how to get heading numbers in Word to appear when formatting is hidden - they are there when formatting is shown

Question

how to get heading numbers in Word to appear when formatting is hidden - they are there when formatting is shown

AVISAAH 20

All our legal Word document templates are set up using heading styles for sections and subsections. We discovered that the header numbers appear when Show Formatting (the paragraph symbol) is turned on, but they disappear when Show Formatting is turned off, and they don't print out, either. This is a very new development and is affecting all of our legal document forms and templates. I can't figure out to how to fix it - it's obviously a software issue, since it's affecting all our documents.

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Answer accepted by question author

Stefan Blom 348K MVP Volunteer Moderator

If heading numbers display when you display nonprinting marks, check if one or more heading numbers have been formatted as hidden text.

Note that with nonprinting marks displayed, you will see a dotted underline beneath text which is formatted as hidden.

Click a heading number to select it. Pressing Ctrl+Shift+H should remove the hidden format. The command is a toggle. See the screen shot below.

If this works, repeat for the other numbering levels / heading levels.

User's image

AVISAAH 20 Reputation points

2026-01-28T21:25:56.7166667+00:00

Since I don't see my responses to the submitted answers displayed under them, I'm adding my own answer. We don't use Style Separators, so that answer was not relevant to us. The numbers are not formatted as hidden text - I checked by selecting the heading number as described by Stefan Blom and giving it the CTRL+SHFT+H command. That added the "hidden text" formatting to the number, so I undid the command again.

I then went into File>Options>Display and checked the "Hidden text" box under the "Always show these formatting marks on the screen" heading. That resulted in the numbers appearing in the Print Layout view but not printing. Then I checked the "Print hidden text" option under the "Printing Options" heading, and that allowed me to both print as well as save as a pdf with the numbers. showing.

These options are unchecked and therefore must be checked on every staff person's computer. I don't understand why this works even though the heading numbers are not formatted as "hidden," so any additional information or suggestions would be appreciated.
Stefan Blom 348K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator

2026-01-29T00:25:58.7033333+00:00

Since printing hidden text does print the numbering, there must be hidden formatting being added somehow to the document.

Would you mind sharing a representative sample document, with no sensitive content, so that we can have a closer look? Upload the sample doc to OneDrive or Dropbox and post a download link in this thread.
AVISAAH 20 Reputation points

2026-01-29T14:20:21.8933333+00:00

I am not allowed to provide a download link to our agency's OneDrive, but I'd be happy to upload a sample document through a link you provide.
Charles Kenyon 169.6K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator

2026-01-29T18:58:00.5733333+00:00

You should not need to print hidden text for this to happen.

The simplest way to resolve this is with a sample document demonstrating the problem. That document need have no substantive or meaningful text and should not have any confidential or proprietary information.

This involves changing the font setting for the level in the multilevel list. This is not done at the text level by selecting text; it is done by modifying the list.
AVISAAH 20 Reputation points

2026-01-29T21:01:51.5733333+00:00

I appreciate the offer, but again, I am not permitted to provide a link to our OneDrive or Dropbox accounts to external parties. I will take your suggestion about looking into the font setting for the level in the multilevel list to our IT department and see if there is a Word expert who can assist me. Thank you!
Stefan Blom 348K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator

2026-01-29T23:56:11.59+00:00

Document security is important, obviously. Let me just clarify out that nobody is asking for a link to a document on your company server. A dummy document which has no important content but does illustrate the issue can be shared from a personal Microsoft account. Of course, the choice is yours. If you prefer not to share, we respect that as well.

3 additional answers

AVISAAH 20 Reputation points

2026-01-28T21:25:56.7166667+00:00

Since I don't see my responses to the submitted answers displayed under them, I'm adding my own answer. We don't use Style Separators, so that answer was not relevant to us. The numbers are not formatted as hidden text - I checked by selecting the heading number as described by Stefan Blom and giving it the CTRL+SHFT+H command. That added the "hidden text" formatting to the number, so I undid the command again.

