Cross-referencing full context with multiple levels on one line

Question

I am working on a document with many auto-numbered examples and cross-references. The format should be as below:

I am struggling to get this to work with examples that have multiple levels on one line. There are two issues:

1. I haven't found a great way to get multiple examples on one line within one format. Right now, the (4) is from the auto-numbering, and the alphabetical list is from a LISTNUM field. This (maybe hacky) system is fine, but if there's a better way, I would love to know! I tried to create a new List Style that would have multiple levels on one line, but then it doesn't continue numbering from previous examples that don't have multiple levels, which is a necessity.
2. Following from my solution for (1), when I insert a cross-reference with full context, it appears like this:

I don't know why it uses 1 instead of 4, and I don't know how to get it to format like (4b) instead of (4)b. 

I'm a newcomer to these more advanced functions of Word and have been struggling to find a solution by myself.

Answer 1

Here is a temporary link to a copy of the Question Styles document I mentioned in my last post complete with a cross-reference I inserted (highlighted at the top of the page).

https://www.dropbox.com/s/yjam3hn0f0v3g48/Quest...

If you use the method recommended by both Stefan and me with styles linked to numbering through the multi-level list definition dialog, the cross-referencing should work the way you want.

Answer 2

For the "full context" cross-reference to work properly, numbers (1), (2), (3),... and a, b, c,... must be part of one and the same multilevel list. Create such a list with the numbers as level 1 and the letter sequence as level 2. You can then apply list level 1 to the paragraph and create the "a" by inserting a LISTNUM field (the LISTNUM field will require the level argument, \L 2, to ensure that the numbering level is correct).

(1) First paragraph, level 1

(2) Second paragraph, level 1

(3) Third paragraph, level 1

(4) { LISTNUM \L 2 }            <== Fourth paragraph with a LISTNUM field inserted

I recommend that you set up numbering linked to styles. For instructions, see https://shaunakelly.com/word/numbering/numbering20072010.html, but note that you don't have to use the heading styles.

Answer 3

Sorry, Word doesn't let you decide where the separators should go. What you can do is add an extra space, if you find that doing so makes the reference easier to read, by adding a blank space in the "Separate numbers with" box in the Cross-reference dialog box.

Answer 4

Hi Netta,

Step by step instructions for setting up your numbering can be found here:

http://www.shaunakelly.com/word/numbering/numbe...

(Mac version:http://www.brandwares.com/bestpractices/2016/06...)

This method may seem a bit of work but not using it for important work is asking for trouble. Once you have it set, you can save a template with it and use that template for new documents where you need good numbering that can survive editing.

This forum is a user-to-user support forum. I am a fellow user.

An example of using style-based numbering for questions of this type can be found on my downloads page:

http://addbalance.com/word/download.htm#question

With the cross-referencing, it depends on how your numbering is set up. Using list numbering will not do it. Again, refer to Shauna's page.

If you want, save a sample document with the problem on OneDrive or Dropbox and paste a link here. Remove any confidential or sensitive information first. I or someone else can take a look at it.

For OneDrive: See https://support.office.com/article/share-onedri...

For DropBox: See https://help.dropbox.com/files-folders/share/vi...

I hope this information helps.

Please let me know if you have any more questions or require further help.

You can ask for more help by replying to this post (Reply button below).

Regards