February 11, 2025
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Word multilevel list headings not working
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Word's expectation is that a paragraph in one of the built-in heading styles will be followed by paragraph text, so the "Style for following paragraph" for all the heading styles is set to Normal. When you press Enter at the end of a Heading 1, Heading 2, Heading 3, etc., paragraph, you get a paragraph in the Normal style. Unless you are in Outline view, in which case you will get a new paragraph in the same style, and you can use the designated keyboard shortcuts (or the Ribbon buttons) to promote/demote levels.
If you are creating a document that will consist entirely of an outline, you have two choices:
- Change the "Style for following paragraph" for each heading style to be the same style; or
- Link your multilevel list numbering to some other styles (such as the List Number series).
If you choose to continue with the heading styles, note that they are all formatted as "Keep with next," which will ultimately cause problems in a document containing nothing but headings. To avoid problems, remove this property from all but the top two or three levels.
If you are creating an outline as the basis of a document and will later fill in with text paragraphs, then you should stick with the heading styles but create the outline in Outline view, then revert to Print Layout view when you are ready to fill in the text.
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Question Info
Last updated November 28, 2023 Views 6,888 Applies to: