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Surprise! There's nothing buggy about Word's outline numbered list feature. Yes, I'm serious. And, I'm writing this post to once and for all demystify this cruelly misunderstood feature...as promised in last week's post about setting up default templates.

There are no bugs in Word's outline numbering ... it's just more human than most software features. The fact is, like many people you probably know, this feature has control issues (though it has better reasons for them than most :-) Let it have the control it needs, and you two will get along famously.

The secret to getting outline numbered lists that always behave is simple: Anything that can be done in the Customize Outline Numbered List dialog box (Format, Bullets and Numbering, Outline Numbered, Customize) must be done there. Follow that one rule and you'll be good to go!

That said, don't try to fool your outline numbered list by accessing the Customize Outline Numbered List dialog box through the Format menus in the New Style or Modify Style dialog box. That's just a backhanded way of trying to let styles control the outline and it won't fly (at least not without issues).

When you want to create or modify styles with outline numbering:

1. Format the style however you like using the Styles And Formatting task pane (or the New or Modify style dialog boxes) -- but don't worry about the numbering, the indents, or the tab (if you're using one) for the number, because these settings will be overruled anyway by the settings you select in the Customize Outline Numbered List dialog box.

2. Link the style to the appropriate outline level in the Customize Outline Numbered List dialog box (accessed from the Format menu on Word's menu bar -- not through a style dialog box). If you don't see the Link Level To Style option, click the More button at the top of the dialog box to view expanded options.

Those two steps should keep your outline numbered paragraph styles behaving nicely ... but, I realize that might not answer all of the issues you've experienced with this feature. So, following is a brief explanation for the reason behind this feature's control issues, as well as answers to a few of the most common problems with outline numbered lists...

So, why does the feature have these 'control' issues?

The simple answer is that Word's outline numbering feature answers to a higher authority than most of the user features in Word: the Windows Registry (that's the location where most of your system's settings are stored). The settings for the outline numbered gallery entries (i.e., the seven most recently used list templates for which you see previews on the Outline Numbered tab of the Bullets and Numbering dialog box) are stored in the Windows Registry. So, since this feature is managed on the system level, its settings overwrite anything you try to do to an outline numbered list on the application level (such as accessing numbering through Modify Style or changing indents on the ruler or in the Paragraph dialog box). More concisely: settings applied in Customize Outline Numbered List (which are stored in the registry) will overwrite settings stored within the document.

Okay, so how about some quick fixes for the stuff that doesn't seem to work correctly?

Here are answers to a few of the most common outline numbering problems I've run across in my training and troubleshooting experience:

The numbering for part of the outline doesn't update properly: There are two common causes of this problem: inadvertently creating a separate outline for part of the document or manually setting the start at number of one or more levels at some point in the list ...

- Inadvertently creating a separate outline: If you need to edit the formatting of your outline numbered list, start with your insertion point in any numbered paragraph that's part of the outline (don't select the paragraph, just click into it) and go to Format, Bullets And Numbering, Outline Numbered, Customize. Here's the key: Do not click to select a gallery entry before clicking Customize. Depending on what is selected when you go to the Customize Outline Numbered List dialog box, your edits might cause the creation of another gallery entry for the same outline. So, after lots of editing, multiple gallery entries end up looking almost identical.

There's nothing wrong when this happens -- it's the way Word keeps track of customizations you've made, for example, to just part of an outline. It doesn't mean the outline won't update correctly. However, when your insertion point is in a paragraph that's part of your outline and you access the Bullets and Numbering dialog box -- the correct gallery entry is already active. If you select another, you can potentially disconnect part of your list. Just click Customize without making any gallery selection and you won't have that problem.

- Manually setting the start at number: When people get frustrated by outline numbered lists, they often use manual workarounds like setting the Start At number for a level that isn't numbering correctly. If the level isn't numbering correctly -- figure out why (there's most likely mis-styling or a second outline mixed in -- either of which are easily fixable). Don't set a manual start at value in the middle of a list, because no matter how your numbering changes, the paragraph where you set the start at value will always reflect that value so that it seems to not update correctly.

Like any feature in Word (or any Office application) -- if something doesn't seem to be working correctly ... it will always be faster (even though it might not feel like it at the time) to stop and figure out why it's not working correctly rather than using a workaround to try to fake the formatting you're after. All workarounds do is get you in deeper, until it ultimately has to be fixed anyway...but it then takes so much longer to drill through the layers of workarounds in order to reach a resolution than it would have taken to find that resolution originally. It might be a cliché, but it is true -- doing it right the first time is always faster than doing it over.

I changed the indents for a level of my outline, but then when I made another formatting change -- the indents reverted back to what they were before: If this has happened to you, I guarantee you changed the indents either on the ruler or in the Paragraph dialog box. As explained earlier in this post ... When working with an outline, anything that can be done in the Customize Outline Numbered list dialog box must be done there, or it won't stick. For quick reference:

- Number Position in the Customize Outline Numbered list dialog box corresponds to the left indent
- Text Position is the value of the left indent plus the value of the hanging indent.
- Tab Space After is the position of the tab that separates the number from the first character in the paragraph (if you're using a tab after the number) ... and if you're using a hanging indent, you probably want the Tab Space After value to be the same as the Text Position value.

I wanted unique number formatting for just one paragraph in my list, but even though I selected Current Paragraph in the Apply To dropdown list, Word applied the formatting throughout the whole outline: This is one of my favorite ways to demonstrate how Word not only likes things as simple as possible, but requires them to be!

If you go to Customize Outline Numbered List to change the number formatting for just one paragraph in your outline (such as putting a bracket outside the number, which is a common need in legal documents) -- you can select Current Paragraph from the Apply To dropdown list at the bottom of the dialog box ... and only the active paragraph will be affected. If the formatting was applied to all paragraphs on that level of the outline -- you either didn't have Current Paragraph selected before clicking OK from the dialog box ... or, more likely, you were trying to apply this same formatting to a second consecutive paragraph.

If you go to Customize Outline Numbered List and change anything about the number formatting for just the current paragraph -- it will work fine. But, if you go back there, and go through all of the same steps to make the same change to the very next paragraph on the same level of the outline ... Word assumes you're trying to format the entire level and ignores your request to apply the formatting just to the current paragraph. Why? Because there are much faster ways to apply that formatting the second time. So, Word figures that if you're doing so much more work than necessary, you must be trying to do something else. Ha! I love that!!

If, instead, you apply the unique formatting to the second consecutive paragraph by clicking into that paragraph and pressing F4 (to repeat the most recent action), or you use the Format Painter to copy the formatting from the first paragraph you altered to the second ... it will work perfectly.

So, okay, Word is being a bit obnoxious there as it rolls its eyes at your inefficiency and tries to save you from yourself. But you have to admit that it makes its point pretty well!
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So, all that said ... you might not like outline numbering's control issues, but that doesn't make them bugs (sorry, but it's true). There is a method to the apparent madness of everything that happens in Word -- and the nice part is that the answers are usually much simpler than you imagine.

For such a complex, powerful application -- Word is really a rather simple creature when it comes down to it. When you take a little bit of time to understand why things happen and use features the way they're designed to be used, you'll end up spending infinitely less time on your documents and your results will be exponentially improved. That's a promise. Who knows ... you might actually even enjoy it!