Numbered paragraphs with multiple 're-start at 1'.

[RichUE]

I have a 70-page test specification with heading numbering to level 3 (using
built-in styles). Each step of the test procedure is numbered using a
separate list with a style called 'Step'. My reasoning for doing this is that
sometimes the test procedure paragraphs are at level 3 and sometimes at level
4. I can't have some level 3 paragraphs as headings and others as test steps.
The test steps re-start at 1 after every new heading. Occasionally, it is
not possible to re-start at 1 - the numbering just refuses to be changed, and
I can't work out why.
Twice during the document's preparation, the numbering has reverted to '1 to
n' across the whole document. I managed to re-start the numbering at the
requisite places but I'd rather not do it again as there are about 700 steps.
Is this a flawed technique?

 

[Stefan Blom]

I'm assuming that you are using the context (right-click) menu to restart
the lists? That should be pretty reliable in recent versions of Word.

However, in all versions from Word 97 on, the safest restart method is to
make use of a multilevel list, letting higher levels restart lower ones.

 

[RichUE]

Thanks, Stefan. Yes, I use the context menu to re-start numbering.
Occasionally, this alters the indent and tab settings of the paragraph I'm
re-starting (but not the following ones), which is frustrating. I had thought
(when using earlier versions of Word) that this was because settings in the
Paragraph and Numbering dialogs were conflicting, but I can't find the
Numbering settings dialog in Word 2007.

I don't see how to make use of a multi-level list in this case.

 

[Stefan Blom]

You can make your actual numbers level 2 in a multilevel list, and use
un-numbered level 1 to restart it. Be sure to associate each level of the
list with a unique paragraph style. To access the multilevel numbering
options in Word 2007, click Home tab | Multilevel List | Define New
Multilevel List.