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#1
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numbering_request clarifying
W2k, Word 2003
I have read Shauna Kelly's wonderful attempt to straighten out the Word numbering morass, and am trying to adapt it to my needs. I am scanning, OCR'ing 50 year old docs and converting them to Word files. Most of these are minutes of meetings, with most paragraphs numbered and sub-paragraphs limited to (usually) 1. She suggests revising built-in heading styles to accomodate this. I don't really want to change the first few built-in heading styles because they are useful on different documents. I simply want to make "normal" paragraphs with normal fonts into paragraphs to which I can apply a numbering scheme. Following her lead, I chose to use Heading styles 6, 7, and 8 and convert them to this use, using her plan to base 6 on "no style", 7 on style 6, and so on. But if that is the correct approach, what level do I select for #6 which is my top level for the numbering scheme, which I want to be "1", "a" and "i", or something similar, and will yield no indent for level 1, about .4" for level 2, with following lines after each not indented but brought out to the indent level of the altest number. In reading this over, I'm not making myself clear. I want to be able to apply a style to a paragraph of my choosing and have it be numbered "1" and then to be able to choose whether the next paragraph will be "a" or back to "normal". I can adjust the amount of indent etc. if I understand how best to create the styles, if her suggestion is the best to use in my case. Thanks! |
#2
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In this situation, unless you need numbering to restart after a specific (or
any) heading level, I think I would move away from heading styles entirely for the outline numbering and use the List Number styles instead. Note that in the Customize Outline Numbered List dialog, you can specify the exact number position, tab position, and indent for each level. It may take some trial and error to get this right, so be sure to pay strict attention to Shauna's injunction *always* to customize any style at any level by going in through the top-level style. Outline-numbered styles are obviously easiest to use if you are creating a document from scratch. You can set up lower numbering levels to be the "following" style for each level, or you can use Word's built-in shortcuts to promote and demote outline levels. I've found that creation goes very quickly. If, as in this case, you're applying styles to existing material, then your best bet is to keep the Styles and Formatting task pane open so that you can click on the required style to apply it to a given paragraph. This also can be pretty quick. If you've got so many styles that you can't conveniently display all of them in the task pane, you might want to create a custom toolbar that has the styles on it, or you can assign keyboard shortcuts to them. You can actually format a lot of paragraphs at once in one way. Apply the top-level numbered style to all of them. Then use Tab (as many times as needed) to demote each to the appropriate lower level. In order to use Tab and Shift+Tab to demote/promote numbering levels, you must check the box for "Set left- and first-indent with tabs and backspaces" on the AutoFormat As You Type tab of Tools | AutoCorrect Options. Alt+Shift+Left/Right Arrow work regardless of the AutoFormat setting. -- Suzanne S. Barnhill Microsoft MVP (Word) Words into Type Fairhope, Alabama USA Word MVP FAQ site: http://word.mvps.org Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so all may benefit. "Nelson Moffat" wrote in message ... W2k, Word 2003 I have read Shauna Kelly's wonderful attempt to straighten out the Word numbering morass, and am trying to adapt it to my needs. I am scanning, OCR'ing 50 year old docs and converting them to Word files. Most of these are minutes of meetings, with most paragraphs numbered and sub-paragraphs limited to (usually) 1. She suggests revising built-in heading styles to accomodate this. I don't really want to change the first few built-in heading styles because they are useful on different documents. I simply want to make "normal" paragraphs with normal fonts into paragraphs to which I can apply a numbering scheme. Following her lead, I chose to use Heading styles 6, 7, and 8 and convert them to this use, using her plan to base 6 on "no style", 7 on style 6, and so on. But if that is the correct approach, what level do I select for #6 which is my top level for the numbering scheme, which I want to be "1", "a" and "i", or something similar, and will yield no indent for level 1, about .4" for level 2, with following lines after each not indented but brought out to the indent level of the altest number. In reading this over, I'm not making myself clear. I want to be able to apply a style to a paragraph of my choosing and have it be numbered "1" and then to be able to choose whether the next paragraph will be "a" or back to "normal". I can adjust the amount of indent etc. if I understand how best to create the styles, if her suggestion is the best to use in my case. Thanks! |
#3
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Thanks for the help Suzann e--still a couple of things I don't
