Joel is setting up a template in Word that uses outline numbering. When he sets the insertion point at the end of a line and presses Enter, the numbering does not continue. The only thing that works is moving the insertion point to the left of the period at the end of the line and then pressing Enter. This carries the period to the next paragraph and the new paragraph then has the proper numbering format. Joel wonders how to avoid using that crutch. He wants others who use the template to hit Enter and just keep typing the next item in the outline with no problem.
The most likely cause of this behavior is actually a built-in feature of Word. When you define a style you can specify what style should be used for the paragraph that follows this one. That may sound confusing, but it isn't really that tough if you remember that Word allows you to specify what style should be applied to the next paragraph you type, after you press Enter. You can set up that capability for an existing style by following these steps:
Figure 1. The Modify Style dialog box.
There are some caveats that you should keep in mind. First, you'll want to pay attention to which styles you are modifying and whether your modification makes sense for all the uses for which the style may be used. For instance, if you are using a numbering scheme that is linked, in some way, to the heading styles defined in Word, you may not want to change the "Style for Following Paragraph" setting for your heading styles. The reason is because there are many times where you want the style after a Heading to naturally be whatever style you are using for your body text, not another instance of the same heading.
In this case, the solution is to make sure that you set up a group of styles that will be used specifically for your numbering purposes, separate from your heading styles.
WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (8377) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, and 2013. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Word here: Numbering on New Paragraph Doesn't Work as Expected.
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2021-09-21 13:57:36
Vicky Rancourt
THANK YOU !! :) Super helpful.
2021-04-06 08:30:25
Thanks to Mr. Wyatt, I learned to use styles years ago; it was relatively easy for me...as an AutoCAD user I am used to layers and the two concepts are nearly identical. If you use styles and multi-level lists correctly, it is virtually impossible to break numbering, and if you do, just reapply the style to the offending numbering and it will re-establish itself. I personally found the easiest ways is to just modify the built-in heading styles and make them look the way I want.
One other tip...when you set up a style you can also set up a shortcut key for this. Imaginatively, I use <CTL>-<ALT>-<1> for Heading 1, <CTL>-<ALT>-<2> for Heading 2...you get the picture.
2018-08-07 21:39:51
Sarah
Thanks! This was helpful!
2017-11-10 15:13:47
Kim
I can't for the life of me figure out what I am doing wrong. My paragraphs are numbering weird. See (see Figure 1 below)
My paragraph 2 "New class" is numbered correctly but the sub list start at "e" when they should be at "a". I've included the style definition to aid you in helping me :)
Figure 1. Wonky outline numbering
2017-10-31 14:57:43
CMD
Excellent worked like a charm
2016-05-24 18:39:15
Joe Manfred
Fully agree with That Guy. Why the f do I have to spend 30 minutes googling how to use Word everytime I want to do something that worked better 10 years ago.
Autonumbering and styles are complete BS. Stupid bold and italics formatting are embedded in various default styles, the fonts change - always back to Calabri - even if the entire doc is in Arial. Stupid font sizes - why would I want 18 point body text when my entire doc is 11 point?
I can't even work out how to force numbering to move from 1.8, 1.9, 1.10 to 2.0 - I get 1.11 and if I really try, I get 1.11.1.
Whats worse is the bugs that have existed for 20 years are still there. They havn't re-written Word, they've just added more stupid features and ruined the UI (anytime I do something a little "complex" I get an old NT / XP style dialog which has no semblance to the UI design of Win 7 or Win 10).
I agree, pirate away.
2016-01-06 10:55:00
Joyce Robbins
Great tip, thanks so much! I couldn't figure out why hitting Enter sometimes created a new item and sometimes didn't, and this solved it. (Word for Mac 2011).
2015-08-14 05:36:50
Spen
Well it's not helping me.
Word has suddenly decided on numbering that you go
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
2.
3.
2015-02-03 14:52:38
This does nothing to change the line numbering in Word 2013. It only changes the body.
2015-01-13 11:49:46
Aggis
Thank you, excellent!
2014-11-24 18:40:30
ThatGuy
This is worthless. It does not jive with 2013, the options are not available, and once again, Word has succeeded in making something that could be the simplest thing in the world IMPOSSIBLE instead.
I'm going to start pirating everything Microsoft makes, and I'll never feel bad about it. They've already stolen so much time from me.
UNBELIEVABLE.
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