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Nelson Moffat
 
Posts: n/a
Default 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   Report Post  
Suzanne S. Barnhill
 
Posts: n/a
Default

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   Report Post  
Nelson Moffat
 
Posts: n/a
Default

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   Report Post  
Suzanne S. Barnhill
 
Posts: n/a
Default

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.



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