Sequence numbers in word

Please Note:
This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and Word in Microsoft 365. If you are using an earlier version (Word 2003 or earlier), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for earlier versions of Word, click here: Numbering With Sequence Fields.

Word includes a special sequencing field that you can use to do all sorts of numbering. You can even use the SEQ field to help create broken numbered lists. (A broken numbered list is one in which the flow of the list is interrupted by paragraphs of a different format.) This approach to creating numbered lists is particularly helpful and much less prone to the problems inherent in Word’s built-in list numbering. For the purposes of this tip, the format of the sequence field is as follows:

{seq ident}

In this format, ident is replaced with a unique identifier for the sequence in question. Thus, you could have several sequences in a single document. For instance, one numbered sequence could use an identifier of MajorNum1, and another use an identifier of MajorNum2. The identifiers you use are entirely up to you.

You should understand that the sequence field can be much more powerful than implied in this tip. If you want additional information on how it can be used, you should refer to the on-line help for the SEQ field.

When you use the sequence field, and then combine it with the AutoText capabilities of Word, you have a powerful combination for creating numbered lists in your documents. As an example of how you can do this, follow these steps:

1. Position the insertion point where you want the sequential number to appear. For instance, this would be in the caption for the table or figure.
2. Press Ctrl+F9 to insert field braces. Make sure the insertion point stays between the braces.
3. Type «seq NumList» (without the quote marks).
4. Press F9 to update the field information. Word replaces the field with the next number in the sequence you have specified.
5. If you want a period, tab, or some other character after the number, enter it after the number generated by the SEQ field.
6. Select everything you created in steps 1 through 5.
7. Press Alt+F3. Word displays the Create New Building Block dialog box. (See Figure 1.)



Figure 1. The Create New Building Block dialog box.

8. In the Name field enter a name by which you want this highlighted text known. This should be something short and meaningful, such as NumList or even NL.
9. Click on the OK button. The dialog box closes.

Now whenever you want to insert the number, type the name you defined in step 7, and then press the F3 key. The field is entered in the document. Note that the number always shows up as 1, but it is updated when you print, or when you select the entire list and press F9.

The process described in this tip works best if you have a single list in your document. Note that the sequence field starts at the beginning of the document and numbers through the whole document, based on the identifier you use. If you are going to have multiple lists in your document, then you can add a second AutoText entry to help with this. The only difference in the above steps is that the SEQ field you define would look like this:

{ seq NumList r1 }

The addition of the r1 switch causes Word to start the sequence counter over at 1. You would use this whenever you wanted to start a new list and use the regular field for the rest of your numbered items. (If you want to start the list over at a number other than 1, use the starting number right after r.)

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As an example of how you can do this, follow these steps:

Can you do automatic numbering in Word?

Go to File > Options > Proofing. Select AutoCorrect Options, and then select the AutoFormat As You Type tab. Select or clear Automatic bulleted lists or Automatic numbered lists.

How do you do continuous numbering in Word?

Click Select in the Editing group on the Home tab, and then click Select All. Or press CTRL+A. Do one of the following: To number consecutively throughout the document, click Continuous.

What is sequential numbering?

Sequential Numbering is a popular feature on custom-printed forms Sequential Numbering, also known as Consecutive Numbering, refers to the printing of ascending or descending identification numbers so that each printed unit receives its own unique number.

What are sequential digits?

Sequential Digits. An integer has sequential digits if and only if each digit in the number is one more than the previous digit. Return a sorted list of all the integers in the range [low, high] inclusive that have sequential digits. Example 1: Input: low = 100, high = 300 Output: [123,234]

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There are a couple of ways you can set up Word 2007/2010 to use SEQ fields for numbering — you can set them up as AutoCorrect entries or as Quick Parts. Both ways work; the method you choose is up to you. This long article describes how to create the SEQ fields and the numbering style in your Normal.dotm template; how to save the SEQ fields as AutoCorrect entries in Word 2007/2010 (and how to use them); and how to save (and use) them as Quick Parts. The most consuming part of this process is settings up the fields and the style; once they’re set up, using them is super easy.

