Word 2010 - list number style wont restart at 1

Anonymous
2013-01-29T15:06:46+00:00

I am using the default list numbering in a pretty basic but large (450 page) document.  No macros, no custom styles...I am simply using the default headers and the list numbering.

the trouble all started when i decided it would look better to left align the list numbering.  When I have done this type of thing with regular headers there has never been a problem.  You can easily apply new formatting and apply to the entire document. 

With the List Number style this didnt work.  I found online a suggestion of using the Set Numbering Value at 1 each time which I have been doing for over 2 weeks now but the lists keep reassigning the starting numbers arbitrarily so some lists start at 98 and others at 74 and on and on.  I keep changing them back to start at 1 but again they reset themselvs.

This is an instruction manual so there are alot of short lists (steps on what to do) within alot of sections.

Microsoft 365 and Office | Word | For home | Windows

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  1. Anonymous
    2013-09-11T09:55:06+00:00

    If you use a list style without paragraph styles for each numbering levels, the default is to restart level 1 when there is "intervening" text. Are you seeing something different?

    Yes and no.  It is set to restart, but it is set to start at a number which is one more than the last instance, instead of restarting at 1 (or a or i, etc.)

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  2. Stefan Blom 353.5K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2013-09-11T10:03:08+00:00

    In the multilevel list dialog box, what is "Start at" set to for the affected level? Make sure it is set to 1. (To see the option, you may have to expand the dialog box by clicking the More button.)

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  3. Anonymous
    2013-09-12T11:01:42+00:00

    Maybe this is OT, but it seems that I am not yet "out of the woods".

    I am trying to use the recommended approach on yet another inherited document.

    I have created a new list type, and wish to assign level 2 to an existing paragraph style.

    Since I don't find any way to change to level of a style in the format paragraph dialog, which ISTR from earlier Word versions, I am trying to do this in the previously mentioned multi-level list dialog.

    However, Instead of assigning the format to level 2 as I wish, it completely changes the formatting of the paragraph style I have chosen, messing up its formatting througout the document.

    Help!

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  4. Stefan Blom 353.5K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2013-09-12T14:52:22+00:00

    Which kind of formatting gets "messed up" in the style? Indentation? Something else?

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  5. Anonymous
    2013-09-12T16:11:44+00:00

    Which kind of formatting gets "messed up" in the style? Indentation? Something else?

    Indentation increased, bullets instead of letters: basically everything.

    I have given up and am manually adjusting each paragraph in a new group to restart at 1, a or whatever.

    Painful as it is, it seems to be less work than trying to get the desired  results with the recommended method, at least with the relatively short documents I am working with.

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