Skip numbers in outline numbered document

[Caesar3]

I'm working on a document that has outline numbering—
1. Level 1 (Heading 1 style).
a. Level 2 (Heading 2 style
(1) Level 3 (Heading 3 style)
(a) Level 4 (Heading 4 style)

Here's the problem: This document is meant to modify or supplement another document. Most paragraphs refer to the same paragraph (by number) in the base document. At Level 4, we need to say that nothing changed in the first 11 paragraphs. That is, for example, under para 3e(1), subparagraphs (a) thru (j) do not change. Here's how the organizational style guide wants us to handle this situation.

3. Lorem ipsum
a. Dolor sit amet.
(1) Consectetur adipisicing elit.
(a)-(j) No change.
(k) Sed do eiusmod tempor....

That's easy to do if you're using a typewriter (or if you're using Word as if it were a typewriter), but it wreaks havoc with my numbering scheme. How can I handle this without de-stabilizing the numbering? I've tried typing "-(j) at para (a), then resetting the next paragraph from (b) to (k). That seemed to work at first, but the next morning I found the numbering for Level 3 had gone awry. Level 3 now wants to start at the number (3), and I spotted at least one other problem.

Can anyone offer advice on how to fix this? I won't be the only person who works on this document. I can already see what will surely happen when someone else starts monkeying with this document without having any understanding of styles and outline numbering. They'll freak out.

[HansV]

Word is not really geared for that kind of use. I see three options:

1. Ditch the style guide and insert as many paragraphs as needed:
   
   (a) No change.
   (b) No change.
   ...
   (j) No change.
   (k) Set do eiusmod ...
   
   Should be stable (in sofar as numbering in Word is ever stable) and relatively easy to work with, if a bit cumbersome.
2. Set up the numbering in this document with SEQ fields. Extremely flexible and powerful, but difficult to maintain and only suitable for expert Word users.
3. Forego automatic numbering and use Word as a typewriter. "Easy" but error-prone.

[Caesar3]

<<SIGH>> Shucks...I was hoping you'd have some magic trick up your sleeve, Hans. Oh, well...guess I'll go with #1. I'm not schooled in SEQ fields, and I'm not about to fall back on the typewriter approach.

Thanks, Hans!

[Guessed]

This sounds like the resulting document has to be a dead-end branch of the original anyway so I would convert the whole document to turn the autonumbers to hard-coded and then make the edits you need to. The following macro will do that for you.

Code: Select all

Sub NumberingAutoToHardcoded()
'converts autonumbers to hard coded
  Dim iResp As Integer
  iResp = MsgBox("This macro converts automatic paragraph numbers to hard coded." _
    & vbCr & "Click Yes to convert the entire document." & vbCr & _
    "Click No to convert only the selected paragraphs." & vbCr & _
    "Click Cancel to stop the macro.", _
    vbYesNoCancel, "Delete Hard Numbers")
  If iResp = vbYes Then
    ActiveDocument.ConvertNumbersToText (wdNumberAllNumbers)
  ElseIf iResp = vbNo Then
    Selection.Range.ListFormat.ConvertNumbersToText (wdNumberAllNumbers)
  End If
End Sub

If you later need to turn the automatic numbering back on then you can use another macro to remove the hard coded numbers and bullets from the document before refreshing the styles from the template. The code to remove the hard coded bullets is

Code: Select all

Sub NumberingDeleteHardcoded()
  'Only acts on selected paragraphs
  Dim iResp As Integer
  iResp = MsgBox("This macro will remove all hardcoded paragraph numbers " _
    & vbCr & "from the SELECTED paragraphs. Click OK to continue.", _
    vbOKCancel, "Delete Hard Numbers")
  If iResp = vbOK Then
    WordBasic.ToolsBulletsNumbers Replace:=0, Type:=1, Remove:=1
  End If
End Sub

[Caesar3]

Wow! Very creative. Thanks for that tip, especially for the code.