Styles

Thread view:

Enable EMail Alerts

Start New Thread

Thread rating:

Elbert - 10 Jul 2005 11:34 GMT

Hi,
I'm sorry this is so long, but I can't think how to describe the problem
more briefly.

I'm working on a book. I made a template, manual.dot. In manual.dot, I
defined a style, EXERCISE (for questions at the end of each chapter, a la
math and physics books), that formats a paragraph as a numbered list item
with the number indented -0.3 into the left margin, otherwise just body
text. I used this template to create several chapters. I opened another
document, with the same template, as a master document and inserted the
chapters.

I noticed that the exercise numbers did not restart with 1 in each chapter.
In retrospect it was silly, but I created a new style, FIRST EXERCISE,
identical with EXERCISE except that I checked reset for the list properties.
Using the master document, I changed the style of the first exercise in each
chapter to FIRST EXERCISE. It didn't work--numbers continued from previous
chapters. I reformatted the first question in each chapter to EXERCISE style
and deleted FIRST EXERCISE style. I deleted FIRST EXERCISE from manual.dot,
too.

I reopened the master document and selected the first exercise in each
chapter. Using format bullets and numbering, I clicked reset for each first
exercise. Surprisingly, the style FIRST EXERCISE reappeared in the list of
styles. Every time it reared its ugly head, I deleted it. The document
looked OK. I saved it and went to bed.

Next day I opened the master document and discovered that all exercises now
had a large, bold number at -0.75 into the left margin (same size and place
as for my heading level 2, probably not a coincidence.) I closed the master
document and checked the individual chapter files. Every exercise had a
bullet, not a number, and was indented to the right about 1.0. I checked
manual .dot and found that EXERCISE style was still OK as I wanted it: body
text with the number at -0.3.

I deleted the master document and created a new one. Same problem as with
the original one. I opened a chapter file and reformatted an exercise as I
wanted it: body text, number at -0.3, and assigned that to EXERCISE. I
inserted that file into a brand new master document based on manual.dot. All
exercises are now bulleted and indented about 1.0 to the right of the
margin.

I have no idea what's going on here or how to fix it. If you can help,
you'll save what little is left of my hair, which would be a good thing.

Thanks,

Elbert

Reply to this Message

Shauna Kelly - 10 Jul 2005 12:53 GMT

Hi Elbert

My "master document", I hope you don't mean Master Document. If so, see
Why Master Documents corrupt
http://www.word.mvps.org/FAQs/General/WhyMasterDocsCorrupt.htm
How to recover a Master Document
http://www.word.mvps.org/FAQs/General/RecoverMasterDocs.htm

If you just mean one big document with several chapters, each of which has
Exercises, then I would proceed as follows.

I would abandon the Exercise and FirstExercise styles. Instead, one way is
to use one of the built-in heading styles. For example, you could use
Heading 1 for the chapter heading, numbered so that it gives you the chapter
number. And use Heading 2 and Heading 3 for sub-headings. If you have no
other use for, say, Heading 4, use it for your Exercises. In fact, you can
give it a pseudonym. Modify the Heading 4 style and change its name so it
says "Heading 4, Exercise".

Now, follow the instructions at the following to set up the heading
numbering:
How to create numbered headings or outline numbering in your Microsoft Word
document
http://www.ShaunaKelly.com/word/numbering/OutlineNumbering.html

When you come to the Customize Outline Numbered List dialog, and you're
doing level 4, link it to the Heading 4 style, as that article says. Then,
delete everything in the Number Format box. If you want the heading to say
Exercise 1, Exercise 2 etc, then type "Exercise " in that Number Format box.

Now, in the Number Style box, choose the numbering format you need. Click
More to expose all the dialog box and in the Restart Numbering After, choose
Level 1. (That is, you want to have the first exercise in each chapter
numbered 1. Or, in other words, you want Exercise numbering to re-start
after each change in Heading 1, which is your Chapter number.)

You can use search and replace to find all the paragraphs in the Exercise
and the FirstExercise styles and change them to Heading 4.

As a bit of background, some advantages of using the built in heading styles
are at:
Why use Microsoft Word's built-in heading styles?
http://www.ShaunaKelly.com/word/numbering/UseBuiltInHeadingStyles.html

However, before you settle on Heading 4 as your choice for the Exercise
style, consider whether you'll need any Appendixes to this book. If so, see
How to number headings and figures in Appendixes in Microsoft Word
http://www.ShaunaKelly.com/word/numbering/NumberingAppendixes.html

As a completely different alternative, which I have used for Exercises in
chapters, you can use a SEQ field. See Word's help on SEQ fields. You can
set them to re-start after a Heading 1 style.

For what it's worth, it is worth spending some time getting all this right
now, before you're too far down the track of writing.

Hope this helps.

Shauna Kelly. Microsoft MVP.
http://www.shaunakelly.com/word

> Hi,
> I'm sorry this is so long, but I can't think how to describe the problem
[quoted text clipped - 55 lines]
>
> Elbert

Reply to this Message

Elbert - 10 Jul 2005 17:25 GMT

Hi Shauana,

Thanks for your very helpful reply.

>>By "master document", I hope you don't mean Master Document. << Uhhh..., yeah, I do. I read someshere that the advice to avoid master documents was outdated, that MicroSoft had fixed the feature so that it now worked well. For my purposes a master document would have some advantages (for example, having a single chapter file included in two master documents), and I gave it a try. Maybe I should read less.

Or read more of your stuff. Thanks for the links. I'll try to use the
information to fix the current mess and avoid future debacles.

I've tried combining all chapters into a single (ordinary, not master)
document, giving about a 4 MB file, and I don't expect it to get
substantially bigger. On the desktop it takes 10-15 seconds to open, then I
can edit it without problem. On my first generation tablet PC, it opens in
about 30 seconds (much of the delay seems to depend on drawings and equations
I inserted with OLE), and then I can edit it without problem. For this book
(around 200 pages), I think I can just deal with it as a single regular
document and avoid the master document thing altogether.

I guess I'm behind the times. My first PC had 64kB of memory (you read that
right--kB) and I still think in terms of keeping files small. The computers
I'm using now have 1GB. That's about 15000 times as much memory. If the
height of my tablet PC represented the 64kB of RAM I used to have, the amount
I have now would be represented by around 3 miles (5km). I guess I have to
start thinking in those terms.

Anyhow, thanks again for your help,

Elbert

> Hi Elbert
>
[quoted text clipped - 116 lines]
> >
> > Elbert

Reply to this Message

Shari - 16 Jan 2006 00:37 GMT

Shauna, does changing these Styles also keep the numbered list on the left
margin or does it still jump in 5? Is there a way to keep these lists on the
margin for each and every document?

Signature

~Shari

> Hi Elbert
>
[quoted text clipped - 116 lines]
> >
> > Elbert

Reply to this Message