I am working with MS Word for Mac. The version number is advertised as 16.16.10, copyright 2018.

I am trying to get a subsection number such as 4.1 under a section 4. I am thinking I should set the configuration for Heading 1 for the section and Heading 2 for the subsection.

I can get successive section numbers as expected, e.g. 1, 2, 3, etc. What I want is that the first Heading 2 under the Heading 2 which is numbered 4 should be numbered 4.1. However what I see is that the first Heading 2 is numbered 1.1 instead of 4.1.

I gather this is a result of a fundamental misfeature in MS Word. Do I understand correctly that the only way to work around it is to follow the process outlined in this blog post? How to create numbered headings or outline numbering in Word 2007 and Word 2010

I am hoping there is a simpler way, but if not, I would appreciate knowing that too.

4

1 Answer

I was able to get the behavior I was hoping for, by first creating a multilevel list (by navigating to Home, then clicking the drop-down for Multilevel List and selecting the "1, 1.1, 1.1.1" style from the List Library), and then creating an outline of the structure which I want (e.g. 1, 1.1, 1.2, 2, 2.1, 2.2) and putting some text on each one.

Then I put the cursor on item 1 and clicked "Heading 1", likewise put the cursor on item 2 and clicked "Heading 1". Then clicked "Heading 2" for 1.1, 1.2, 2.1, and 2.2. That made the numbers disappear because numbering wasn't configured yet. So I went to the "Styles Pane" and clicked "Modify Style..." for Heading 1 and set the numbering scheme, likewise for Heading 2. Finally for Heading 2 I clicked the icon to unindent, so the number is at the same indentation as for Heading 1 (instead of being more indented).

Then I typed some text into each subsection. The result I get looks like the following:

1. First section
1.1. First section, first subsection
Text for first section, first subsection.
1.2. First section, second subsection
Text for first section, second subsection.
2. Second section
2.1. Second section, first subsection
Text for second section, first subsection.
More text.
2.2. Second section, second subsection
Text for second section, second subsection.
Still more.

That's the effect I was hoping for, so I think I'll stop here. It looks like it's crucial to start with the multilevel list, so I don't think I can fix up the existing document (except by creating the list structure in a new document and copying all the text). But I can use this approach for any new documents.

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