I then went into File>Options>Display and checked the "Hidden text" box under the "Always show these formatting marks on the screen" heading. That resulted in the numbers appearing in the Print Layout view but not printing. Then I checked the "Print hidden text" option under the "Printing Options" heading, and that allowed me to both print as well as save as a pdf with the numbers. showing.

These options are unchecked and therefore must be checked on every staff person's computer. I don't understand why this works even though the heading numbers are not formatted as "hidden," so any additional information or suggestions would be appreciated.
Stefan Blom 348K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator

2026-01-29T00:25:58.7033333+00:00

Since printing hidden text does print the numbering, there must be hidden formatting being added somehow to the document.

Would you mind sharing a representative sample document, with no sensitive content, so that we can have a closer look? Upload the sample doc to OneDrive or Dropbox and post a download link in this thread.
AVISAAH 20 Reputation points

2026-01-29T14:20:21.8933333+00:00

I am not allowed to provide a download link to our agency's OneDrive, but I'd be happy to upload a sample document through a link you provide.
Charles Kenyon 169.6K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator

2026-01-29T18:58:00.5733333+00:00

You should not need to print hidden text for this to happen.

The simplest way to resolve this is with a sample document demonstrating the problem. That document need have no substantive or meaningful text and should not have any confidential or proprietary information.

This involves changing the font setting for the level in the multilevel list. This is not done at the text level by selecting text; it is done by modifying the list.
AVISAAH 20 Reputation points

2026-01-29T21:01:51.5733333+00:00

I appreciate the offer, but again, I am not permitted to provide a link to our OneDrive or Dropbox accounts to external parties. I will take your suggestion about looking into the font setting for the level in the multilevel list to our IT department and see if there is a Word expert who can assist me. Thank you!
Stefan Blom 348K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator

2026-01-29T23:56:11.59+00:00

Document security is important, obviously. Let me just clarify out that nobody is asking for a link to a document on your company server. A dummy document which has no important content but does illustrate the issue can be shared from a personal Microsoft account. Of course, the choice is yours. If you prefer not to share, we respect that as well.

Answer 1

[...] I don't see my responses to the submitted answers displayed under them [---]

Note that responses added immediately below the Question or below individual Answers are called Comments in the Q&A interface. Often, those are collapsed, so you won't see them unless you click the comment icon User's image to expand the view. Also, you have to make sure that you are signed in to Q&A; otherwise, Comments are not shown.

Answer 2

Possible workaround: See if you can roll back to release 2511.

Note that editing documents in Word online has also been reported to mess up automatic numbering.

Here is my pdf on setting up Automatic numbering in Word. https://www.addbalance.com/usersguide/AutomaticNumbering.pdf

This is a user-to-user support forum.

Microsoft is not hearing about your problems from what you post here. You are discussing a problem with your fellow users here. We can give good advice about how to work with Word as it is and give suggestions for making it work properly.

Designers and their supervisors do see feedback. (You will almost certainly not get a direct response to that feedback but they do see it.)

Here is more about that:

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/msoffice/forum/all/giving-feedback-on-microsoft-word-or-other/8df81a9b-84aa-46ef-bf88-24fb7fec96ba

I suggest using the public feedback portal so other users can see your feedback, comment and vote. If you want, you can post the URL of your feedback with your question here to lead others with the same problem to your feedback. Be the “squeaky wheel” that gets fixed!

AVISAAH 20 Reputation points

2026-01-28T21:58:17.62+00:00

Thank you. I'm not able to submit information via the portal - it's restricted.
Charles Kenyon 169.6K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator

2026-01-29T04:47:45.7666667+00:00

It turns out Stefan found your problem. Glad you figured it out.

Answer 3

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how to get heading numbers in Word to appear when formatting is hidden - they are there when formatting is shown

3 additional answers

This may be related to use of Style Separators and is a bug in recent releases.