Forum Discussion
Numbering and bullets in Word docs keep disappearing
This is a known issue with Microsoft and in theory they have resolved the issue in the latest release of MS Word (if I remember correctly 2209). The important thing is everyone who is co-authoring needs to be on the latest version, they need to use the full Desktop version of MS Word and they need to have Auto Save on.
With this set up the problem has become less frequent but our clients are still getting issues with things changing in the document.
Having a template attached to the document with the correct styles so they can quickly reset the styles has really helped our client work around this problem.
nikkipike AndrewB_33334 nikkipike, thanks for the info. I looked at the release notes and Version 2208 September 13 says they've fixed an issue in Word where header styles were disappearing when co-authoring. I'm not sure this addresses the issue, since they only mention header styles. I've seen it occurring with other styles I've built in my template associated with a custom multilevel list.
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/officeupdates/current-channel
- Huh! Interesting that you have also seen this happen with built in list styles! That puts all my theories to bed. So the last thing I haven't asked... Anyone notice if it could be a Mac vs. PC thing?? I have noticed there are two people in my organization that I frequently associate with this problem... Anyone else seeing patterns with specific users? May go back to Nikki's post saying to be sure everyone is using the desktop version vs. online... Got me wondering if it could be a specific browser or device issue...?
cdarrow Same as you, only saw reference to "headers" which made me think it's to do with actual headers/header style rather than "Heading". And this happens to anything that is part of a list style anyway, not just headings. I use custom list styles, and have had it happen to both the built in (Heading 1 etc, and List Bullet etc) as well as custom styles. Doesn't seem to make any difference. I also tried using the built in lists rather than custom list styles and it eventually happens with those too.
- Yeah, I scrolled through those and didn't see anything obvious applying to numbered lists. If the release notes said "headings" instead of "headers" that would be more compelling.
Out of curiosity do all of you use custom list styles where each level is associated with a specific style? Is everyone using the default Heading 1, 2, etc.(modified or not)? Or has anyone seen this issue when associating custom heading styles with lists too (assuming that's even possible)? What about additional formatting on the list level numbering (e.g., bold, color, kerning, etc.)?
Just trying to brainstorm whether there could be some simpler issue at play.
I've also noticed this issue occurs sometimes when I have a heading within a building block content control - I may need to do some testing to verify the order, but I'm pretty sure when I select a building block that adds a heading, the number first shows up as a bullet, then when I exit the control, if I go and click another heading number it refreshes the one just added to the correct number/style... I'm grasping at straws here, but just trying to understand the order in which the document processes these things to see if we can figure out when this is happening. Not that I'm a programmer or anything... Haha
