How to set a paragraph for viewing it by the navigation pane feature

Question

Hi,

I'm using Microsoft Word for Microsoft 365.

I'm writing a document starting by a company template.

This template contains some enumerated paragraphs not visible inside the navigation pane.

I'd like to show these paragraphs inside the navigation pane with minimum change respect to the related style.

Any helps to me, please? Thanks

Answer 1

Hi @pmscorca,

To set a paragraph for viewing it by the navigation pane feature in Microsoft Word for Microsoft 365, you can use the following steps:

1. Select the paragraph you want to show in the navigation pane.
2. In the "Home" tab of the ribbon, go to the "Styles" section and click the "Normal" style button to apply the "Normal" style to the selected paragraph.
3. Click the "Numbering" button in the "Paragraph" section of the ribbon to start a numbered list that contains the selected paragraph.
4. Type a description for the paragraph in the first numbered step of the list.
5. Press Enter to add another numbered step and type a description for that step. Repeat this step for every paragraph you want to show in the navigation pane.
6. To end the list, click the "Numbering" button again.

The enumerated paragraphs will now be visible in the navigation pane.

Please note that applying the "Normal" style to the selected paragraph may affect its appearance if it previously had a different style. If you want to keep the original style of the paragraph, you can create a new style based on it and apply that style to the paragraph instead of the "Normal" style.

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Answer 2

To appear in the Navigation Pane, a paragraph must have an outline level associated with it. If your enumerated paragraphs are all in the same Word style and that style is not used for paragraphs you do not want in the Navigation Pane, modify the style so that it has an Outline level associated with it.

• The Importance of Styles in Word
• Headings that do not appear in the navigation pane

Your enumeration would be best done using automatic numbering applied to styles. That way, you are dealing with a different style for your numbered paragraphs. It all starts with the Define New List Style Dialog . You use that to create and name a list style, within that dialog, when you format numbering you go to the Define New MultiLevel List Dialog. The key is to assign a separate existing paragraph style to each level of numbering. The styles can be built-in styles- or custom styles.

 

If you use automatic paragraph numbering or bullets read Shauna Kelly's directions on numbering and bullets. Start with [How to create numbered headings or outline numbering] and her parallel page [How to control bullets]. For large documents you must follow these directions or you will lose your hair!
(Mac version: https://www.brandwares.com/bestpractices/2016/06/outline-numbering-in-word-for-os-x/). For styles attached this way, you also control the left indents through the Define New MultiLevel List dialog not the Ruler or the Modify Style dialog.

 

You first want the paragraph styles existing in your document. You can, if you want, modify their formatting later. Then you go to the Define New List Style (Not Define New MultiLevel List! You will get to that dialog in the process, though.)

 

This may seem a bit convoluted at first, but it really is not. Just follow the steps. Shauna Kelly's instructions use the built-in heading styles, but you can use any existing paragraph styles including your custom styles. There are, however advantages to using the built-in heading styles when you create a Table of Contents. Here are some more advantages: [Why Use Word's Built-In Heading Styles? by Shauna Kelly] Note, you can modify these built-in styles to look exactly the way you want.

 

You want to do this even if what you want is a single-level list if you want the most control over your list.

 

Video on this

 https://youtu.be/niD6VXPvAyU?t=487

 

The basic idea is that the numbering is set using the Define MultiLevel List dialog with each numbering level being attached to an existing paragraph style. Once you have this set up, you should not use the buttons for numbering in the Ribbon but rather apply the appropriate style for that level.

 

You can save a document with this as a template for future documents if you want so you will not need to do this every time.

 

Answer 3

A paragraph will only display in the Navigation pane if the paragraph has an "Outline level" which is different from "Body Text." You can set the "Outline level" through the Paragraph dialog box. It will be quicker to make use of the built-in heading styles, though. You can apply numbering to these styles; see https://www.brandwares.com/bestpractices/2016/06/outline-numbering-in-word-for-os-x/ (Word for Mac) or https://shaunakelly.com/word/numbering/numbering20072010.html (Word for Windows).