Multilevel lists not numbering correctly

Question

Back again, I was getting close to saying done on my suite of 22 templates. They have been through a UAT. Many issues were fixed and enhancements added. 

I have a multilevel list for my headings and figures, boxes and tables. It uses a mix of built in styles Heading 1-3 and Custom styles

I was testing the Figure, Box and Table title style and I spotted an error. All these styles number are setup to restart after Heading 1 style. Which they are doing. But the count is based on the number of paragraphs with any of those styles applied. So that the first instance of a Figure appearing after the first instance of a Box will be Figure 1.2 not 1.1. (Just checked my formatted example document and this is also happening for Heading 2). 

I can see that Word is wanting there to be a logical order of each level only appears after an instance of the previous level but that is not how my list is working. And is not realistic for the types of documents we create.

The behaviour suggests they are linked. However they are not meant to be. 

What I have already done:

Confirmed that the styles are not based on each other

Confirmed that the restart at 1 is set for each level

re-read Shauna Kelly's article on setting up multilevel lists again to ensure I haven't missed anything.

here is a link to my example file

Is there a way to work around this problem? Other than getting the user to use restart at 1. It concerns me that could lead to problems in our documents that are large 200+ pages with multiple authors and content being moved around.

It was previously suggested using Captions but my concern is my user group have a mxi of basic to intermediate level knowledge of word and that they won't update numbering (this happens in the current templates, they often don't update or they get frustrated and think that manually numbering tables, figures and boxes is easier). My goal was to automate numbering. 

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Answer 1

Thank you Stefan for explaining it. No explanation equals no understanding or learning.

I suppose now I need to understand how best to use Captioning in complex documents. I see Captioning as a "as you work" solution not a template solution. I have been Googling but if there were any articles that help explain how to implement captioning in complex templates that would be great. My main concern with captioning is that as I understand it, it is not automatic. The room for user error is too big. 

I do not know that this is what you have in mind: 

• Insert a Caption
• Insert a Table of Figures

(both links are to different places in my page on complex documents)

I am unsure what you mean by a "template solution." You would want to know that your users know how to insert a caption from the References tab. To me, that is far easier than teaching them to use a certain style tied to a multilevel list. I suspect you can set the options that Doug and Stefan mention in your template by inserting a caption, with those, in the template (and then deleting if you want).

It is also possible to store a preferred caption setup as an AutoText or other Building Blocks entry in your template. You can assign keyboard shortcuts to these and store those shortcuts in the template. Again, it is a matter of training.

See also: How to number headings and figures in Appendixes in Microsoft Word by Shauna Kelly

Answer 2

Thank you Stefan for explaining it. No explanation equals no understanding or learning.

I suppose now I need to understand how best to use Captioning in complex documents. I see Captioning as a "as you work" solution not a template solution. I have been Googling but if there were any articles that help explain how to implement captioning in complex templates that would be great. My main concern with captioning is that as I understand it, it is not automatic. The room for user error is too big. 

I do not know that this is what you have in mind: 

• Insert a Caption
• Insert a Table of Figures

I am unsure what you mean by a "template solution." You would want to know that your users know how to insert a caption from the References tab. To me, that is far easier than teaching them to use a certain style tied to a multilevel list. You can certainly set the options that Doug and Stefan mention in your template by inserting a caption, with those, in the template (and then deleting if you want).

See also: How to number headings and figures in Appendixes in Microsoft Word by Shauna Kelly

Charles, I am currently updating our template suite. We are a government department that produces 100s of reports a year. Our documents need to adhere to a corporate brand. They also need accurate numbering across headings, figures, boxes, notes.  Our old templates created figures, boxes and tables using field codes and macros. Even our headings had a complex if statement field code. These templates were developed in the early 2000s. Although I don't understand why this method was adopted. 

So when I say template solution I need to be able to have all the required functionality to produce our reports contained in a template that will be used by 130 people.  

