Word 2010 Multilevel list - Numbers disappear

Could you share any of the templates with the forum (remove any sensitive information, of course)?

Not using Update Doc Styles at all, anywhere that I've been able to find the option - none of the Styles (that I've looked at, or that we use) have it checked, nor does that Manage Templates/Add ins window.

Generally, they are being sent out for review, so sometimes editing (redlined) is done or comments are added, then the files are sent back to us (broken). However, people outside have also received documents where the numbers are not showing for them. I've had the staff forward me their original email, and when I open the document that's been emailed out (so, saved by our staff in-building), its numbering is broken. I've also broken the numbering myself - working on a document, saved it or PDFed it, and the numbers are gone after the save. I was hoping perhaps the template thing was a lead on the actual cause.

It's quite random, but the one consistent thing has been that documents edited and saved by someone outside the building are nearly always returned with broken numbering. I'm getting my staff coming to me to fix the numbering (they use computers but are not very comfortable with troubleshooting) 1-2 times a week.

I'm currently trying to rebuild my templates from scratch, making sure to follow SK's process exactly - but I've not yet found anything that I've done differently this time, and am not confident it will work. It's also incredibly time-consuming. I'd love a fix for the templates I have, just can't figure out why it's breaking.

The numbering scheme will be copied into the document from the template upon creation, so the fact that the template is missing shouldn't break the numbering. Are you using the "Update document styles" option in the Templates and Add-Ins dialog box?

When you send the documents to people outside the building, do they edit the documents?

As I'm thinking about it, though - the heading styles may also have numbers set within them (in addition to the Multilevel list settings) - maybe that is causing a problem?

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You must always make changes to a multilevel list via the multilevel list dialog box; otherwise you break the numbering.

I've spent considerable time trying to pinpoint the problem we are having, and have not yet solved it, but had a bit of a breakthrough today in trying to figure out what may be causing the problem.

My templates are all for legal documents, and stored on a server for our building. Each type of document was created from my original template that had the headings and multilevel list style set up per SK's instructions, but saved as its own template, as there is text that is consistent throughout each document type - so when a new document is created, say for an Easement, the creator will double-click Easement.dotx on the network drive, then modify the text in that new document for their current project, and save a copy, either locally or on the same server as the original template.

I have recently noticed that each time these documents are emailed to someone outside our building, they return with the numbering broken (indents and formatting maintained, but all numbers gone). The mulitlevel list style I set still appears selected (box around it in MLL dropdown), just no numbers. The fix is to right-click the list style in that dropdown, select Modify, then Format - Numbering, then click okay in both open dialogs. This fixes all the numbering in one fell swoop (without actually *changing* anything).

Today, while searching some more, I decided to check the template the document was using (Word Options - Add-ins - Manage: Templates - Go), both in a newly opened (from the template) document, and in a saved document, and in one that had been sent out and had the numbering broken. In my newly created ones, as well as in my saved and not yet broken ones, the template the file was created from ("Easement.dot", stored on the network drive) was selected; in the broken ones that have been emailed outside the building, "Normal" is the selected template.

It appears that once it leaves the building, it no longer has access to the template, so reverts to "Normal" - once this happens, it starts breaking.

How do I make these documents continue to have access to the template when they are sent to someone without access to the drive where the template is stored?

Thanks, and sorry for the long, wordy post - this has been a headache for far too long!

If you follow the instructions in the late Shauna Kelly's article to which you were given a link, multilevel numbering DOES WORK.