Inconsistent ability to modify Outline Level of custom Headings

Anonymous
2017-02-27T18:09:55+00:00

I'm using Word for Mac 15.31 in MacOS Sierra 10.12.3, but this issue appears to be cross-platform, since a Word-for-PC user has experienced it as well (see end of this post):

Here's what should be the procedure for modifying the Outline Level of a custom Heading:

  1. In the Styles Pane, click on the down-triangle next to the Heading whose Outline Level you want to adjust.
  2. Then select:  Modify Style –>  Format –> Paragraph –> Indents and Spacing –> Outline Level.

However, usually the Outline Levels are grayed-out and thus not changeable (for both built-in Headings and custom Headings).  The only procedure I've uncovered that consistently allows you to change the Outline Level for a custom Heading (this doesn't work for built-in Headings) is the following workaround.  Suppose you want to change the Outline Level of "Custom Heading 1":

  1. Highlight an existing Heading, whose style is "Custom Heading 1",  in the document.
  2. Go into the document's Paragraph dialog (as opposed to the Heading's Paragaph dialog), and change the Heading's Outline Level there.  
  3. Go back to the Styles Pane, click on the reverse triangle for Custom Heading 1, and then select  "Update to Match Selection".  

This roundabout method is obviously unnecessarily complicated and laborious — there's no good reason you shouldn't be able to do this directly, in the Styles Pane, with Modify Style –>  Format –> Paragraph –> Indents and Spacing –> Outline Level.  After all, why does Word offer "Outline Level" as an option under Modify Style, only to leave that option (usually) disabled?  

[Note that all my custom Headings were created based on styles of built-in Headings.]

Further, as I mentioned above, when it comes to built-in Headings, even this procedure doesn't work.

But here's the additional puzzle:  One's inability to directly modify the Outline Level of custom Headings (using Modify Style) is not consistent.  For instance, suppose you click some body text, and then change that text to a custom Heading style.  Then, usually, if you try  Modify Style –>  Format –> Paragraph –> Indents and Spacing –> Outline Level, you'll find that this custom Heading's Outline Level is no longer grayed out!  [I.e., you just have to first change some text to that Heading, and then you can internally modify the Heading's Outline Level; the problem is if the text already is in that Heading style, in which case Outline Level will typically be grayed-out.] As a further oddity, if that custom Heading was based on a built-in Heading, if you go to the corresponding built-in Heading, you'll usually see its Outline Level is no longer grayed out either!  But if you do some other stuff in the document, and then return to check either the custom Heading or the built-in Heading, you will see that their Outline Level pull-downs have reverted to a grayed-out status.

An inconsistent ability to modify the Outline Levels of Headings has also been observed by Word MVP Doug Robbins, who is using Word for PC (indicating this issue is cross-platform).  He found that, for built-in Headings, sometimes Outline Level is grayed out, and sometimes it's not. Here's an excerpt from one of Doug Robbin's posts at https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/msoffice/forum/msoffice\_word-mso\_mac/three-issues-with-navigation-pane/9933f8eb-d25b-4c42-a743-623815949d60 :

For the Built-in Heading # styles, it is not possible to modify the level. (checking again, I find that it is possible.  I do not know why the Outline level: drop down was disabled when I took the screen shot.)

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Doug Robbins - MVP - Office Apps and Services 323.6K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
2017-03-02T07:39:03+00:00

Modify Heading 3 first, then before doing anything else, access the Modify Style dialog for Heading 3 and change the Style Based on from "Heading 2"

To (no style) - it's at the top of the list.

If you do not do that, when you subsequently modify the Heading 2 style, Heading 3 will inherit the modification because it is based on Heading 2

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  1. Anonymous
    2017-03-01T02:29:36+00:00

    It seems to me that what you were trying to do was to make the Title style act as Heading 1, Heading 1 act as Heading 2, Heading 2 act as Heading 3 and so on.

    That is, change the function of the Styles.  It is changing the function in that way that I said you should not do by my statement:

    "Don't mess around with the Heading Styles."

