My WORD file gets corrupted when I try to RESTART NUMBERING
JB
FORMAT==>NUMBERING==>RESTART NUMBERING. I reinstalled my
WORD 2000 but corruption still occurs. I'm using WINDOWS
98.
Using Format Brush avoids some things:
WHAT WORKS WITHOUT CORRUPTING FILE:
The Format Brush will change a non-numbered paragraph to a
numbered paragraph.
The Format Brush will change a non-bulleted paragraph to a
bulleted paragraph.
Using FORMAT to NUMBER to HIGHLIGHTED NUMBER works.
WHAT CORRUPTS A FILE:
Using FORMAT to NUMBER to NONHIGHLIGHTED NUMBER.
Using FORMAT to BULLET a non-bulleted paragraph corrupts a
file.
Changing from a bulleted paragraph to a numbered paragraph
using FORMAT to NUMBERS with highlighted box and RESTART
NUMBERING automatically buttoned.
Alan
Word numbering is like approaching a forest with 6 paths
into the woods. If you take any of five of them, you're
likely to end up with unsatisfactory results.
Only the sixth path will lead you to the promised land.
They don't tell you this at first; and in fact, Word's
Help tends to suggest you can use the toolbar buttons or
Format / Bullets and Numbering to change a bulleted list
into a numbered list, etc.
Take it from the experience of many people: those toolbar
buttons are best reserved for short, quick documents you
put together then ship out the door; they're not reliable
for complex maneuvers.
The way to control Word's bullets and numbering is either
to do it manually, and just style the paragraph shape, OR
to use the "fancy" styles which have bullets or numbers
wrapped into the style definition. You should work in
Normal view, then go Tools / Options / View and make sure
you have a "Style area width" of something in the
neighborhood of an inch.
Then your document will have a list of styles down the
left margin -- sort of a road map.
Now, let's say you have a list of items, all styled
Normal. To number them:
Select all those paragraphs, then go Format / Style / List
Number Apply.
Boom. Done.
Let's say you want to change the last 4 of those to
bullets. Select the paragraphs, go Format / Style / List
Bullet Apply.
Presto.
A few things to look at:
If you want to modify the indent on these type of styles,
you go Format / Style / Modify
Format / Numbering / Customize
then set the indents on the screen which pops up. These
are two measurements from the margin. So, approximating
as best I can, this format
1. sdklfjflfjlfjlkfjlkfj
sjdfsdjfklsjdklfsjklfsjkls
would be a Number position of .25" and a Text position .5"
(that .5" is where the second line starts)
Then you go OK OK Close
This is the only acceptable way to modify the indent.
Don't use Format / Paragraph or the thingys on the ruler
bar to nudge them around; this rule applies to all
these "fancy" styles.
A style modification holds just for that document. If you
want to paste paragraphs with fancy styles from document
to document, the best procedure is to use Edit / Paste
Special / Unformatted Text and then re-format those
paragraphs.
You also should check once in a while that you have
Tools / Templates and Add-ins set with a blank check box
by "Automatically update document styles." That's a
somewhat dangerous box that should be left blank.
Say you want to move the whole list over to the right.
Perhaps List Number 3 is a better choice:
Select the items. Format / Style / List Number 3 Apply
If you want space after these paragraphs,
Format / Style / Modify
Format / Paragraph set, say 12 points after
OK OK Close
Now, as for Restarts, there's a whole history of this
procedure misbehaving. In theory, you can set up the
paragraph that's to become the new "1", that is, you've
styled it.
Then go Format / Bullets and Numbering Restart
numbering OK
Then it's best that you think of them as separate lists:
thus, if you want to move the third paragraph which is
after the restart, into the first list,
do so by creating the numbering within the first list, as
just a "shell" paragraph, then move just the text of the
other paragraph, not including the paragraph mark.
A few other things for future exploration: if you find
yourself using List Number and List Bullet a lot, and want
to make them as EASY as the toolbar bullets, look into
Toolbar Customization: you can put buttons up there for
those styles.
And: although the explicit restart procedure above *can*
work at least somewhat, if you have MANY restarting lists
then you want to look into attaching an Outline Numbered
scheme to Heading styles. Then you can let Word's built-
in restart mechanism do the work for you.
Sorry if this seems like a lot of stuff; it's just a big
topic.
One more thing: sometimes either the modification of a
style or the restart procedure puts in the "Jason tab"
such as:
1. kldjfsdjfkljfljflsjflsdjflsdjfsldjfjf
kldjfsdjffljfkljfkljfljfskldjkldfd
jfjfsljfkljdjkldjkldjlkjfljfkljdfdj
This is not cause for alarm, although it generally does
have that effect.
