Multi-Level Lists

Question

Thanks in advance for your Input!

I'm working with:

• Office 2010 Windows 7 Enterprise with SP1 (work)
• Office 365 Prof on Mac OSX Sierra (Home/Personal)

I have been using the late Shayna Kelly’s “How to create numbered headings or outline numbering in Word 2007 and Word 2010” https://shaunakelly.com/word/numbering/numbering20072010.html for the last 5 years with pretty good success. I’ve been attempting to manage our company’s numbering formats (used by approx. 40 people) that I’ve been building into templates. Most are novice questions, but I've not seen them asked elsewhere and I have to clear them from my brain to ensure they aren't the culprits to funny activity we sometimes get in the templates :) 

1. Should I use the built in heading styles or create new styles? It appears to be an obvious choice to use the built in headings as I've been doing (see (1) infigure below), but here are a few things I’ve noticed:
   • Seems as though I have a bit more control over the outline level with styles that I build from scratch, versus using the built in heading styles.
   • Many people use the templates with numbering formats I create for the company. If headings in one document are inadvertently changed OR if there are ANY differences in the built in heading styles between documents, then when we paste from doc 1 to doc 2, the heading styles can become messed up / confused. I know there are options to use destination or source format, but I’m wondering if it would be safer to use custom styles vs built in to avoid complication…or would I create more complication doing that?
2. Use Non-Numbered headings in Multi-Level List? See (2) in figure below.  I modified built in heading 1 and 2 to create my chapter and section headings. When I create my multi-level list, should I include Ch and Sec in the hierarchy? In this multi-level list (MLL) I have heading style 3 linked to level 1, and thus did not link heading styles 1 or 2 into the MLL. I understand I could link heading 1 to level 1 and automate the "Chapter X" or "Section X" aspect, but I use those heading styles for other headings (other than chapter and sections in the doc. Maybe I should automate the chapters and sections for cross-reference purposes and simply create new styles for the other headings that use the same style format? I hope this questions makes sense :-/
3. Lastly, you'll see my outline levels as point (3) in the figure below. None of the levels are "headings", they are all simply a level indicator (1. a, (1), etc) with text following. However, ALL levels are linked to the built-in heading styles as shown in the figure. Is this okay?
4. Was this too many questions for one post? This is my first time posting. Thank you again!

Answer 1

1. Yes, use the heading styles just as you are doing.
2. I would include the chapter and section numbers in Headings 1 and 2. You can create additional styles with identical formatting (except for the numbering) for other purpose. For example, I always create a Front Matter Head for the Preface, Introduction, etc.
3. Although it's easier to create a multilevel list from just the built-in heading styles (since Word does it for you), there can be difficulties with having too many headings. For example, the "Style for following paragraph" will be Normal (though I always change this to Body Text), and the headings are all formatted as "Keep with next," which means that a large block of continuous headings will get stuck together. If you're using these lower-level styles to create an outline, and especially if you don't need them in a TOC, you could substitute some of the List Number series of styles. If you want them to appear in the Navigation pane, you can change the outline level of each style from Body Text to some higher level.
4. No, the questions are related, and in such cases it's better to keep them in a single post rather than ask them individually; when you do the latter, some respondents may see only some of the questions, may not realize they are related, and waste time answering more than you asked or something that misses the mark because relevant detail was omitted.

Answer 2

If you want the lower-level (Body Text) paragraphs to continue the numbering of the numbered headings, you do need to make them all part of the same multilevel list. You can start with one of the list templates that is linked to the headings, then change the linked style for the lower levels. But if you've already removed "Keep with next" from the lower-level headings and formatted them as body text, then there's no need to change now.

