I am using Word 2007.

I put a lot of numbered texts in my documents like the following:

(2) a. I painted last week.
b. I applied last week.

(3) a. John brought the sandwiches and Ann ate.
b. John picked up the glass of beer and drank.
c. We needed a lot of pastries for the party.

I insert the numbers by Word numbering menu but insert the alphabets manually using SHIFT-ENTER to get new lines. When I insert a cross reference to them, the numbers appear the same, that is, in parenthesis. So If I want to refer to (2)a:

i) I insert (2) with cross-reference menu


ii) manually add "a" and get (2)a
iii) put them in parentheses and get ((2)a)

But this is bad. Books and journals want (2a), not ((2)a). To get (2a), I need to insert 2 instead of (2) with cross-reference, but is this possible with Word 2007 or any other versions? (I cannot change the text numbering format to 2.)

A better solution might be to enter the alphabets also with the numbering menu instead of manually. But I am not sure if this is possible. I would greatly appreciate your help.

Unfortunately, I don't think there is anything you can do to remove "delimiters" such as periods or parentheses. Words such as "Article" in "Article #" will be omitted in a cross-reference, of course, but you get no control beyond that.

__________________
Stefan Blom
Microsoft Word MVP

Microsoft 365 apps for business
Windows 11 Professional

Preview
"Books and journals want (2a), not ((2)a)."
But there is no (2a) in the text, so every time the reader sees a cross-reference, he or she has to reconstruct it. (2b) is even more work, because the two elements aren't on the same line …
The (2)a you're trying for you is already easier to interpret; but I think I'd change the approach and go for something like:
2 strong past forms
2a. I painted last week.
2b. I applied last week.

Thank you very much for your answers. I wonder how other people manage this issue who publish in journals!! Is it the same story for the latest versions of Office?

Nothing has changed in this regard in Word 2016.

My guess is that people who want the format you requested are doing it manually, by typing the references.

__________________
Stefan Blom
Microsoft Word MVP

Microsoft 365 apps for business
Windows 11 Professional

I have just found an easy solution. I first changed the example numbering from "(2)" to "2" and then did "update field" on the entire document. This changed the cross reference numbers from ((2)a) to (2a). Then I changed the example numbering back to "(2)". As long as I don't do another "update field" on the reference numbers, they are staying as (2a). yeah! This is not a full solution but I guess easiest.

Of course, you will have to repeat the procedure after you have edited the document so that the cross-references need updating.

__________________
Stefan Blom
Microsoft Word MVP

Microsoft 365 apps for business
Windows 11 Professional