Go Format / Style / Modify
Format / Tabs / Clear All
OK OK Close
and sometimes it affects an individual paragraph too, as
direct formatting; you'll recognize this if you modify the
tab out of the style and that one para is still messed up.
With cursor in that para, go: Format / Tabs Clear All
OK
>.
>
Steve Hudson
its own unique B&N entry.
On Tue, 15 Jan 2002 06:15:58 -0800, "JB" <JRBra...@cltco.com>
wrote:
Steve Hudson, Word Heretic
HDK List MVP
Word help and tools: her...@tdfa.com
Dave Rado
The B&N entries play musical chairs with each other, and are in any case are
no more than a window into a random subset of the List Templates collection.
See my other post, and:
http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/Numbering/WordsNumberingExplained.htm
Regards
Dave
"Steve Hudson" <cru...@optushome.com.au> wrote in message
news:s0gh4us32vvtl9o8r...@4ax.com...
Dave Rado
As Alan says, apply styles, don't use the FB&N dialog or the toolbar
buttons, to apply bullets and numbring.
Although you can restart numbering using the Restart button on the FB&N
dialog, that is seriously buggy feature and I would strongly recommend
avoiding it entirely. The way I restart numbering (*not* my idea, BTW, I got
it from Margaret Aldis in this newsgroup), is to define my list templates as
follows:-
List level 1 - uses a dummy style which I call "List Number 0", defined with
no numbering, 1 point, Keep with Next, white font, single line spacing, no
space before or after.
My "List Number" style is at List Level 2 instead of List Level 1, so the
numbering automatically restarts if a List Number para is preceded by a List
Number 0 paragraph.
Another major benefit of this strategy is that if you drag a para from one
list (meaning "list" in human terms rather than Word's) to another, you
won't get "spaghetti numbering.
It helps to create a macro assigned to a button to add/remove the "List
Number 0" paras as required.
It also helps to remove "Format+ Bullets and Numbering" and the Numbering
Button from the menus/toolbars, as both will screw up your lists sooner or
later if used - apply styles instead, which is again simpler if you assign
them to your own buttons.
Here's how to define the styles:
1) Define all aspects of the styles you want to use other than the
numbering - i.e. the Paragraph properties (but not including the hanging
indent, which is a Numbering property) and the Font properties.
2) Select Format + Style, select the top level style in the outline (in this
example, "List Number 0"), and click Modify + Format + Numbering. Click on
the Outline tab, select one of the options in the top half of the dialog,
then click Customise + More.
3) At the top left make sure the Level is set to 1, and delete what's in the
Number Format box, which has the effect of setting the number style to None;
and where it says "link level to style", select the appropriate style (e,g.
"List Number 0").
4) Now WITHOUT CLOSING THE DIALOG, select "level 2" at the top left of the
dialog, set all the other properties for your level 2 style, as appropriate
(number style, set the indent and text position as you want them,
*make sure* "Restart numbering after previous level" is switched on, etc),
and link it to the next style you've chosen for your outline (e.g. "List
Number").
5) Now WITHOUT CLOSING THE DIALOG, select "level 3" and define that as you
want it, (that is, assuming you want a level 3), linking it to the
appropriate style, and making sure "Restart numbering after previous level"
is switched on. Repeat for all levels you want to define.
Now and only now, close the dialog.
If you subsequently want to fine-tune your definitions, ALWAYS click on a
list level 1 (in this example "List Number 0") paragraph, even if you want
to fine tune a lower level only. And always redefine the STYLE. NEVER use
the Format + Bullets and Numbering menu. Then in the Customise dialog, you
can click on whatever level(s) you want to customise.
Regards
Dave
"JB" <JRBra...@cltco.com> wrote in message
news:9aa401c19dcf$271986e0$19ef2ecf@tkmsftngxa01...
Steve Hudson
However, this requires VBA, whereas the other method is relatively
stable for the non-VBA inclined.
Mebbe I just was lucky all those years :-) Mind, using the built-in
styles aids the cause somewhat here, as each built-in style has a
built-in list template with a 'name' it can reasonably be expected to
relink to correctly.
