Is formatting easier in Word 2003 versus 2002?

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I'm formatting a user's guide which has a high number of numbered lists
starting with "1." Word 2002 doesn't make it easy to fix problems like the
graying out of the button for restarting the numbering of a new list.
There's an "Outline Numbered" tab and a labyrinthine maze of dialog boxes
that have to be executed perfectly or you're screwed. Something tells me
this stuff does not have to be so difficult.

I'm thinking about upgrading to Word 2003, but if the formatting is just as
anti-intuitive and messy as 2002, why bother. Should I just keep suffering
with 2002 and save myself $86-$139.
 
I find that the Restart Numbering command on the context (right-click) menu
works quite dependably in both Word 2002 and Word 2003.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA

Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
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Tried that. Sometimes it works, but usually it doesn't. I realize you're a
mouthpiece for Microsoft so you won't criticize it, but you have to admit, at
least to yourself, that the numbering part of "Bullets and Numbering" is
something MANY people complain about. I'm reformatting a 150 pg. document
and I don't see how I'm going to do that using paragraph styles that include
numbering. It's too complex for Word. Microsoft is so busy trying to think
up new bells and whistles to add to it, they don't take enough care to get
right the basic stuff that's been around for a long time.
 
No one has been more vocal in criticizing Word's numbering design than MVPs.
We had one whole session at last year's Summit discussing this with the Word
developers. MS is aware of the problems, and they are working on a redesign.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA

Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.
 
You're preaching to the preachers here, JP. :-)

Trust me, the Word MVPs have been *very* verbal on this issue ever
since they (MS) broke numbering in Word 97 and they'll be the first to
tell you it's buggy. And thankfully some have written a few articles
on how to workaround some of the issues you are encountering and why
this is an ongoing issue:

http://www.syntagma.demon.co.uk/FAQs/ListRestartMethods.htm
http://www.shaunakelly.com/word/numbering/OutlineNumbering.html
http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/Numbering/WordsNumberingExplained.htm

--
Please post all follow-up questions to the newsgroup. Requests for
assistance by email can not be acknowledged.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Beth Melton
Microsoft Office MVP

Word FAQ: http://mvps.org/word
TechTrax eZine: http://mousetrax.com/techtrax/
MVP FAQ site: http://mvps.org/
 
That's good to know.

Will the fix be coming out any time soon? Will it be in the form of a
patch which it really should be as opposed to making people spend more money
for an upgrade to get something fixed that should have been fixed 4 years ago.
 
I have no idea on when it will be fixed for good or how quickly. All I
know is they are working on it. I doubt it would be in the form of a
patch since as I understand it, it needs to be revamped along with
some added features and capabilities.

I do know numbering appears to be a little more stable in Word 2003
but I don't get into enough heavy numbering to be 100% certain.

--
Please post all follow-up questions to the newsgroup. Requests for
assistance by email can not be acknowledged.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Beth Melton
Microsoft Office MVP

Word FAQ: http://mvps.org/word
TechTrax eZine: http://mousetrax.com/techtrax/
MVP FAQ site: http://mvps.org/
 
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