Please note: While some of this information may be relevant to Word 2003, Quick Parts is new to Word 2007, so this article focuses on Word 2007/2010.

Create the SEQ field to reset the number to 1

1. Right-click on the Normal.dotm template, then select Open (in Vista, the Normal.dotm template is stored under C:Users<username>AppDataRoamingMicrosoftTemplates by default).
2. Place your cursor on a blank line.
3. Go to the Insert tab > Text group, then click the Quick Parts icon.
4. Select Field.
5. Select Seq from the list of Field names. SEQ displays in the Field codes text box on the right.
6. Add this after SEQ: Step r 1 (this will be the ‘reset numbering to 1’ field).
   
7. Click OK. You should notice that ‘1‘ is inserted into the template. If you have field code shading turned on (Word Options > Advanced > Show Document Content section > Field Shading: Always), it will have a gray background.
8. Press Enter to create a new line for the next SEQ field you’ll add — the one that will deal with all numbers other than 1.

Create the SEQ field for numbers other than 1

1. Go to the Insert tab > Text group, then click the Quick Parts icon.
2. Select Field.
3. Select Seq from the list of Field names.
4. Add this after SEQ: Step n (this will be used for all numbers other than 1).
5. Click OK. You should notice that ‘2‘ is inserted into the template if you added this field below the first one.

Add periods and tabs to the fields (optional)

1. Make sure you have the Show/Hide marker turned on (Home tab, Paragraph group).
2. Select the lines with 1 and 2 on them, then right-click and select Toggle Field Codes to display the code associated with these fields. Note: * MERGEFORMAT is added to the fields if you left the Preserve formatting during updates check box selected on the Field dialog box (this is the default).
   
3. Position your cursor AFTER the closing curly bracket ( } ) of the first field, then add a period followed by a tab. Repeat for the second field.
4. Leave the field codes displayed as you’ll need them later.

Create a new style for the SEQ field numbering

You won’t use any of the standard List Number styles for SEQ field numbering. You need to create your own style if you want correct indentation and alignment with the tab position of the first word after the number. In this example, I’ll create a new style called Step Number, but you can call it whatever you want. In this example, I’ve also used the default settings for tab and hanging indent positions — you can change these later if you want.

1. Click the Styles dialog launcher on the Home tab > Styles group.
2. Click the AA icon  at the bottom left of the Styles pane to create a new style.
3. Give the new style a name — in this example, we’ll use Step Number.
4. Make Step Number the Style for the following paragraph. Leave the other settings as they are for now — you can always change them later.
5. Click Format, then select Paragraph to open the Paragraph dialog box.
6. Adjust the paragraph settings to suit your preference, making sure you add a Hanging indent value (1.27 cm or 1/2 inch is the default).
   
7. Click Tabs to open the Tabs dialog box.
8. Set the left tab stop position (1.27 cm or 1/2 inch is the default).
9. Click OK to close each dialog box.

Create the AutoCorrect entries for the fields

Note: AutoCorrect is one way to store and use the SEQ fields — you can use this AutoCorrect method and/or the Quick Parts method described later in this article.

1. Make sure the field codes are displayed (see Step 2 in the Add periods and tabs section).
2. Select the first field code (the SEQ Step r 1 one), its following period and tab marker but DO NOT select the paragraph marker.
3. Go to Word Options (under the Microsoft Office button) > Proofing.
4. Click the AutoCorrect Options button.
   
5. Your selection is already displayed in the text box on the right and Formatted text is already selected. In the Replace text box, type 1] (Why ‘1]’? Because you’re unlikely to use this sequence of characters in normal writing, and because it’s what David Knopf suggested back in his original article — and why change something that works?)
   
6. Click Add then click OK.
7. Select the second field code (the SEQ Step n one), its following period and tab marker but DO NOT select the paragraph marker.
8. Go to Word Options (under the Microsoft Office button) > Proofing.
9. Click the AutoCorrect Options button.
10. Again, your selection is already displayed in the text box on the right and Formatted text is already selected. In the Replace text box, type n] .
11. Click Add then click OK.

