I have Word 2010 on a ASUS G75V using WIN 7

I was handed a document in which the writer did not use the Word built-in heading styles and created his own instead.
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This company has newer docs which use the built-in heading styles.
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My question:


In which version of word were the built-in heading styles first introduced?
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Can I join both types of docs into 1 manual and generate a TOC?
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It's my understanding that chapter numbering does not work unless all the docs use the built-in heading styles. Is that still correct?
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I don't know but, I have been using Word for 10+ years and they have been there since then.
Yes, of course. Reference: Understanding Styles in Microsoft Word and Numbered Headings
No, that is not correct. You can use either the built-in styles or, create your own heading style or, a combination of both. The links above apply.

Here is another link that may help with your TOC (and more): http://wordfaqs.mvps.org/TOCTips.htm#PartialTOC.

Other posters may have additional comments/links. Hope this helps.

IIRC, before 1990, with Word 1.0
Yes, but it would probably be better to use Find/Replace to change the Styles used to either the Heading Styles or the custom Styles, so the document is consistent throughout.
No, but it's easier to implement with the Heading Styles, since Word already has them built in. Furthermore, your reference to 'all the docs' suggest you're using multiple documents, not just one. There is no need to have Chapters in separate documents; Word can happily apply Chapter numbering to Chapters within a single document.

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Cheers,
Paul Edstein
[Fmr MS MVP - Word]

I agree with the previous posts.
An additional resource:
Why use Microsoft Word’s built-in heading styles? by Shauna Kelly
Archive Why use Microsoft Word’s built-in heading styles?

Thanks everyone.
I was thinking that chapter numbering might not work as it wants the built in heading style. I've done chapter numbering by another method but it involves extra work.

As far as I know, you can include the chapter number in the page number (for example, page 2-14) only if you use the built-in heading styles, but you can build a table of contents from any style.

Some reasons for using the built-in headings are listed in the following article by Shauna Kelly:

Why use Microsoft Word’s built-in heading styles?
http://shaunakelly.com/word/numberin...ingstyles.html

Right now, the site seems to be inaccessible, but you can use the archived article at

https://web.archive.org/web/20150321...ingstyles.html

__________________
Stefan Blom
Microsoft Word MVP

Microsoft 365 apps for business
Windows 11 Professional