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Applies to Office | Office 2010 | Microsoft Office Word
17736 views

Why do my Heading 2 Style items continue

numbering from the previous chapter, not
the new one?
QU

QuietLeni asked on June 21, 2011

Dear All,

I am SICK of trying to fix this BUG in Word 2010 (and maybe 2007) that makes my chapter
numbers for Heading 2 documents not work. I think that this is happening when I open 2003created documents and need to edit them.
Sadly, it looks like ALL of the documents are broken in this way and Word 2010 is a PAIN to use
with this.
Let me explain:
I have a document set up with the basic Styles:
Heading 1, Heading 2, Heading 3 with the levels of numbering set up correctly, such that I get the
following structure:

1. Chapter One
1.1 Chapter One Section One
1.1.1 Chapter One Section One Subsection One
1.1.2 Chapter One Section One Subsection Two
2. Chapter Two
2.1 Chapter Two Section 1
3. Chapter Three

3.1 Chapter Three Section One

etc...

If I try editing this document in Word 2010 (and maybe 2007) to add another Chapter, I get the
following:

1. Chapter One
1.1 Chapter One, Section One
1.1.1 Chapter One, Section One, Subsection One
1.1.2 Chapter One, Section One, Subsection Two
2. Chapter Two
2.1 Chapter Two, Section 1
3. New Word 2010 Chapter Three
2.2 New Chapter Three, Section One
2.3 New Chapter Three, Section Two
4. Chapter Three
4.1 Chapter Three, Section One

What has been broken by Microsoft in this? Why doesthe Numbering get killed when I try to edit
my old documents?

How do I fix this? I really do not want to plough through a website of loads of information for
just one morsel. My document was working in 2003, why does Microsoft not fix its editing of 2003
documents?!

Anyone got an idea?

Kind regards,

QuietLeni

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Answer
Suzanne S. Barnhill replied on June 22, 2011
Accomplishments

In reply to QuietLeni's post on June 22, 2011

Assuming that Heading 1 is what is being used for "Chapter One," then the problem the original
user probably encountered was that the style was not actually numbered; that is, "Chapter One" is

being typed as plain text. The trick is to make this autonumbering instead. Here's what you have
to do:
1. Multilevel List gallery, select the list currently being used (or, perhaps better, the one that
shows 1 Heading 1, 1.1 Heading 2, 1.1.1 Heading 3 since it already has the levels linked to
the appropriate heading styles.
2. Click Define New Multilevel List (confusingly, this is the command you have to use to
modify an existing list as well as create a new one).
3. In the Define New Multilevel List dialog, click More to expand the dialog.
4. Make sure that the levels are linked to the heading styles (if you chose a list that didn't
show the heading styles).
5. At Level 1, in the "Number style" dropdown, choose One, Two, Three.
6. Before "One" in the "Enter formatting" box, type "Chapter."
7. Select Level 2, and check the box for "Legal style numbering" so that the previous level is
displayed as "1" instead of "One."
8. Repeat #7 for each lower level.
Looking again at your example, however, it appears that "Chapter One" is just dummy text and
that that level is actually numbered with 1, 2, 3 numbering. If that's the case, then all you need to
do is make sure you have a multilevel list applied in which each level is linked to the appropriate
heading level and each lower level is set to restart after a higher one.
Microsoft MVP (Word) since 1999
Fairhope, Alabama USA
http://sbarnhill.mvps.org

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QU

QuietLeni replied on June 23, 2011

In reply to Stefan Blom's post on June 23, 2011

Looking again at your example, however, it appears that "Chapter One" is just dummy text and
that that level is actually numbered with 1, 2, 3 numbering. If that's the case, then all you need to
do is make sure you have a multilevel list applied in which each level is linked to the appropriate
heading level and each lower level is set to restart after a higher one.

Suzanne,

It was the solution above - I needed to re-connect the Heading 1, Heading 2, Heading 3 Styles
with the List Numbering.
Thank you very much.
QuietLeni

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All replies (38)

Suzanne S. Barnhill replied on June 21, 2011
Accomplishments
Have you tried selecting the misbehaving paragraphs and pressing Ctrl+Q? Have you checked to
make sure that the headings are in the correct style and have not had numbering applied (or
restarted) manually?
Microsoft MVP (Word) since 1999
Fairhope, Alabama USA
http://sbarnhill.mvps.org

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QuietLeni replied on June 21, 2011

In reply to Suzanne S. Barnhill's post on June 21, 2011

Have you tried selecting the misbehaving paragraphs and pressing Ctrl+Q? Have you
checked to make sure that the headings are in the correct style and have not had
numbering applied (or restarted) manually?
Suzanne,
Hmm. Yes, I have done this and nothing happens. What does Ctrl+Q do?

