fact that
the difference is now a mere cosmetic one.

I'm just guessing here, but I suspect that is what "hybridMultilevel"
indicates.

Again quoting from the reference:

hybridMultilevel (Hybrid Multilevel Numbering Definition)
Specifies that this numbering definition defines a numbering format
consisting of a multiple levels, each of a potentially different type
(bullets vs. level text).

multilevel (Multilevel Numbering Definition)
Specifies that this numbering definition defines a numbering format
consisting of a multiple levels, each of the same type (bullets vs. level
text).

singleLevel (Single Level Numbering Definition)
Specifies that this numbering definition defines a numbering format
consisting of a single level only.

 

[Stefan Blom]

Thank you for this additional information.