In a mailmerge, one would ordinarily want the 'section heading numbers' to re-start at 1 for each recipient. It would look rather odd to have the same content for each recipient numbered differently, with their first heading, for example, reflecting not its position in their letter but their position in the mailmerge sequence.

Given the above, why do you need the 'section heading numbers' to increment and what kind on mailmerge are you performing (eg letter, directory/catalog)?

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Cheers,
Paul Edstein
[Fmr MS MVP - Word]