I am typing up an old document and am having an issue with my list bullets/numbering not restarting after an intermediate heading. I am using a template that has worked for me for many years and I have set up my list bullets using the information provided at Shauna Kelly's page.



For this document the only thing I have changed, since I only require level 1 bullets with a letter prefix, is for the level 1 numbering to be a, b, c etc.

At the end of each section of numbering there is a new heading 1 style that normally should reset the numbering but in this case it staunchly refuses to do so. Example shown in image attached.

Attached Images

image (1).png (48.6 KB, 14 views)

You need your level 1 numbering to be 1,2,3... and your level 2 numbering to be a,b,c.

You need the level 2 to be set to restart after a change in level 1.




Here is a link to Automatic Numbering in Word - my 5-page pdf prepared for a presentation earlier this year.

Thank you very much Charles.

Regards

Murray

Actually Charles I was a bit premature.

That didn't work.

Attached Images

	Screenshot 2025-08-29 095846.png (29.6 KB, 13 views)
	Screenshot 2025-08-29 100047.png (71.1 KB, 12 views)

Click in a paragraph which should restart, but currently doesn't, and press Ctrl+Q.

__________________
Stefan Blom
Microsoft Word MVP

Microsoft 365 apps for business
Windows 11 Professional

myall_blues

I think you are getting conflicting info here that is not leading you to the answer.

The 'ideal' list restart method doesn't actually exist in Word. The way you normally do it is by building a list outline series following Shauna Kelly's timeless guidance. Then as you apply that style to each individual list, you need to add a local format instruction to 'restart' each separate list. You do this by right clicking on the paragraph and choosing 'Restart at 1'

Stefan's suggestion of using Ctrl-Q removes that local format instruction (since that particular shortcut resets paragraph settings to match the style). This would ensure that the list continues from above rather than actually restarting.

In order for Charles' recommendation to work, you would need to have a styled paragraph sitting somewhere between each list and that paragraph style would need to be linked to the higher level of that same outline list.

In your screen shot, there is only one paragraph between your lists and it appears to be a 'Heading 1'. So, if you configured the outline list to associate Heading 1 with outline level 1. Then your outline level 2 style should be set to restart after a higher level (see Charles' screenshot).

Now, there are problems with this approach such as:
What if I wanted a full series of Headings and an independent series for 'numbered lists'.
What if I had two types of numbered lists
What if I might have Heading 2, Heading 3, or Body Text paragraphs sitting between the separate lists.

Each of these options can be catered for but they always require a kludge fix that isn't a perfect solution. For my documents, I use macros to manage the numbering and rely on the local restart formatting to restart my lists. It isn't perfect but it does offer the most flexibility to my authors.

__________________
Andrew Lockton
Chrysalis Design, Melbourne Australia

Thank you Andrew - that was the information I required. Since I have no need for higher order headings in this document, and my template already had Heading 6 onward set up for no numbering, I connected list bullet to Heading 6 and changed my headings to Heading 6 rather than Heading 1.
There is one 'odd' heading in the document that requires a letter as well as the number (7A) so to achieve that I attached Heading 7 to list bullet 4.
I can see that such a setup could be problematic in a large document but for this case it works very well.

Unfortunately this didn't seem to work either Stefan but thank you for the suggestion.

Regards

Murray

Good to hear you are getting it working now.

If you are using that approach, I would keep Heading 1 at level 1 and use levels 2-5 for lower heading levels. Then use 6-9 levels for your list. This gives you a bit more flexibility in that your authors can have several heading levels between lists and all of them will 'restart' the numbering of the 6-9 level paragraphs.

The potential problem with this approach will be if there are instances where you have two separate 'lists' and don't want a heading between them

__________________
Andrew Lockton
Chrysalis Design, Melbourne Australia

Ctrl+Q reverts to the underlying settings of the paragraph style and this includes any options set for the numbering level that the para style belongs to.

The fact that it isn't working suggests that something isn't quite correct with the settings for level restarts. Or maybe there are blank paragraphs present and/or styles haven't been applied consistently.

A sample document (in Word format) may help us diagnose the problem in detail.

__________________
Stefan Blom
Microsoft Word MVP

Microsoft 365 apps for business
Windows 11 Professional