Esquire Innovations, Inc.
What Can Styles Do For You? (Three Part Series)
Part 3: Tips for Working with Word's Numbering and Creating a Trouble-free Table of Contents
By Randall Farrar
First Published in the Greater Los Angeles Association of Legal Administrators magazine “Leadership Exchange” September 2009
Numbering in Microsoft Word can be a problematic feature if some basic concepts are not understood. There are two ways to apply numbering in Word, Automatic Numbering and Numbering using Styles with built-in numbering (normally called Heading Styles).
AUTOMATIC NUMBERING
This method is the quickest way to apply numbering or bullets to paragraphs that will not be used as Headings or be included in a Table of Contents. The buttons found on the Paragraph group (Figure 1) of the Home ribbon, provide quick access to Bullets, single level Numbering and Multilevel Numbering. This is a feature also found in Outlook.
Figure 1 – Word 2007 Paragraph group showing Bullets, single level Numbering and Multilevel Numbering Buttons
APPLYING BULLETS AND SINGLE LEVEL NUMBERING IN EXISTING TEXT
1. Applying Bullets:
a. Select the paragraphs to apply bullets.
b. Click on the “Bullets” button on the Paragraph group (Figure 1). Bullets will be applied to the selected paragraphs
OR
If a different style of bullet is desired, click the down arrow on the “Bullet” button The Bullet Library dialog box appears (Figure 2).
Figure 2c. Select a bullet style or click on “Define New Bullet…” to create a custom bullet.
Tip: Once created, a custom bullet will show up as an option for future use under “Recently Used Bullets” and in the “Bullet Library”
1. Applying Single level Numbering:
a. Select the paragraphs to apply numbering.
b. Click on the “Numbering” button found on the Paragraph group (Figure Numbering will be applied to the selected paragraphs (Figure 3).
Figure 3: Example of Single Level NumberingOr
If a different format of numbering is desired, click on the down arrow on the “Numbering” button
c. The “Numbering Library” dialog box appears (Figure 4)
Figure 4Tip: once created a custom number format will show up as an option for future use in the “Recently Used Number Formats” List and the “Numbering Library”.
APPLYING MULTILEVEL NUMBERING
Legal documents often require multilevel numbering (Figure 5). Word 2007 has a “Multilevel Numbering” button on the Paragraph group of the Home ribbon.
Figure 5: An Example of multilevel numbering
a. Select the text to apply multilevel numbering.
b. Click on the “Multilevel List” button found on the Paragraph group (Figure 1) The “Multilevel List” dialog box will appear.
c. Select the desired format from the “List Library”. The first level is applied to the text. From this point all subsequent text will be assigned the first level.
To promote subsequent paragraphs to the next level use the “Increase Indent” button or to demote use the “Decrease Indent” button found on the Paragraph group (up to nine levels are available)
d. Click the “Increase Indent” or “Decrease Indent” button as many times as needed to get to the desired level:
Tip: Below are some handy keyboard shortcuts to promote and demote levels of Multilevel numbering:
[Alt Shift Left Arrow] - Demote an item
[Alt Shift Right Arrow] - Promote an item
OTHER TIPS
1. Restart numbering at any given point:
a. Right click the numbered line.
b. Select “Restart at 1” (Figure 6)
Figure 61. Add a line without Numbering:
a. Place insertion point at the end of the line before the desired non-numbered line.
b. Press [Shift Enter] for a soft return.
c. Type the text.
d. When finished press “Enter” and the next numbered line will appear.
2. Remove numbering from a paragraph:
a. Apply Normal style using the keyboard shortcut [Ctrl Shift N].
Tip: Never add manual numbering to an automatically numbered list in Word in an attempt to continue the numbering. This will often lead to document corruption and cause much frustration.
NUMBERING HEADINGS WITH STYLES
When numbered headings are desired in a document it is recommended to use “Heading Styles” that contain built in numbering. Using Heading Styles makes building a Table of Contents (TOC) much simpler, and makes format changes to the headings in a document a snap.
