[Renaldi]

Hi, I can't believe I have to resort to a forum to figure out how to do something so simple. Word has always been frustrating but the 2007 version has gone to another level of frustration. How does such a poor product become the standard? I simply want create an auto number system such as this:
1. Heading1 (linked to table of contents)
1.1 Heading2 (linked to table of contents)
2. Heading1 (linked to table of contents)
2.1 Heading2 (linked to table of contents)
2.1.1 Heading3 (linked to table of contents)
2.1.2 List3 (NOT linked to table of contents)

I was able to find a tutorial to explain how to set up the above as far as headings. But to do the same scheme for non-headings (meaning they could be paragraph levels or in any case they are not to be included in the table of contents) and have these non-heading lists linked to the heading lists, I have had no luck... the non-heading link starts with a new number or it's linked to some unknown list. I'm exhausted trying to search a solution... nearly everyone is confused by this Word mess and trying to find this particular solution is too difficult. Thank you.

[Venky62]

You could consider using a ListNum field for those paragraphs that shouldn't appear in TOC. The nonTOC paragraphs should be set to a style other than headings, eg body text. Then it won't show up in TOC.

ListNum field will pickup the numbering system just preceding it. Of course the number will be formatted as per the format of the para it is assigned to and may appear different from the numbers assigned to headings. However, you can manually alter the para settings of the nonTOC paragraph to match headings format while still keeping its style name as body text.

To insert ListNum field go to Insert, go to Quick Parts, go to Field, choose ListNum from Field name listbox and press OK.

Originally Posted by Renaldi

Hi, I can't believe I have to resort to a forum to figure out how to do something so simple. Word has always been frustrating but the 2007 version has gone to another level of frustration. How does such a poor product become the standard? I simply want create an auto number system such as this:
1. Heading1 (linked to table of contents)
1.1 Heading2 (linked to table of contents)
2. Heading1 (linked to table of contents)
2.1 Heading2 (linked to table of contents)
2.1.1 Heading3 (linked to table of contents)
2.1.2 List3 (NOT linked to table of contents)

I was able to find a tutorial to explain how to set up the above as far as headings. But to do the same scheme for non-headings (meaning they could be paragraph levels or in any case they are not to be included in the table of contents) and have these non-heading lists linked to the heading lists, I have had no luck... the non-heading link starts with a new number or it's linked to some unknown list. I'm exhausted trying to search a solution... nearly everyone is confused by this Word mess and trying to find this particular solution is too difficult. Thank you.

[Renaldi]

Thank you Venky. That does work. However it's clumsy to have to go through this odd procedure to get to LISTNUM for each line, maybe there is a way to make a shortcut key. And hopefully there is a way to format the tab settings for LISTNUM, will play around with this.

I still can't get beyond how difficult and cumbersome it is to do something so simple. I didn't have too much trouble doing this function in the older versions of Word or in WordPerfect. It seems Word would be best divided into 2 versions, one that is common sense based, simple, and intuitive, and another as it is now, for very complex docs and tech writers.

[Renaldi]

FYI, I figured out a solution... created a set of new headings intended for use when they are to be included in the table of contents and modified the table of contents to use only these new headings and not the standard headings. For headings or actually lists which are not to be in the table of contents I just use the standard heading styles.

[Venky62]

Great. Good for you. Yes, that is even better.

Originally Posted by Renaldi

FYI, I figured out a solution... created a set of new headings intended for use when they are to be included in the table of contents and modified the table of contents to use only these new headings and not the standard headings. For headings or actually lists which are not to be in the table of contents I just use the standard heading styles.