Forum Discussion
Multiple multilevel lists with multiple problems!
I've been struggling with multilevel lists despite having consulted all of the great info on these forums, and refering multiple times to this oft quoted piece (which is great but hasnt' solved my problems).
https://shaunakelly.com/word/numbering/numbering20072010.html?p=1768
I have a very long report with multiple separate chapters (all with multiple tables and figures captioned with the chapter #=heading 1). I have 4 levels of headings defined in a multilevel list per Shauna Kelly for the individual templates.
When I combined the separate chapters - the multilevel list mumbering goes haywire in non-predicatable ways. Some chapters are OK, some are numbered wrong, and some that were OK start to renumber! I have had to go in and redifine my multilevel lists so many times - very odd that the previous settings don't seem to "stick." (i.e. "link level to style" is sometimes blank, even though I have linked it to a heading - this command doesn't seem to stick). I have defined one multilevel list style per Shauna Kelly but have a feeling I have many lists in this document instead of one Master list.
Also - I am often forced to correct a numbering scheme that is not restarting at 1st digit/number, or following the correct sequence. I have set up multilevel lists to "restart after level X" but this does not seem to be working.
I am working with Microsoft Word 365; I have put section breaks between the chapters (is this one of the issues? - pretty sure I need to keep those since I have different headings per chapter). Separate authors have worked on individual chapters on onedrive/online - but I am working on all current files on my hardrive. Also - my many figures and tables are for the most part keeping their caption (which includes the Chapter number/Heading 1; even when the multilevel list gets this wrong (i.e. Figure 1-1 is OK, even when the Chapter spontaneously renumbers to Chapter 2 when it's supposed to be Chapter 1.
7 Replies
In what way are you combining the separate documents into a single document? Copying and pasting would use the style definitions and numbering formats of the target document. You should be able to click inside an incorrectly numbered heading and press Ctrl+Q to revert to the correct formatting.
On the other hand, if you are attempting to use Word's master document feature, note that it isn't reliable and should be avoided.
Stefan_Blom thank you!
I have been using Insert/Object/Text from file to combine my documents.
The Ctrl+Q to revert to the correct formatting is working well. In trying to correct the multilevel lists I had been inadvertently creating new ones without realizing it, and sometimes forcing the numbers to start where I wanted (which in the end messed things up incredibly). I will blame Word's "Define new Multilevel List. . . " and general difficulty in finding my original list for that!
Thanks for the follow-up.
To edit the outline numbering and at the same time prevent it from breaking, you have to ensure that you click in the very first Heading 1 paragraph of your document and then access the Multilevel List dialog box via Home tab > Paragraph group > Multilevel List > Define New Multilevel List.
If you set up your numbering using a list style, edit the list style by right-clicking it in the "List Styles" category at Home tab > Paragraph group > Multilevel List and choosing the Modify option. To access all options for lists, click Format > Numbering.