Test your AutoCorrect numbering

1. Go to a blank line anywhere in the document.
2. Type 1] and press Enter. You should see 1. and a tab space.
3. Type n] on the next line and press Enter. You should see 2. and a tab space.
4. Type n] on the next line and press Enter. You should see 3. and a tab space.
5. Type 1] on the next line and press Enter. you should see 1. and a tab space — remember, 1] resets the numbering to 1.
6. Select all numbered lines and apply the Step Number style to them. To check the indentation, alignment and text wrapping, add placeholder text for each numbered item.

Create Quick Parts for the fields

Note: Quick Parts is one way to store and use the SEQ fields — you can use this Quick Parts method and/or the AutoCorrect method described earlier in this article. As far as I can tell, you do not have to have the field codes displayed to add these fields as Quick Parts, but it may be easier to see which is which if you do.

1. Select the first field code (the SEQ Step r 1 one), its following period and tab marker but DO NOT select the paragraph marker.
2. Go to the Insert tab > Text group, then click the Quick Parts icon.
3. Select Save Selection to Quick Part Gallery.
4. Give the new building block a Name (in this example, I’ve used SEQ Step 1) and add a Description (optional). Leave the other settings as they are for now — you can always change them later.
   
5. Click OK.
6. Select the second field code (the SEQ Step n one), its following period and tab marker but DO NOT select the paragraph marker.
7. Go to the Insert tab > Text group, then click the Quick Parts icon.
8. Select Save Selection to Quick Part Gallery.
9. Give the new building block a Name (in this example, I’ve used SEQ Step n) and add a Description (optional).
10. Click OK.

Test your Quick Parts numbering

1. Put your cursor on a blank line in your document.
2. Go to the Insert tab > Text group, then click the Quick Parts icon. Your two new Quick Parts entries are listed in the drop-down — hover over each to see the Description you added displayed as a tooltip.
   
3. Click SEQ Step 1 to insert a 1. into the document. Press Enter to go to the next line.
4. Click the Quick Parts icon again, and this time select SEQ Step n to insert 2. into the document.
5. Repeat step 4 to keep adding numbers to the sequence.
6. When you want to start a new number sequence, click the Quick Parts icon and select SEQ Step 1.
7. Select all numbered lines and apply the Step Number style to them. To check the indentation, alignment and text wrapping, add placeholder text for each numbered item.

Clean up your template

1. Before saving these changes to your Normal.dotm, remove all text and fields from the document.
2. Save the template, and say Yes to saving the changes to the Building Blocks document as well.

That’s it! From now on, all you have to do to add SEQ field numbering is either type in your AutoCorrect text (1] and n]) or select the options from your Quick Parts list. If you find your numbering gets out of whack (remember, the numbers don’t update when you insert a new number between two existing numbers, or delete a number), select the sequence and press F9 (Hint: To update all fields for the entire document, press Ctrl+A then F9).

BONUS!!

Linking to a step number

Using SEQ fields gives you the extra benefit of being able to link to step numbers in the text. You cannot do this in Word using standard number styles or automated numbering. Here’s how:

1. Select the SEQ field number you want to link to — don’t select the period, the tab, any of the text, or the paragraph marker.
2. Go to the Insert tab > Links group and click the Bookmark icon.
3. Give the bookmark a unique but meaningful name, then click Add. (For example, if the step describes how to print, then use print as the bookmark name.)
4. In the body of the text place the cursor where you want to refer to that step, then go to the Insert tab > Links group and click the Cross-reference icon.
5. Change the Type to Bookmark, and leave the Insert reference to as Bookmark text.
6. Click Insert, then Close.
   
7. The text now displays the step number — if you later remove a step before this step, just update the fields with F9 and the cross-reference will update to display the correct number.

See also:

• http://wordribbon.tips.net/T008180_Numbering_with_Sequence_Fields.html

[Link last checked July 2014]

1. What Multi-level Numbering Looks Like

Often used in the legal profession or in large corporate documents, multilevel numbering creates a logical hierarchy and easy navigation within the document. The headings can also be summarised later on in a table of contents. Here is a simple example:

2. How to Set Up Multilevel Numbering

Here is the correct process: