Import Paragraph Headers

[Gary''s Student]

I have a text file, template.txt that contains lines like:

1 Introduction
1.1 New Software Development
1.2 System Overview
1.3 Document Overview
1.4 Relationship to Other Plans
2 Referenced Documents
2.1 Government Documents

There is a single tab character between the numerical designation and the
text. If I import this into Word, I get simple text with the document.

Can I import this in a way that Word will treat the lines as paragraph
headers? Alternatively, if I import them as simple text, can I convert the
lines to paragraph headers and create a TOC?

I apologize for this beginner's question

 

[Daiya Mitchell]

It's not a beginner's question. What do you ultimately want to do with
these lines?

If you will be editing this document and moving things around, then
you'll probably need to let Word handle the numbering so that it will
update as changes happen, and delete the current plain text numbering.
You'd need to set up numbering as outlined here.
http://shaunakelly.com/word/numbering/OutlineNumbering.html

If you are positive that the numbering will not EVER be changing
(unlikely?), then you can keep the existing plain text numbering and
apply the appropriate built-in Heading 1, Heading 2, etc. You can do
this pretty quickly with keyboard shortcuts, and Outline View might help.
http://shaunakelly.com/word/numbering/UseBuiltInHeadingStyles.html
How Outline View Can Save You Hours
http://word.mvps.org/faqs/formatting/usingolview.htm

Setting up either Outline Numbering or just applying the Heading styles
will let you easily create a TOC.
http://shaunakelly.com/word/toc/CreateATOC.html

I'd say that trying to avoid the manual hassle of applying formatting to
a plain text import is not worth the trouble.

 

[Gary''s Student]

Thanks for your help. I will take your advise and let Word manage the
numbering once I do the import.

Thanks also for the references.

 

[Daiya Mitchell]

Glad to help.

There should be a way to use Find and Replace to quickly delete the
existing plain-text numbers, rather than doing it manually. Post a new
question when you get to that point.

After setting up Outline Numbering, of course, you'll still need to
quickly apply the right headings, so Outline View may still be helpful.