Numbered list within a table cross-reference

Question

Hi,

I am currently experiencing an issue cross-referencing a numbered list within the second column of a table (Word 2013).

I have entered the numbered list in the second column as per the first table below. When I insert the cross-reference in the third column, the cross-reference is returning 0.

I am inserting the cross-reference by: Insert -> Cross-reference -> Numbered item -> Paragraph number (no context)

	1	0
	2	0

The same problem does not arise if the numbered list is in the first column, refer below for an example, however placing the numbered list in the first column is not an option.

3	3
4	4

I would also prefer not to have to bookmark every cross-reference as some of the cross-references are referring to the same step and it would be slightly tedious and harder to manage.

Is there a simple solution to instruct the cross-reference to look in the second column as opposed to the first cell in the row?

Thanks

Answer 1

I have been investigating the problem you have experienced. I have now described and illustrated the problem, incl. information about how to prevent/solve the problem. You will find the information below the heading “Problem 4 – cross-reference to a numbered paragraph in a table refers to number 0 or a wrong number” in the article “Cross-references – Troubleshooting”, http://www.thedoctools.com/index.php?show=wt_cross-reference_trouble .  

The problem is caused by a bug in Word. It will occur if the numbered paragraph you select as the cross-reference target is not the first paragraph in the first cell in a row. The problem only occurs if the numbered paragraph contains no text. As you have experienced, you can prevent the problem by adding a character to the numbered paragraph. Instead of adding ‘ you can add a space (will not be visible). For a detailed description of the problem, see the article linked above.

Answer 2

Hi Stefan,

Thanks, I am trying to avoid bookmarking, primarily because of the document I am creating.

It is a procedure whereby through the revision process, I may enter a step in between two existing steps resulting in the numbered list updating. If I label the bookmark for example 'step2' and then insert a new row between 1 and 2, step 2 will update to step 3 however the bookmark will still be called 'step 2' and that is also quite difficult to manage.

The alternative is not to label the bookmarks and leave _Refxxx... as the bookmark name, however, after a number of bookmarks have been created its not simple to know which numbered item each bookmark will reference because the go to bookmark is not available once you have clicked on insert -> cross-reference -> bookmark to check?

Thanks,

Izac

Answer 3

Adding a detail: The problem occurs only when the cell is empty except for the paragraph numbering. If I add numbering to a cell and also add some text, then the cross-reference works properly.

Answer 4

What you describe seems like a bug to me, and I can reproduce it in Word 2013. The problem appears to be with the hidden bookmark that Word inserts. It simply references the whole row as opposed to the text paragraph where the number resides.

What you can do is manually add a bookmark in the paragraph that you want to cross-reference, and then insert a cross-reference to the bookmark. Choose "Paragraph number (no context)" for the type of cross-reference.

Answer 5

Hi,

We understand how you feel about the situation. Let me guide you to resolve the issue.

Refer the suggestions provided by Suzanne on July 24 in the link below which discusses the similar issue and check if it helps.

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/office/forum/officeversion\_other-word/formatting-of-cross-reference-hyperlink-different/87ecab21-b0bc-41dc-a506-5956d0c70fb5

If you have further questions related to this, feel free to ask.

Thank you.