    Correct me if there is something conceptually wrong with this, but:

    I don't believe I'm trying to change the function of the Heading styles, just their appearance.

    Consider the "Write a Journal" template, which I'm using.  It has a Title, Heading 1, Heading 2, etc. Now my document doesn't actually have a title page so, functionally, I don't need a Title Heading. So let's then suppose I only use, within the document, Headings 1 through 5, without modification. Note that I'm not changing their Outline Levels.  Note also that I'm using Headings 1 through 5 as intended, i.e., I'm not using any of them as a Title; rather, I'm using all of them as section/subsection Headings within my document.  [Heading 1 is for chapters, Heading 2 is for the top subdivisions within each chapter, etc.] The Title Heading is there in the template, but I'm not using it, because I don't have a title.

    There's nothing fancy going on here.  These Headings are just minding their own business, doing their jobs, as Microsoft and Nature intended. :)

    In that case, would you be willing to grant that I'm not changing the function of Headings 1 – 5?

    Let's suppose your answer is yes.  Now suppose all I wish to do is change their appearance (such that Heading 1 now just happens to look like the original Title style, Heading 2 happens to look like the original Heading 1, etc.).  [This is what I'm trying to do, but which Word doesn't seem to like.] Since all I'm attempting to do is change their appearance, I would argue that I'm not trying to alter their function (which is to be section Headings and sub-Headings within my document), only what they look like.  And, functionally, these Headings shouldn't care what they look like, only how they're used.  Your thoughts?

    I.e., here's the look I want, which I've achieved using custom Headings.  Note the consistency between the TOC and the Document Map.  [These are identical in appearance to the styles provided with the "Write a Journal" template, except I've adjusted the font sizes to better distinguish the different levels, and changed the typeface to Calibiri.  And, of course, I've given Heading 1 approximately theappearance of the original Title, Heading 2 approximately the appearance of the original Heading 2, etc.  But, again, I've not changed their functions.] But, based on Shauna Kelly's article, I would prefer to achieve this same appearance, except where my document's structure is based on built-in Headings instead of custom Headings. [OL = Outline Level]:

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  2. Doug Robbins - MVP - Office Apps and Services 323.6K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2017-03-01T05:47:51+00:00

    So exactly what problems are you running into when you modify the appearance of the Heading # styles by changing their font, paragraph formatting etc. via the Font and Paragraph dialogs, (excluding indentation which should be set in the Define New Multilevel List dialog)

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  3. Anonymous
    2017-03-01T07:34:11+00:00

    Take a look at my third post in this thread (the last one dated Feb. 27).  There I explain that I am not "changing their font, paragraph formatting etc. via the Font and Paragraph dialog," because the styles are very complex. [ At the bottom of this post is a screenshot showing just a portion of the style specification for one of the Headings.]  

    Thus one of the things I've tried is to instead take my existing custom Headings (which were in turn created based on the built-in Headings, and whose styles you can see in screenshot in my last post), and modify the styles of the built-in Headings using the "Update to Match Selection" feature provided in the Styles Pane.

    E.g., looking at the screenshot in my last post, I'll click on "Heading 1 (OL1): Chapter Name" (this is my top-level custom Heading). Then in the Styles Pane I'll click on the reverse triangle to the right of  "Heading 1" (i.e., the built-in Heading 1), and select "Update to Match Selection".

    My third post gives more details on what happens when I try to do this, but basically it works for any one Heading Level, but messes up the Heading at the Level next to it.  Thus I can update Levels 1, 3, and 5, but when I do this it messes up 2 and 4.  [As Shauna Kelly advises, I have "Automatically Update" unchecked in the Modify Style dialog.]

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  4. Doug Robbins - MVP - Office Apps and Services 323.6K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2017-03-01T10:22:58+00:00

    That doesn't answer my question:

    "What problems are you running into when you modify the appearance of the Heading # styles by changing their font, paragraph formatting etc. via the Font and Paragraph dialogs, (excluding indentation which should be set in the Define New Multilevel List dialog)?"

    That is the way that I would modify Styles and I have no other suggestions for you.

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