understand. What do you mean by *going in through the Top Level Style*? In the last paragraph of your reply, you say *apply the top level style to all paragraphs*. Won't that make Heading 1 formatting for all these paragraphs? Or is that taken care of when I demote them. I still don't understand how to use the styles (either the 1/a/i/ variety or any other , and not have it all of a sudden switch to a lower or higher paragraph number. It is very difficult to get it back on the track when that happens. Will I have the same problem with the List Number scheme? Thanks again On Mon, 29 Nov 2004 21:54:06 -0600, "Suzanne S. Barnhill" wrote: In this situation, unless you need numbering to restart after a specific (or any) heading level, I think I would move away from heading styles entirely for the outline numbering and use the List Number styles instead. Note that in the Customize Outline Numbered List dialog, you can specify the exact number position, tab position, and indent for each level. It may take some trial and error to get this right, so be sure to pay strict attention to Shauna's injunction *always* to customize any style at any level by going in through the top-level style. Outline-numbered styles are obviously easiest to use if you are creating a document from scratch. You can set up lower numbering levels to be the "following" style for each level, or you can use Word's built-in shortcuts to promote and demote outline levels. I've found that creation goes very quickly. If, as in this case, you're applying styles to existing material, then your best bet is to keep the Styles and Formatting task pane open so that you can click on the required style to apply it to a given paragraph. This also can be pretty quick. If you've got so many styles that you can't conveniently display all of them in the task pane, you might want to create a custom toolbar that has the styles on it, or you can assign keyboard shortcuts to them. You can actually format a lot of paragraphs at once in one way. Apply the top-level numbered style to all of them. Then use Tab (as many times as needed) to demote each to the appropriate lower level. In order to use Tab and Shift+Tab to demote/promote numbering levels, you must check the box for "Set left- and first-indent with tabs and backspaces" on the AutoFormat As You Type tab of Tools | AutoCorrect Options. Alt+Shift+Left/Right Arrow work regardless of the AutoFormat setting. |
#4
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I think Shauna's article makes this pretty clear: If you need to tweak the
numbering on, say, Heading 4, *do not* go to Format | Style | Modify | Numbering for Heading 4. Instead, select a Heading 1 paragraph, go to Format | Style | Modify | Numbering and select Level 4. This assures that all your styles remain linked to the same list template. Yes, you can apply Heading 1 to a bunch of paragraphs, and then, provided you have made Headings 1, 2, 3, 4, etc. (or whatever other numbered styles you're using) part of the same outline-numbered list template (as described in Shauna's article), then when you demote a Heading 1 it will become Heading 2, with the appropriate numbering. If you demote it again, it will become Heading 3, and so on. -- Suzanne S. Barnhill Microsoft MVP (Word) Words into Type Fairhope, Alabama USA Word MVP FAQ site: http://word.mvps.org Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so all may benefit. "Nelson Moffat" wrote in message ... Thanks for the help Suzann e--still a couple of things I don't understand. What do you mean by *going in through the Top Level Style*? In the last paragraph of your reply, you say *apply the top level style to all paragraphs*. Won't that make Heading 1 formatting for all these paragraphs? Or is that taken care of when I demote them. I still don't understand how to use the styles (either the 1/a/i/ variety or any other , and not have it all of a sudden switch to a lower or higher paragraph number. It is very difficult to get it back on the track when that happens. Will I have the same problem with the List Number scheme? Thanks again On Mon, 29 Nov 2004 21:54:06 -0600, "Suzanne S. Barnhill" wrote: In this situation, unless you need numbering to restart after a specific (or any) heading level, I think I would move away from heading styles entirely for the outline numbering and use the List Number styles instead. Note that in the Customize Outline Numbered List dialog, you can specify the exact number position, tab position, and indent for each level. It may take some trial and error to get this right, so be sure to pay strict attention to Shauna's injunction *always* to customize any style at any level by going in through the top-level style. Outline-numbered styles are obviously easiest to use if you are creating a document from scratch. You can set up lower numbering levels to be the "following" style for each level, or you can use Word's built-in shortcuts to promote and demote outline levels. I've found that creation goes very quickly. If, as in this case, you're applying styles to existing material, then your best bet is to keep the Styles and Formatting task pane open so that you can click on the required style to apply it to a given paragraph. This also can be pretty quick. If you've got so many styles that you can't conveniently display all of them in the task pane, you might want to create a custom toolbar that has the styles on it, or you can assign keyboard shortcuts to them. You can actually format a lot of paragraphs at once in one way. Apply the top-level numbered style to all of them. Then use Tab (as many times as needed) to demote each to the appropriate lower level. In order to use Tab and Shift+Tab to demote/promote numbering levels, you must check the box for "Set left- and first-indent with tabs and backspaces" on the AutoFormat As You Type tab of Tools | AutoCorrect Options. Alt+Shift+Left/Right Arrow work regardless of the AutoFormat setting. |