Word paragraph numbering problems

paragraph numbering in word

Word’s automatic paragraph numbering feature is a great time-saver when it works. But, once a numbering sequence gets messed up, it seems impossible to get it back on track. Here are a few tricks for making your automatic paragraph numbering in Word behave.

How to Automatically Number Paragraphs in Word

If you’re not already familiar with Microsoft Word’s paragraph numbering feature, it’s located on the Home tab in the Paragraph section.

• The left-most button is for bullets.
• The one in the middle is for single-level numbering.
• The one on the right is for multi-level numbering.

Use the Multi-Level Option for More Flexibility

Even if I’m numbering just one level of the paragraph, I always use the multi-level style instead of single-level numbering. Multi-level gives me more options for formatting. And it even allows me to save my own numbering schemes for future use.

Three Ways Paragraph Numbering Goes Off Track

I typically see three problems with paragraph numbering getting off track, all of which can be cured with a simple right-click.

1. Most people really don’t like Word’s default indentation for automatic numbering. Fixing it is simple: Just right-click on one of the numbers and choose Adjust List Indents. Depending on whether you’re using single-level or multi-level numbering, you’ll get a dialog box that’ll allow you to set the indentation for the number itself and the following text. If you’re using the multi-level paragraph numbering style, you can also set the alignment of the number to right versus left if that’s what you prefer. In multi-level numbering, you can also reset the alignment of the first level of the numbering scheme, then instruct Word to increment the indentation for the remaining levels by a consistent measurement.

2. The numbers themselves somehow get out of sequence. When this happens, right-click and choose either Continue Numbering (if you want to connect your current paragraph to the previous list to continue that sequence) or Set Numbering Value (if you need to deliberately start at a specific number). This trick also comes in handy if you need to insert an unnumbered paragraph in the middle and then pick the number sequence back up in a subsequent paragraph.

Occasionally, however, some paragraph numbers just don’t respond to the Continue Numbering command. Here’s what I do as a fallback position. I place my cursor somewhere within a paragraph in the sequence I want to continue, and then on the Home tab click the Format Painter button. Notice that the mouse cursor is now a paintbrush. That means it’s copied the formatting of the paragraph that my cursor is currently sitting in, and now it’s looking to paste it elsewhere. So once I click into the offending paragraph, then it continues numbering.

3. You need to add more space between paragraphs. You probably want a little space between each paragraph, which, unfortunately, is not the default. To fix this, select all your numbered paragraphs, right-click, and choose Paragraph. In the Paragraph dialog box, set a bit of space after each paragraph. Be sure to uncheck the “Don’t add space between paragraphs of the same style” box to ensure that spacing is honored. Once you click OK, your numbered paragraphs should be correctly spaced.

Click here to read more of Deborah’s Microsoft Office tips.

Updated March 31, 2021.

llustration ©iStockPhoto.com

Please Note:
This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 2007, 2010, and 2013. 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 on New Paragraph Doesn’t Work as Expected.

Joel is setting up a template in Word that uses outline numbering. When he sets the insertion point at the end of a line and presses Enter, the numbering does not continue. The only thing that works is moving the insertion point to the left of the period at the end of the line and then pressing Enter. This carries the period to the next paragraph and the new paragraph then has the proper numbering format. Joel wonders how to avoid using that crutch. He wants others who use the template to hit Enter and just keep typing the next item in the outline with no problem.

The most likely cause of this behavior is actually a built-in feature of Word. When you define a style you can specify what style should be used for the paragraph that follows this one. That may sound confusing, but it isn’t really that tough if you remember that Word allows you to specify what style should be applied to the next paragraph you type, after you press Enter. You can set up that capability for an existing style by following these steps:

1. Display the Home tab of the ribbon and then click the small icon at the bottom-right of the Styles group. Word displays the Styles task pane.
2. In the list of styles shown, hover the mouse pointer over the name of the style you want to change. A drop-down arrow should appear at the right side of the style name.
3. Click the drop-down arrow and choose Modify. Word displays the Modify Style dialog box. (See Figure 1.)



Figure 1. The Modify Style dialog box.

4. In the Style For Following Paragraph drop-down list, select an existing style that you want to follow this style. In a numbered list it is good to pick the name of the same style you are modifying. (That way, when you press Enter, the new paragraph will continue to use the same style.)
5. Click on OK.
6. Close the task pane.

There are some caveats that you should keep in mind. First, you’ll want to pay attention to which styles you are modifying and whether your modification makes sense for all the uses for which the style may be used. For instance, if you are using a numbering scheme that is linked, in some way, to the heading styles defined in Word, you may not want to change the «Style for Following Paragraph» setting for your heading styles. The reason is because there are many times where you want the style after a Heading to naturally be whatever style you are using for your body text, not another instance of the same heading.

In this case, the solution is to make sure that you set up a group of styles that will be used specifically for your numbering purposes, separate from your heading styles.

Author Bio

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. Learn more about Allen…