wrote in message
oups.com...
- due to this problem, whenever I want to pro/de-mote a
para to another level, I always re-apply the required style
to the para. I never directly indent the para.

I'd say that was normally the best and more logical policy anyway, as
you
are then applying the numbering via the style, rather than Word
applying the
style from the numbering.

Well, my main concern about this method is that I don't fully
understand the implications of applying char/para styles to chars and
paragraphs, on formatting applied to existing text.

The best method to apply the style to alter the numbering is to just
click in some place in the paragraph and select the new style. This
*seems* to alter the style for the paragraph as I want, but I'm not
convinced I understand this fully... yet.


You've got it :-)

The tricky bit comes if you have any text selected - or accidentally drag a
little as you click. If it's just part of a paragraph, Word applies only the
font formatting of the paragraph (strictly, it's a "linked character style",
I think). This is an abomination as it looks like you have applied the para
style (the style name generally appears - possibly with a following "char").
However, you won't get any paragraph or numbering formatting in that case.

If you have selected a whole para with triple click or the selection goes
across a paragraph end, you get the paragraph style applied to all selected
paragraphs. "Short" bits of font formatting are preserved, but if it's more
than half the paragraph (I think) the font formatting of the paragraph style
takes over.

--
Margaret Aldis - Microsoft Word MVP
Syntagma partnership site: http://www.syntagma.co.uk
Word MVP FAQ site: http://www.word.mvps.org