Word Numbering Hell - Help Me Jebus!!!!

[emarvets]

I am writing some UML use cases in Word 2003 SP2 and it has turned into
a real nightmare. I am sick to my stomach with pure disgust and hatred
for how numbered lists work in Word and am about to abandon it
completely and opt for Notepad.

Here is my problem, for my use case I need to display the following:

Normal Path
1 step1
2 step2
3 step3

Alt Path A
2 alt step2
3 alt step3

Alt Path B
3 alt step3
4 alt step4

I originally wanted to do:

Alt Path A
2a. Alt step2a
2b Alt step2b
3 Alt step3

but completely gave up on that idea and will simply settle for when I
change a number to 3 step3, it stays at 3 step3 instad of changing to 4
step3 or when word decides to let me change it to 3 step3...but then
decides every other 1 step1 should be 3 step1.

Any help is appreciated. I'm losing hair by the minute.

Eric Marvets
MVP Visual Developer, Security

 

[Shauna Kelly]

Hi Eric

Can you tell us:

- which parts of your text would you expect to be 'automatically' numbered?

- under what conditions do numbers re-start (eg what rule is it that causes
the first paragraph under Alt Path A to be "2", but the first paragraph
under Alt Path B to be "3"?

- which parts are constant, and which parts are variable?

For example, is a real case something like:

Normal Path
1 Do this
2 Do that
3 Do something else

Alt Path A
2 alt Do another thing entirely
3 alt Something else again

Alt Path B
3 alt Bla bla bla
4 alt etc etc

OR

is a real example something like

Some text here
1 Bla bla 1
2 Bla bla 2
3 Bla bla 3

Some other text here
...... etc etc


Shauna

Shauna Kelly. Microsoft MVP.
http://www.shaunakelly.com/word

 

[emarvets]

I expect all items after the inital item I say to start numbering with
to follow the same pattern.

So if the first item in the list was manually put in as 3, I expect to
next item to be a 4, then 5, and so on.

I would like for each list to operate independantly of each other.
Regular Steps almost always start at 1, while Alt Paths represent a
secondary set of steps that replace a certain set of regular steps. It
may also start at 1, or it may begin at 5.

A real case is similar to the first example you wrote.

I would love to have a list that went:

1
2
3

and another immediatley following that went:

3
4
5

without Word automatically replacing the second 3 with a 4.

I tried using LISTNUM, and was able to get it to work, but losing the
automatic formatting is just as much of a pain in the but as writing
each number out by hand.

 

[Shauna Kelly]

Hi Eric

I think if this were me, I'd give up on Word's automatic paragraph
numbering. That's because (from Word's point of view) there's no logic you
can put in place so it will know what number each little list is to start
with.

I think I'd use SEQ fields for this. SEQ fields are very old, stable, and
rather boring technology. But it will work predictably.

To insert the first number, do ctrl-F9 and within the braces that Word gives
you, type "SEQ MyList" (no quotes). Press F9 to update. You can use any name
for your list to replace 'MyList'.

When you want the next number in the sequence, do the same thing. Or, copy
and paste.

Since typing those fields might get tiresome, I suggest you create one
field, select it (without the following paragraph mark) and make it an
AutoText (see Using AutoText at
http://www.word.mvps.org/FAQs/Customization/AutoText.htm). You can use Tools

Customize to assign a keyboard shortcut or a menu button to your AutoText.

When you want to re-start the numbering from an arbitrary number do, eg "SEQ
MyList \r 3" (no quotes).

If you regularly re-start at 2, or 3 or 4 or whatever, you could create an
AutoText for each of your common re-start numbers. Maybe put them all on a
little toolbar.

If you move text around, and want to force the fields to update, select a
field and do F9. Or, ctrl-a to select all the text, and then F9 to update
all fields in the document. To toggle between showing the codes and showing
the result, select a field and do Shift-F9, or to show all codes in the
document, Alt-F9.

Hope this helps.

Shauna Kelly. Microsoft MVP.
http://www.shaunakelly.com/word