Some Buttons (numbering, bullets) grayed out

[Guest]

Greetings all -
I have a doc that is has been edited by several other individuals in a
review process. At one point in the flow of the doc, the buttons for certain
features become grayed out - like that text is somehow "marked" as not
eligible for that feature. Numbering and Bulleting buttons, specifically.

I have tried cutting that text out and pasting back in as Unformatted - no
luck. I have tried deleting the paragraph marks at the end of that text -
that makes the text BELOW it suffer the same consequences. I have tried using
the Format Paintbrush to copy the format of a successfully formatted section
of text - no luck.

I have turned on paragraph marks to see if there is any special formatting
there - not that I can see.

What th'...HELP!

Thanks and best regards,
S2

 

[Cindy M -WordMVP-]

Hi =?Utf-8?B?UzI=?=,

Which version of Word?

Any chance the document has been protected (as a form, for example)? If you look
in the Tools menu, do you see "Protect document" or "Unprotect document"?

I have a doc that is has been edited by several other individuals in a
review process. At one point in the flow of the doc, the buttons for certain
features become grayed out - like that text is somehow "marked" as not
eligible for that feature. Numbering and Bulleting buttons, specifically.

I have tried cutting that text out and pasting back in as Unformatted - no
luck. I have tried deleting the paragraph marks at the end of that text -
that makes the text BELOW it suffer the same consequences. I have tried using
the Format Paintbrush to copy the format of a successfully formatted section
of text - no luck.

I have turned on paragraph marks to see if there is any special formatting
there - not that I can see.

Cindy Meister
INTER-Solutions, Switzerland
http://homepage.swissonline.ch/cindymeister (last update Jun 8 2004)
http://www.word.mvps.org

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[Guest]

Hi Cindy - answers inline below...

Which version of Word?

2k3, SP2

Any chance the document has been protected (as a form, for example)? If you look
in the Tools menu, do you see "Protect document" or "Unprotect document"?

Nope - it's all straight text with a couple of tables and a graphic thrown
in for giggles. I'm thinking it may have to do with tracking changes...?
I've had some success by cutting the problematic text out, pasting back in as
unformatted, and accepting all changes in the doc. Which pretty much
invalidates tracking changes in the first place, but do what you gotta
do...any suggestions?

Best,
S2

 

[Charles Kenyon]

Under the tools menu you should see one of the following:
Protect Document
Unprotect document

Which do you see?
--
Charles Kenyon

Word New User FAQ & Web Directory: http://addbalance.com/word

Intermediate User's Guide to Microsoft Word (supplemented version of
Microsoft's Legal Users' Guide) http://addbalance.com/usersguide




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[Guest]

"protect"

Under the tools menu you should see one of the following:
Protect Document
Unprotect document

Which do you see?
--
Charles Kenyon

Word New User FAQ & Web Directory: http://addbalance.com/word

Intermediate User's Guide to Microsoft Word (supplemented version of
Microsoft's Legal Users' Guide) http://addbalance.com/usersguide




--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
This message is posted to a newsgroup. Please post replies
and questions to the newsgroup so that others can learn
from my ignorance and your wisdom.

 

[Charles Kenyon]

I asked that to get the information Cindy asked for. I don't know what is
going on in your document, but I do know that I never use those buttons and
don't think anyone should on something that is going to be edited by
different people. You can end up with what is known by the technical term
"spaghetti numbering."

While you are waiting for someone else to address your original query you
might want to take a look at: How to create numbered headings or outline
numbering in your Word document
http://www.shaunakelly.com/word/numbering/OutlineNumbering.html. (For
bullets see http://www.shaunakelly.com/word/bullets/controlbullets.html, the
subject is related.)

--
Charles Kenyon

Word New User FAQ & Web Directory: http://addbalance.com/word

Intermediate User's Guide to Microsoft Word (supplemented version of
Microsoft's Legal Users' Guide) http://addbalance.com/usersguide




--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
This message is posted to a newsgroup. Please post replies
and questions to the newsgroup so that others can learn
from my ignorance and your wisdom.

 

[Cindy M -WordMVP-]

Hi =?Utf-8?B?UzI=?=,

it's all straight text with a couple of tables and a graphic thrown
in for giggles. I'm thinking it may have to do with tracking changes...?
I've had some success by cutting the problematic text out, pasting back in as
unformatted, and accepting all changes in the doc. Which pretty much
invalidates tracking changes in the first place, but do what you gotta
do...any suggestions?

Right, it does seem to be damaged internal file structures, then.

The one thing you could try - but no guarantees - that would evade losing the
change tracking: Save as a XML file, close, re-open.

With any luck, the converter will straighten out the internal mess. If it can't,
and this really means a lot to you, someone could, perhaps, make sense of and
clean up the XML directly. But it wouldn't be a "trivial" task.

Cindy Meister
INTER-Solutions, Switzerland
http://homepage.swissonline.ch/cindymeister (last update Jun 8 2004)
http://www.word.mvps.org

This reply is posted in the Newsgroup; please post any follow question or reply
in the newsgroup and not by e-mail