Suggestion for improvement in Microsoft Word — compliance with Brazilian Complementary Law No. 95/1998

Question

Dear Microsoft team,

I would like to propose two enhancements to Microsoft Word aimed at improving its compliance with the formatting and drafting standards required for Brazilian legislative documents.

Increase in hierarchical style levels Brazilian Complementary Law No. 95/1998 establishes up to 12 structural hierarchy levels used in legal texts: Part, Book, Title, Chapter, Section, Subsection, Article, Paragraph, Sole Paragraph, Clause, Subclause, and Item. Currently, Word supports only 9 hierarchical levels, which prevents full alignment with the legal drafting structure required by Brazilian law. I kindly suggest expanding the number of available outline or style levels to enable complete compliance with this framework.

Support for mixed ordinal and cardinal numbering The same law determines that the numbering of articles must use the ordinal format up to the 9th article (1st to 9th) and the cardinal format from the 10th onward (10, 11, 12...). At present, Word’s automatic numbering library does not support this transition. I recommend adding this numbering option so the software can automatically apply the correct ordinal and cardinal formats according to Brazilian legislative standards.

Implementing these features would be extremely helpful for lawyers, legislative drafters, and public sector professionals who prepare legal documents and bills in Brazil, ensuring Microsoft Word fully meets the country’s legal drafting requirements.

Answer 1

As Noel says, you should provide this feedback using the built-in Help | Feedback | Make a suggestion path. This will reach Microsoft's developers directly. No one in this user-to-user forum has any influence on the design of the product, and no one from the Word team reads these forums.

Answer 2

Hi,

Thank you for sharing your question. I understand how important it is for professionals in Brazil to rely on Microsoft Word for drafting documents that fully comply with Brazilian Complementary Law No. 95/1998, and I can imagine how limiting it must feel when the current formatting tools do not support the structure the law requires.

At present, Microsoft Word supports up to nine hierarchical levels for multilevel lists and outline structures, which unfortunately falls short of the twelve structural levels mandated for Brazilian legislative drafting. This limitation is confirmed in current documentation stating that Word’s multilevel lists allow a maximum of nine levels, which is typically sufficient for most documents but not expansive enough for the complete Brazilian legislative hierarchy. 

To address this, the most appropriate path is to submit this feature request directly through Microsoft’s official feedback channels, where product engineering teams can evaluate and prioritize improvements based on user needs. Although Word does not currently include these capabilities, your request highlights a clear gap that could meaningfully improve compliance and usability for legal professionals in Brazil.

Before moving forward, may I ask whether your work requires all twelve hierarchy levels at once, or whether expanding beyond nine even if not reaching the full twelve would already help with your drafting workflow? Understanding your specific drafting patterns can strengthen the case when submitting feedback.

Please feel free to follow up if you’d like help preparing a formal feedback submission or if you want guidance on current best‑practice workarounds within Word’s existing multilevel list system while awaiting future enhancements. I’m here to assist you further.

 

Best Regards,

Noel

Answer 3

Currently, Microsoft Word supports up to 9 hierarchical style levels, which may not fully comply with Brazilian Complementary Law No. 95/1998 that requires up to 12 levels for legal documents. This limitation can hinder the proper structuring of legal texts as mandated by Brazilian legislation.

Additionally, the automatic numbering feature in Word does not support the transition from ordinal numbering (1st to 9th) to cardinal numbering (10, 11, 12...) as specified by the law. Implementing these features would greatly enhance Word's usability for legal professionals in Brazil, ensuring compliance with local legal drafting standards.

While I cannot implement these suggestions, I recommend providing feedback directly to Microsoft through their official channels to advocate for these enhancements.

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References:

• Content controls in Word
• Create and add a paragraph style to a word processing document