Hi,

I have a document with multiple numbered lists in which all have different formatting, (indents etc.) and I want to set them to have the same formatting, I've tried the format painter which works great... except that it changes the numbering!

For illustration I have a document like this:

Section 1

1.1 line(s) of text
1.2 line(s) of text
1.3 line(s) of text

Section 2

2.1 line(s) of text
2.2 line(s) of text
2.3 line(s) of text

Section 3

3.1 line(s) of text
3.2 line(s) of text


3.3 line(s) of text


And so on...



Does anyone have a solution for this please?


I'm using office 365 (desktop version)

If you use automatic paragraph numbering or bullets read Shauna Kelly's directions on numbering and bullets. Start with How to create numbered headings or outline numbering in Word 2007 and Word 2010. For large documents you must follow these directions or you will lose your hair!
(Mac version: Outline Numbering in Word for macOS - Best Practices - Brandwares)

This may seem a bit convoluted at first, but it really is not. Just follow the steps. Shauna Kelly's instructions use the built-in heading styles, but you can use any existing paragraph styles including your custom styles. There are, however advantages to using the built-in heading styles when you create a Table of Contents. Here are some more advantages: Why Use Word's Built-In Heading Styles? by Shauna Kelly Note, you can modify these built-in styles to look exactly the way you want.

Videos on this


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=He_ob8ydc9E
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbyTcWo52G4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GevZOS-nCuw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=niD6VXPvAyU

The basic idea is that the numbering is set using the Define MultiLevel List dialog with each numbering level being attached to an existing paragraph style. Once you have this set up, you should not use the buttons for numbering in the Ribbon but rather apply the appropriate style for that level.

You can save a document with this as a template for future documents if you want so you will not need to do this every time.

Here to endorse Charles' suggestion. Yes, it's daunting and a little time-consuming, but when the dust settles, you will have that elusive Word unicorn, bulleted lists that are under your control.

Thank you for your answers, it was an enourmous pain to go through and get everything set up properly, but now that it is it works very well and I'll know for future to set it up like that!