Teaching them to use a style is nothing - they already use styles. Using captions and getting them to understand the need to constantly update the file via F9 is problematic based on experience. They are analysts who are focused on their research and not highly skilled in Word. They constantly come to me with 'broken files' which require the simplest of fixes. 

I have users that would rather spend hours manually numbering and cross-referencing 200+ page documents than use the macros we currently have. I am trying to create templates that they will have more faith to rely on and be able to use the built in tools of Microsoft Word.    

I had hoped to have templates that were more automated than the captioning function offers. Shauna's article is useful in terms of how to create the caption but again how do I make that easy for all my users?

Answer 3

and another aspect I forgot to mention. I need to be able to have Numbered notes under a table, figure or box. I wanted to link the Figure title to Figure Note Numbers to ensure they always start at '1'. current template there is a lot of problems with the numbers continuing from previous as it is handled via a macro and the users don't always run the macro.

Answer 4

***

Charles, I am currently updating our template suite. We are a government department that produces 100s of reports a year. Our documents need to adhere to a corporate brand. They also need accurate numbering across headings, figures, boxes, notes.  Our old templates created figures, boxes and tables using field codes and macros. Even our headings had a complex if statement field code. These templates were developed in the early 2000s. Although I don't understand why this method was adopted. 

So when I say template solution I need to be able to have all the required functionality to produce our reports contained in a template that will be used by 130 people.  

Teaching them to use a style is nothing - they already use styles. Using captions and getting them to understand the need to constantly update the file via F9 is problematic based on experience. They are analysts who are focused on their research and not highly skilled in Word. They constantly come to me with 'broken files' which require the simplest of fixes. 

I have users that would rather spend hours manually numbering and cross-referencing 200+ page documents than use the macros we currently have. I am trying to create templates that they will have more faith to rely on and be able to use the built in tools of Microsoft Word.    

I had hoped to have templates that were more automated than the captioning function offers. Shauna's article is useful in terms of how to create the caption but again how do I make that easy for all my users?               

To a large extent, this is a matter of training. "You can lead a horse to water, but..."

It is relatively easy to add a macro to templates that updates fields upon certain events.

It is even easier if you have your changing information in Content Controls.

If you ask, I or someone else here can give you samples.

You can also add functions to your template's QAT.

Modifying the Quick Access Toolbar (QAT) in Microsoft Word

You can store complex field codes as named AutoText or Building Block entries. These can be attached to keyboard shortcuts. They can be placed in Custom Galleries and summoned from Building Blocks Gallery Content Controls or Galleries placed in the QAT.

Assigning Keyboard Shortcuts in Microsoft Word 2007-2019 (365)

Build & Deploy Custom Building Block Galleries by Greg Maxey

If you really want a big project, you could develop custom ribbon tabs for your templates.

Customize the Ribbon (It doesn't take rocket science) by Greg Maxey

You have a monumental task and I do not envy you.

Answer 5

I guess I would start with some training templates to help people use the functions that exist in Word and that you are building into your templates.

Put them in a subdirectory of your Workgroup Templates and put macros in your working templates that create new documents based on the help templates in response to a help button on the QAT in your templates.

Make sure that people are creating documents from templates, not from other existing documents. 

You have already been attaching your numbering to styles, so you are very far ahead of most user or managers. Stefan and Doug have pointed out the problems with what you have been doing.

A couple more of Shauna's pieces:

• How to create numbered headings or outline numbering in Ribbon Versions of Word by Shauna Kelly Make sure people use styles to assign numbering, not the buttons on the ribbon.
• Why use Microsoft Word’s built-in heading styles? by Shauna Kelly If you can use these styles, they make everything else in Word really work more smoothly.

Warn your people against using Google Docs or OfficeLibre to work on your documents. OfficeLibre is a good product but does not exactly produce Word documents. Google Docs does not exactly produce Word documents. Converted documents may look the same, but structurally they can be very different and those differences can cause problems.