Hi there,



The legal services provider I volunteer for frequently has filings where there is a brief (target document) and a separate document that is an annotated table of contents (source document). The source document is formatted to include new paragraphs as new exhibits (Exhibit A, B, C, etc.).

I would like to set up an easy-to-use system that replaces references with static names (e.g., govreport; declA) in the target document with exhibit numbers in the source document. I have been able to do this with Cross References, INCLUDETEXT, and setting bookmarks as instructed by this post: https://www.msofficeforums.com/word/...documents.html. First, I want to see if there is a solution to a frequent problem I am encountering. Second, I'd like to know how I might automate this process through macros or other tools so others could use it more easily.

First--updating the paragraph number field works when a cross reference moves up, but not when it moves down. Here's what I mean:

This is the inside of my field:

{INCLUDETEXT "C:\\Users\\filepath\\REDACTED - source document.docx" DeclA}

In the source document, let's say I hit enter next to Exhibit A to start the next item in the list. The Paragraph containing DeclA is now Exhibit B. Even if I update the fields on both documents, DeclA still appears as Exhibit A, not Exhibit B. It works, however, if "GovReport" is Exhibit E, and I delete the paragraph that was Exhibit D. Upon updates, the GovReport field becomes Exhibit D, and it appears as such in both the source and target document. Is this an insurmountable issue or is there some kind of fix to make this work?

Assuming the first problem is soluble, I'm wondering how to make this process easy for document drafters, without having to paste and set bookmarks and cross-references manually for every new paragraph. Is it possible to have some kind of key for each paragraph in the source document, maybe "<<>>" that would take whatever text is inside then assign the cross-reference paragraph number and name a bookmark through SET with the text inside the "<< >>"? Would I need to use a macro for this? How complicated would that macro be, and where could I find someone to write it?

Please let me know if any of this is not clear. Happy to post sample documents.

Best wishes,
An intern

Cross-posted at: Sync paragraph numbers from source

For cross-posting etiquette, please read: A Message to Forum Cross-Posters

In answering your first question, it is probably caused by where your cursor is when adding the new entry.

CrossRefs to an automatic paragraph number point at the number on the FIRST paragraph inside that bookmark. If you put your cursor in front of that heading (where the bookmark includes the full heading) and press Enter to insert the new paragraph then the bookmark EXPANDS to include both the new and old headings (and the first paragraph is not the one you intended the bookmark to point at).

To avoid this behaviour when inserting content in front of numbered items put your cursor at the end of the paragraph above and insert the new paragraph there (and apply the style it if necessary)

To address question 2 I would need to see sample documents because I don't fully understand what you are currently doing. I think it is likely that Charles' suggestion (on the other forum) to use Content Controls is going to be part of the solution.

__________________
Andrew Lockton
Chrysalis Design, Melbourne Australia

Thank you Guessed--that made the difference for the automatic paragraph numbering. Allow me to give a bit more context for the second part.

The source document is formatted like this:

Exhibit A Declaration of Person A

Exhibit B US Govt Report

Exhibit C New York Times article

While being drafted, the target document contains sentences like these:

****
According to A, this thing happened. Declaration of Person A. This thing has been reported by the US government as well. US Govt Report. Recent reports also suggest this thing is happening. NYTimes Article.
*****

While drafting, the writers prefer to keep citations to static names (i.e., Declaration of Person A). It's time-consuming and annoying, though, to go through at the end of the drafting process and replace each "Declaration of Person A" with "Exhibit A," or "Exhibit B," etc. Even with find and replace some of the briefs have dozens of exhibits. I'm wondering if it's possible through macros to automatically replace static citation names with their relative places on the source document.

It needs to be dynamic, though, because sometimes a new piece of evidence will need to be included late in the drafting process, and that changes all the subsequent exhibit numbers.

Does this sound possible? I'm a bit confused about how AutoText would help with cross-referencing to replace static citations with exhibit numbers. That said, being able to type "declA" and then hit enter to get 1/1/2021 Declaration of Person A is definitely useful.