Sometimes I really HATE Word.

[mascotgraphics]

I swear, Word is so inconsistent, it's one of the most annoying things about Word - that you can do something once, but the second time you do the exact same thing it won't let you.

Example: I'm doing homework from a textbook and I'm numbering the sporadic questions that we have to answer: Chapter 1 - 1, 4, 8; Chapter 2 - 1; Chapter 3 - 1, 4, 7; Chapter 4 - 1, 3, 7.

When I type it out, I've gotten through chapters 1-3 with no issues. Chapter 4 tries to renumber my callouts EVERY time. Why?? I could over ride the first three chapters, but now I can't do it with the fourth.

This is what I have:

Chapter 1
..1. Question
....• Answer
..4. Question
....• Answer
..8. Question
....• Answer
Chapter 2
..1. Question
....• Answer
Chapter 3
..1. Question
....• Answer
..4. Question
....• Answer
..7. Question
....• Answer
Chapter 4
..1. Question
....• Answer
..2. Question - I try to change this to 3 but it auto-corrects back to 2
....• Answer


..7. Question - This will stay at 7, but I can't get #2 changed to 3
....• Answer

ignore the .... that is to show the indent levels (I can't renumber here in this forum but basically the above is how my .doc looks). I just want to change Chapter 4 Question from 2 to 3 but it keeps auto correcting. Why is it that the first 3 Chapters I could put whatever number I wanted, but in the fourth Chapter I can't get that one stupid line to accept my own entry???

As with every other time I encounter a problem like this, I copy my Word doc, open Wordpad and paste, then I can open a new Word doc and paste directly from Wordpad and voila! Chapter 4 is now 1, 3, and 7.

This is why I hate Word!!!!

[Charles Kenyon]

Word is consistently broken when it comes to complex automatic numbering unless you follow protocols that Word does not tell you about.

See How to create numbered headings or outline numbering in Word 2007 and Word 2010


If you don't follow these complex procedures your numbering will break. You only need to do it once, in a template, and then base future documents on that template.

[mascotgraphics]

I got to school last night and was talking to a classmate. I noticed that she had the last chapter numbered 1, 2, & 7, not 1, 3, & 7. I asked her about it. Would you believe that the both of us had the exact same issue at the exact same spot in our homework assignment? She was telling me, "it worked fine until I got there, and I kept trying to change it to 3 and it kept going back to 2. I could put 7 after it...".

How weird is that? I could see her having similar issues, but the exact same one? We both did the assignment on our own computers, so there wasn't anything shared other than the fact that we both got frustrated at the same spot!

[JimP]

Originally Posted by mascotgraphics

How weird is that? I could see her having similar issues, but the exact same one? We both did the assignment on our own computers, so there wasn't anything shared other than the fact that we both got frustrated at the same spot!

It all goes back to formatting/styles. Here is a link that should help you setup your documents:

http://www.shaunakelly.com/word/numb...ering2003.html

This takes you to the Word 2003 area but there are links within the site applicable to all versions up to 2010. If you follow/understand the directions you should not have that problem any longer.

[mascotgraphics]

Seems like a lot of unnecessary work just to get past this stupid issue. I guess the real issue I have is why does it work sometimes, but not all the time?

I've had the same issue with placing images in Word. The first two or three will place where I want them. The next one will place directly over top of the last one.

It's these stupid inconsistencies that drive me crazy. Whenever I want to build a word document, especially with images, I use Wordpad. I've never had a problem building a document in Wordpad. Maybe Microsoft needs to take some clues from that.

Thanks for the link, but it seems a lot easier to just use Wordpad than to try to go through all of that just to get my numbers the way I want them.