1. Applying Heading Styles:
Figure 7a. Place insertion point in the paragraph to apply the heading style.
b. Click on the “Heading 1” button found on the Styles group (Figure 7) or use keyboard shortcut [Ctrl Alt 1].
c. The first level number is applied to the paragraph.
d. To apply other levels select the appropriate Heading button or use [Ctrl Alt 1-3] for the first three headings.
Paragraphs following the numbered paragraph will be Normal Style (the numbering will not be continued).
MAKING CHANGES TO HEADINGS STYLES:
1. Word has predefined numbering lists to select from called “Style Galleries”.
a. To view all of the levels contained in the Style Gallery currently being used click on the “More” down arrow on the Styles group (Figure 8).
Figure 8b. To view other galleries available click on the “Change Styles” button (Figure 9).
Figure 9Tip: Ask your IT department if they already have predefined heading style galleries set up for users.
CREATING A TABLE OF CONTENTS FROM HEADING STYLES
A TOC can easily be created using Word's built-in Heading styles.
1. Quick Example of Creating a Table of Contents Using Heading Styles:
a. Apply Heading 1 style to three short paragraphs in a document.
b. Place the insertion point at the top of the document where the TOC should be placed.
c. On the References ribbon, “Table of Contents” group select the “Table of Contents” button. A menu with several preset TOC formats is displayed (Figure 10).
d. Click the desired TOC format.
e. The TOC appears in the document.
Figure 101. Customizing a TOC:
a. Click on the TOC button and this time select “Insert Table of Contents.”
The Table of Contents dialog box appears (Figure 11)
Figure 11This dialog box shows the following options:
Show Page Numbers Deselect to show the headings but not page numbers Right-Align Page Numbers Deselect for page numbers to be placed next to the text rather than the right margin Tab Leader Changes or removes the dotted line that connects each TOC entry to the page number Formats Change the TOC format to any predefined formats available Show Levels Adjust for the number of levels (Heading 1-9) to include in the TOC Tip: Changes made to an existing TOC will not appear until the TOC is updated.
UPDATING A TOC
1. Click the “Update Table” button (Figure 12) in the Table of Contents group of the References ribbon.
2. The “Update Table of Contents” dialog box appears (Figure 13).
Figure 12
Figure 13
Select “Update entire table” If changes have been made to any heading text Select “Update page numbers only” If changes have only been made to the main text of the document affecting page numbering Shortcut Key – When the insertion point is placed in the TOC update by pressing “F9” on your keyboard.
Tip: Remember to update the TOC before printing a document.
DELETING A TOC
1. Select the entire TOC and press delete.
Or
2. On the Table of Contents group on the References ribbon select the “Table of Contents” button then “Remove Table of Contents” on the menu (Figure 14).
Figure 14
MARKING TEXT FOR TOC
1. There may be occasions that text not formatted as a heading style needs to be included in a TOC. In this case, the text should be “Marked.”
a. Select the text to include in the TOC.
b. On the References ribbon, Table of Contents group select “Add Text” (Figure 12).
c. Select the level to label the selection.
d. Repeat the steps above until all sections of the text to be used in the TOC are marked.
e. Place the insertion point in document where the TOC should appear and follow the steps for creating a TOC above.
Read Part 1 of this series – Efficiently Working with Styles
Read Part 2: Tips for Working with Problem Documents
ABOUT iCREATE
iCreate encourages more efficient, standardized document production by providing ways to easily create automated templates for end users. iCreate also provides tools to quickly apply and make changes to styles, numbering and other MS Word formatting elements. Users have traditionally struggled with formatting MS Word documents, yet firms that implement iCreate find they can significantly reduce time spent drafting, formatting and re-purposing documents. iCreate leverages MS Word’s native architecture. The benefit of this is twofold. First, by retaining the look and feel of the native parent software dialog boxes, it promotes streamlined workflow, efficient usage and reduces end user training requirements. Second, by retaining Word’s native formatting, an electronic document can effectively be used for collaboration purposes, without concern that the formatting will be rendered completely useless. Traditionally in this scenario, added valuable time has been required to "fix" a document upon its return trip to the firm, thus negatively impacting overhead costs and efficiency.
