Nancy requested help in overcoming her frustrations with Word's automatic numbering feature. It seems that the numbers in some of the lists would periodically reset themselves or show other strange behavior problems. The automatic numbering tool used in Word is one of the most poorly implemented and frustrating tools in the entire program. The problems are so bad that many people even advocate the complete abandonment of the feature, relying instead on manually numbering items in lists. (Believe it or not, that is exactly what is done when WordTips is first created—the numbered steps that are so often used are created manually rather than automatically.) This approach obviously involves quite a bit of additional typing and formatting. Rather than type in numbers manually, you can also use the SEQ field to number your lists.
Jan 21, 2008 - It can be frustrating the numbered list in your Word document keeps starting at the wrong number -- even if you select Restart Numbering from.
This takes just a bit of time to set up, but the result can be lists that are semi-dynamic. (Meaning that list elements renumber themselves if you have to reorganize a list.) For more information on the SEQ field, refer to past issues of WordTips.
If you want to try using Word's automatic numbering, then it is best to also use styles to define the appearance of the numbered items that appear in your document. You can create different styles for different types of lists, as well as different styles for the first items in lists and the rest of the items. Styles, of course, provide many other advantages that are beneficial when creating documents. If you share your documents with others, defined styles also help insure that your document will appear more true to your original intent when viewed on another machine. If you want to learn more about numbering and how to tame the wild beast, you should run (don't walk) to the and read through John McGhie's novella on the topic. Simply visit this page: If you take the time to really look at what John created at the site, you may question why I would send you to what is obviously an outdated document. (The treatise was written quite a while ago; it only covers up through Word 2002.) The reason is quite simple: The problems described still incredibly exist in Word today, and the general techniques described also still apply.
Read through what John has produced, absorb the techniques, and look for ways to apply them in your version of Word.
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Question How do you fix automatic heading numbering in a Word document? Answer Many formal or academic documents are set up with headings, sub-headings and minor headings using a system of numbers. Word can apply and maintain these heading numbers, provided some simple rules are followed. An Example A popular multi-level numbering scheme looks like this: 1. Introduction Text goes here 2.
![Word section numbering problem Word section numbering problem](/uploads/1/2/4/1/124138157/653396583.png)
Review of Work 2.1. Early Studies 2.2.
Recent Studies 3. Survey 3.1.1. People Groups 3.1.2. Geographical Groups 3.2.
Government Statistics 4. Results and so on Other numbering schemes are available, or you can create your own. What To Do (These instructions are written for Word 2007, but can be applied to other versions of Word.) 1. First delete any non-automatic numbering that has been typed into the headings – it will confuse you when the automatic numbers appear. Check that appropriate styles have been applied to each heading – heading1 for major titles, heading2 for sub-headings, heading3 for minor headings and so on to heading9 if needed. Plan carefully the numbering format you want for each level.
Click the arrow button beside the Multilevel list tool, on the Home tab. Look at the numbering schemes, or “lists”, offered. Beware that you must choose a scheme which shows heading1, heading2 etc in the preview.
Pick a scheme which is fairly close to what you want. Your styles heading1, heading2 etc are now re-defined to include automatic numbering – check through the document that they are well-behaved. The numbering scheme can be edited using the dialog – choose Define New Multilevel List in the Multilevel list tool. Use this dialog with caution.