Word 2010 Multilevel list - Numbers disappear

All the automatic updates are cleared/ switched off; we work on complex documents on very tight timescales so all Word's "helpful" features are turned off as a rule.  Including auto-correct and auto format disabled by Group Policy.

Unfortunately this problem has only surfaced in this version of Word, which means a colleague and I now have the task of reeducating 300+ users to edit and format documents without reaching for the [BACKSPACE] key they've used for the past decade...

I agree about the document corruption - the numbering falls apart and we can only rescue the documents by copying the content to a fresh instance of the base template and leaving the EOF marker in the broken document.  Question is why it all implodes in the first place?

Also the plot has thickened as we've now raised a call with Microsoft support - we have an important document style that will be used for high value transactions and this has displayed a number of problems during the early stages of its development, mainly:

• Using [RIGHT CLICK] restart numbering on a numbered list crashes Word; or
• Using [RIGHT CLICK] restart numbering on a numbered list corrupts numbering - numerals are replaced by random symbols for the numbering level involved.

My suspicion is that Word's new Re-set Numbering hidden marker is corrupting the numbered styles involved, though why this should is a complete mystery at the moment.  

Whether or not this problem is related to our vanishing numbering is up for discussion, however, it looks like Word's numbering is as gnarly as ever.

Obviously, suppressing numbering for one paragraph shouldn't break the numbering for the whole list. This indicates document or template corruption. See https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/918429.

First of all, though, make sure to clear not only "Automatically update document styles" (in the Templates and Add-Ins dialog box) but also "Update automatically" (in the Modify Style dialog box for each of the numbered paragraph styles).

Automatically Update is switched off in all our templates - we produce and share a vast number of documents with third parties under very tight time scales.  Therefore all the "helpful" options in Word are either neutered by Group Policy or Template design.

This issue has to be a bug.

We have worked with the same numbering system and broad spectrum of templates for 10+ years, mainly in Word 2000.

Only after upgrading to Word 2007 we've seen this issue - IIRC the multilevel numbering systems/ logic where updated within Word with Office 2007?

So here's the *sigh* IT is tiring bit.  The problem only appears in some documents edited in a particular manner...

The user has to remove numbering from a numbered clause (using a numbered heading style) using [BACKSPACE] to remove the numbers instead of applying a non-numbered heading style.  At this point the document may or may not corrupt...if it does the user will reopen the document and all or some of the numbered heading styles will lose their numbering - it simply evaporates...

Copying the content only to a fresh template and reapplying the heading styles involved fixes the problem.  Attempting to repair with the document or the styles "in situ" has no effect.

That to me suggests that Word 2007 has corrupted the heading styles involved within the original document.  I suspect that Word is trying to update the styles (but not all the time) and this causes the error - even though automatic updates are disabled.

It's not the end of the world - but it took me months of head scratching to come up with this suggestion. 

Remember we do not permit any of our templates or documents to apply automatic updates.

Based on your description, it certainly sounds as if "Automatically update document styles" was enabled in the Templates and Add-Ins dialog box. With that option selected for the affected document, the style definitions from the template will be re-applied each time you open the document.

Can you reproduce the problem in any document that you create in Word, or does it affect a particular (set of) document(s) only?

This looks like a serious "bug" from here, where we use Word 2007:

Our scenario is...

Firm Style applied to documents - fully automatically numbered with the numbering based on heading styles (rebuilt from scratch for Word 2007 as per best practice as advised by MVPs).  This has been a VERY robust approach for us in the past under Word 2000.

All automatic update settings are switched off - just in case someone edits a heading style and the numbering then starts to wander off in an odd direction.

User edits a document and manually deletes the numbering attached to a numbered clause, instead of applying a non-numbered paragraph style i.e. Normal or Body Text.

We now have a paragraph/ clause within the document that has a numbering style attached and no numbering (remember all auto update settings are disabled).

Our user saves and closes the document, user reopens the document and all or some of the numbering vanishes from the numbered heading styles/ paragraphs within the document.

Reapplying a clean set of heading styles from our Normal.dotm through organizer will correct the problem temporarily - ie. until the document saves, closes and reopens.

To fix the problem completely we correct the manually updated clauses (apply Normal style and then copy all of the affected documents content (minus the final paragraph marker) into a fresh instance of the affected documents base template.

So my questions are...

Has anyone seen this before in Word 2007?

Am I correct in my assumption that this is a Word issue - arising from the manual update of the clause numbering which then corrupts the Word file?

Will the issue "follow" us to Word 2013?