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Suzanne S. Barnhill replied on June 21, 2011

Accomplishments

In reply to QuietLeni's post on June 21, 2011

Ctrl+Q resets the paragraph to the settings defined by the style (including numbering).
It's hard to know what's going on without seeing the document. If you'd like to send a small
sample that is exhibiting this frustrating behavior, I'll take a look. Send it to ssbarnhill at gmail dot
com.
Microsoft MVP (Word) since 1999
Fairhope, Alabama USA
http://sbarnhill.mvps.org

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QuietLeni replied on June 22, 2011

In reply to Suzanne S. Barnhill's post on June 21, 2011

Ctrl+Q resets the paragraph to the settings defined by the style (including numbering).
It's hard to know what's going on without seeing the document. If you'd like to send a
small sample that is exhibiting this frustrating behavior, I'll take a look. Send it to
ssbarnhill at gmail dot com.
Suzanne,
I am sorry, but this document is very long and it is too sensitive (it has client-specific details that I
am not allowed to send outside of the organisation).
I think, however, that I have worked out what is going on.

In the other parts of the document, the Heading 1 Style is used and this is not incrementing the
Outline Level item. When I look at the document with ALL of the formating, I see some hidden
paragraphs with the numbers of the chapters in them:

1. Chapter One
1. <Hidden Paragraph>
2. Chapter Two
2. <Hidden Paragraph>
When opening up the XML of the document, I see that the Hidden Paragraphs are made with the
List Paragraph Style, but if I use Ctrl+Q in Word on the hidden paragraphs, the numbering goes
wrong again. Looking at the style, I can see that it has the following definition:

- <w:pPr>
<w:pStyle w:val="ListParagraph" />
- <w:numPr>
<w:ilvl w:val="0" />
<w:numId w:val="1" />
</w:numPr>
<w:spacing w:before="180" w:after="180" w:line="320" w:lineRule="exact" />
<w:outlineLvl w:val="1" />
- <w:rPr>
<w:b />
<w:vanish />
<w:sz w:val="26" />
<w:szCs w:val="26" />
</w:rPr>
</w:pPr>

and I think that the issue is this:

Someone could not get the Heading 1 Style to work and so they used the hidden ListParagraph
Style to increment the number of the headings. When looking at the ListParagraph Style XML, I
see the <w:outlineLvl w:val="1" /> tag and I think that this is what is missing from the Heading 1
Style.

How can I fix this by adding the appropriate outline level to the Heading 1 Style?

Kind regards,

QuietLeni

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Answer
Suzanne S. Barnhill replied on June 22, 2011
Accomplishments

In reply to QuietLeni's post on June 22, 2011

Assuming that Heading 1 is what is being used for "Chapter One," then the problem the original
user probably encountered was that the style was not actually numbered; that is, "Chapter One" is
being typed as plain text. The trick is to make this autonumbering instead. Here's what you have
to do:
1. Multilevel List gallery, select the list currently being used (or, perhaps better, the one that
shows 1 Heading 1, 1.1 Heading 2, 1.1.1 Heading 3 since it already has the levels linked to
the appropriate heading styles.
2. Click Define New Multilevel List (confusingly, this is the command you have to use to
modify an existing list as well as create a new one).
3. In the Define New Multilevel List dialog, click More to expand the dialog.
4. Make sure that the levels are linked to the heading styles (if you chose a list that didn't
show the heading styles).
5. At Level 1, in the "Number style" dropdown, choose One, Two, Three.
6. Before "One" in the "Enter formatting" box, type "Chapter."
7. Select Level 2, and check the box for "Legal style numbering" so that the previous level is
displayed as "1" instead of "One."
8. Repeat #7 for each lower level.
Looking again at your example, however, it appears that "Chapter One" is just dummy text and
that that level is actually numbered with 1, 2, 3 numbering. If that's the case, then all you need to
do is make sure you have a multilevel list applied in which each level is linked to the appropriate
heading level and each lower level is set to restart after a higher one.
Microsoft MVP (Word) since 1999
Fairhope, Alabama USA
http://sbarnhill.mvps.org

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QuietLeni replied on June 23, 2011

In reply to Suzanne S. Barnhill's post on June 22, 2011

Suzanne,

Sorry to look a dunce, but how do I get to the Multilevel List Gallery? I cannot find this.

Kindest regards,

QuietLeni

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Stefan Blom replied on June 23, 2011

Accomplishments

In reply to QuietLeni's post on June 23, 2011

On the Home tab, click the Multilevel List button (found in the Paragraph group).
Stefan Blom, Microsoft Word MVP

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QU

QuietLeni replied on June 23, 2011

In reply to Stefan Blom's post on June 23, 2011

Looking again at your example, however, it appears that "Chapter One" is just dummy text and
that that level is actually numbered with 1, 2, 3 numbering. If that's the case, then all you need to
do is make sure you have a multilevel list applied in which each level is linked to the appropriate
heading level and each lower level is set to restart after a higher one.

Suzanne,

It was the solution above - I needed to re-connect the Heading 1, Heading 2, Heading 3 Styles
with the List Numbering.
Thank you very much.
QuietLeni

1 person found this helpful

Helpful

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Suzanne S. Barnhill replied on June 23, 2011

Accomplishments

In reply to QuietLeni's post on June 23, 2011

I'm glad you got there in the end despite my red herrings!
Microsoft MVP (Word) since 1999
Fairhope, Alabama USA
http://sbarnhill.mvps.org

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HA

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HAL1969 replied on April 11, 2012

In reply to Suzanne S. Barnhill's post on June 22, 2011

Thank you for this - My document had been driving me crazy! I'd have a heading 2 and the next
level would be 156.1. THis fixed everything :)

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