I use the Front Matter Head style only for unnumbered headings (which could also include back matter). For numbered chapter heads, I would use Heading 1, with "Chapter" as part of the numbering. Actually, I often use two separate styles, one for the number and one for the title, as described at http://wordfaqs.ssbarnhill.com/TOCTips.htm#UnnumberedHeadings

Answer 3

1. Yes, use the heading styles just as you are doing.
   • Okay, Great!
2. I would include the chapter and section numbers in Headings 1 and 2. You can create additional styles with identical formatting (except for the numbering) for other purpose. For example, I always create a Front Matter Head for the Preface, Introduction, etc.
   • I like this idea. Is "Front Matter" just your name for headings that appear upfront / or in the doc, that looks like the Ch and Sec (or other) headings but doesn't contain the numbering?
3. Although it's easier to create a multilevel list from just the built-in heading styles (since Word does it for you), there can be difficulties with having too many headings. For example, the "Style for following paragraph" will be Normal (though I always change this to Body Text), and the headings are all formatted as "Keep with next," which means that a large block of continuous headings will get stuck together. If you're using these lower-level styles to create an outline, and especially if you don't need them in a TOC, you could substitute some of the List Number series of styles. If you want them to appear in the Navigation pane, you can change the outline level of each style from Body Text to some higher level.
   • I've been changing "Style for following paragraph" as follows

   • 	Style	Style for following paragraph
     	Heading 1, Chapters	Heading 2, Sections
     	Heading 2, Sections	Heading 3, 1.,H3 (Task Title)
     	Heading 3, 1.,H3 (Task Title)	Heading 3, 1.,H3 (Task Title)
     	Heading 4, a	Heading 4, a… and all other headings are followed by themselves

   • I only have establish "Keep with next" on Heading Styles 1-3 (chapter, section and the first paragraph in the multi-level list.
   • So, my assumption is that if the list is established properly, it's okay to use the built-in heading styles and not have to worry about too many headings, correct?
   • You make a great point about not needing ALL the body text I've included in the lower level headings (namely heading styles 4-9 in this case). I DO like having the ability to cross reference these lower heading levels, but I could just referenced a "Numbered Item", right? Which leads to another question I think you addressed...to use the built in heading styles for the higher level (TOC type) outline, but then to modify one of the built in lists in the multi-level list library for the lower levels, right? But again, if we properly setup the built in heading styles in a custom multi-level list, we should have no problem either...right? Ha. Sorry for the analysis. Just trying to cover all bases :)
4. No, the questions are related, and in such cases it's better to keep them in a single post rather than ask them individually; when you do the latter, some respondents may see only some of the questions, may not realize they are related, and waste time answering more than you asked or something that misses the mark because relevant detail was omitted.
   • Thanks so much for all of your expert advice, Suzanne!

Answer 4

***"***If you want the lower-level (Body Text) paragraphs to continue the numbering of the numbered headings, you do need to make them all part of the same multilevel list."

This is very helpful advice!

I read your link about creating separate styles. Great info and very creative. Kind of made my head spin :) I may have to revisit that another day. 

So, if I now want to create a Numbered Appendix heading (with outline level of 1...it will look identical to the "Chapter" heading) and have the exact same numbering scheme follow it (as would follow the Chapter Heading). Then would I have to create an entirely new MLL with the same indents as my main body / "Chapters" MLL, AND with level 1 linked to "Head1-Appendix" Style (shown in figure below) and each following level linked to Heading 2, Heading 3, etc (the same headings I linked in the main body MLL). Hope I explained that clearly. I ask because I want to solve the issue below and make it simple for our team...In the figure below my numbered Appendix heading was followed by a "3" as it continued from the "Chapter 4" list (only because I didn't properly establish the new "Appendix" MLL and tried to continue numbering by applying the Heading 3 style from my "Chapters" MLL...right? :-l . In the case below, I believe I could just use the "Restart at 1" option, but I think that could get messy and it's probably better to have my numbering cascade off of the appendix heading rather than numbering in a previous chapter/section. Your thoughts?

Answer 5

Unless you've used all the levels of your original MLL, the usual suggestion is to use a lower level for the appendix numbering (see https://shaunakelly.com/word/numbering/numberingappendixes.html). Whatever method you use, you have to use one of the built-in heading styles for the appendix numbers if you want to be able to include the appendix number in the page number; if that's not an issue, then you can use any numbered style. You can format it to identical to Heading 1. If you're using one of the lower levels of the original MLL, but linked to a non-heading style (that is, a custom style), you can also change the outline level of the style (in the Paragraph dialog). The outline level is independent of the MLL level and determines how it appears in the Navigation pane and TOC. If you don't care about the Navigation pane, you can leave it alone and just map the style to TOC 1 when you create the TOC.