Because of that 'gotchya' I tend to prefix my List Template names to
avoid the hit with the manual lists :-(
PS: Great 2 c u r updating the Lists article. I have a few quibbles
with some of the wording, but its only draft :-)
On Sat, 19 Jan 2002 09:08:08 -0000, "Dave Rado" <dr...@onetel.net.uk>
wrote:
>Hi Steve
>
>The B&N entries play musical chairs with each other, and are in any case are
>no more than a window into a random subset of the List Templates collection.
>See my other post, and:
>http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/Numbering/WordsNumberingExplained.htm
Steve Hudson, Word Heretic
Dave Rado
~~~~
True - and you mean the activedocument's list template collection.
However, this requires VBA, whereas the other method is relatively
stable for the non-VBA inclined.
~~~~
You use the List Templates collection (whether aware of it or not) whenever
you go to the FB&N dialog or Format + Style + Modify + Format + Numbering
dialog. But the dialogs only give you a window that lets you see a random
selection of the List Templates that are actually present. So IMHO, it's
best to:
a) Define your styles in your templates rathr than your documents. (But do
dry runs in a document frst, until you're sure you've got it right)
b) Reset all the items in the dialog before you start
c) Make sure that if creating styles for an outline list, you define evrey
list level that you might want to use *in one go*; that is, define all
aspects of the styles other than the numbering first; and then go to Format
+ Style + Modify + Format + Numbering + Outline numbering tab + Customize +
More, and don't quit that dialog on pain of death until you have defined
every list level in the outline, and attached each list level to the right
style from within the dialog.
d) If you don't want to use VBA, it helps to at least name the List Template
by typing a name where it says "ListNum Field List Name"
And in order to achieve bug-free Restarts, I personally would recommend the
workaround I posted in reply to JB, which means that all numbering lists
will be need to outline lists.
~~~~~~
Mebbe I just was lucky all those years :-) Mind, using the built-in
styles aids the cause somewhat here, as each built-in style has a
built-in list template with a 'name' it can reasonably be expected to
relink to correctly.
~~~~~~
It doesn't actiually - try clicking in an "out of the box" List Number
styled paragraph and run the following code:
MsgBox Selection.Paragraphs(1).Range. _
ListFormat.ListTemplate.Name
Using the built-in styles doesn't guarantee you'll never get List Gallery
musical chairs (yes, you've been lucky! <g>) - but defining and using
numbering styles properly certainly does help a lot. :-)
Regards
Dave
Steve Hudson
> >And in order to achieve bug-free Restarts, I personally would recommend the
>workaround I posted in reply to JB, which means that all numbering lists
>will be need to outline lists.
I believe this solution is easier for the users, but makes life harder
for the editor / tech-pubs dept. I have experimented with this years
ago, just I don't like it :-)
Mind - I still use outline lists for everything, including body text,
just for the auto indent changes via Tab and Shift-Tab.
Now, here's the MEATY bit:
Steve> , as each built-in style has a
>built-in list template with a 'name' it can reasonably be expected to
>relink to correctly.
>~~~~~~
Dave >It doesn't actiually - try clicking in an "out of the box" List
Number
>styled paragraph and run the following code:
>
>MsgBox Selection.Paragraphs(1).Range. _
> ListFormat.ListTemplate.Name
OK - fair enough - but I am going off the failure of this line in a
new template based on a brand-spanking new normal.dot.
Activedocument.ListTemplates.Add True,"List Bullet"
However, I just retested this and it worked this time. Yargle - oh for
reproducable results.
>
>Using the built-in styles doesn't guarantee you'll never get List Gallery
>musical chairs (yes, you've been lucky! <g>) - but defining and using
>numbering styles properly certainly does help a lot. :-)
Umm, I did 'manually' define the built-in styles to their unique
gallery entries, which was the basis of my comment. I used the
built-in name - but not the built-in settings for it.
Where I am confused here is I thought you were saying that if you set
your styles to the ListGalleries.ListTemplates directly, even if you
reset all galleries blah blah, it would still be broken - and the only
way to get around this is to attach them to the document.listtemplates
via the creating template.
Are you saying this? Admittedly my current solution is to indeed
customise the document LT's, however I didn't have that many problems
doing it via the B&N gallery and the facade (interface) AFTER I
started using a 1:1 relationship between the gallery entries and the
list styles.
To aid in the portability, I instructed the users to run Set Styles
(custom macro) upon receiving the template for the first time to set
the local B&N galleries to their 'compliant' settings. This step
appears to be unnecessary when using the document.listtemplates.
Now, as regards my 'fix' I sent, it directly addresses the problem
that list restarts are manual formatting. Can you think of any
circumstances where it wouldn't work?
Waiting with much interest,