Aaaah, thank you ! So Tab and Tab + Shift do get temperamental sometimes, it's not me giving bad vibes to my copy of Word, at least it's good to know.

When it fails, there are always plenty of headings in my document, and I don't even know how to make a multilevel list. So there's something else Word does not like.

In that case, Alt + Shift + arrows always work -- not that I revert to them for a long time. I hit at random at the keyboard like a monkey, and usually things come back in order after a while.

Also, I've just found Tab and Tab + Shift in Outline View listed in Word 2003 for Dummies.

As an aside, it's extraordinary the way some Word books say different things about the same features -- I'm thinking about templates. And I'm talking about good books : Special Edition Using Word 2003, Special Edition using Office 2003, Word 2003 Bible, Word 2003 Inside Out... Word 2003 for Dummies even contradicts itself on the subject in two different places.