Autonum

[kyuuta6]

Version: 2008
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)
Processor: intel

The help files seem to completely avoid offering help on the autonum field, autonumbering in general, and fields in general. Is this on purpose, or is there a way to learn about fields somewhere?

What I want to do is insert a field that increments, beginning with 4988.

Any help with either of these appreciated.

 

[John McGhie]

You are quite correct: Word 2008 Help offers no help at all on Fields.
Yes, it was "on purpose". Be sure to use Help>Send Feedback to make sure
you tell Microsoft how you feel about this.

Try this:
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/word/HP051861351033.aspx

Ignore the fact that it's about Word PC, it's the same thing.

AutoNum is the wrong flavour for your purpose (you can't set the starting
number of an autoNum field). You need the ListNum field. See here:
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/word/HP051895471033.aspx?pid=CH10099271103
3

Cheers

Version: 2008
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)
Processor: intel

The help files seem to completely avoid offering help on the autonum field,
autonumbering in general, and fields in general. Is this on purpose, or is
there a way to learn about fields somewhere?

What I want to do is insert a field that increments, beginning with 4988.

Any help with either of these appreciated.

--

Don't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/

Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie, Microsoft MVP, Word and Word:Mac
Nhulunbuy, NT, Australia. mailto:[email protected]

 

[kyuuta6]

Thank you for this solution!

Two more notes:

1. Microsoft makes it really difficult to use ListNum and the directions on their page are unclear. If you insert a ListNum field, it is likely to have a closing parenthesis after it.

To avoid this, define a new style for where you want the ListNum. In the lower left, pull down the box that says "Format" and select "Numbering." Then select "Outline Numbered" at top and select one of the types you haven't used. (If you've used them all or aren't sure, GOOD LUCK.) Click Customize, and make sure level 1 (or some other level X) has no parenthesis after it. Click OK.

Then go to the toolbox > Bullets and numbering, and unselect the numbering option.

Go back to your style, pull it down, and select "Update to match style."

Now you are ready to insert your field.

Insert > Field > Numbering > ListNum, then type l\1 (that's a small "ell" slash one). Press OK to get out and your field should not be parenthesis-free.

Maybe there's a faster way to do it, but that's the only thing I could find.

2. There seems to be a limit on numbers at 9999 or else 99999.

 

[kyuuta6]

How do you get this to increment?

I want my ListNum (or whatever field) to increment each time, but when I use this field, setting the first number to 4988, and copy/paste the field, EVERY SINGLE instance has 4988. Updating the field does not help.

I'm giving up for now, but a solution would be nice if anyone has one.

 

[John McGhie]

You use the \s switch only on the FIRST field in the series

The \s "Sets" the field to 4988.

Each field following it in the document will increment by 1 (provided you
have removed the \s switch).

Yes, there is an easier way to set the number formatting, but it is not very
intuitive Place your insertion point on the number and hit a tab. Each
time you hit Tab, you get a different one of the nine formats!

Hope this helps

How do you get this to increment?

I want my ListNum (or whatever field) to increment each time, but when I use
this field, setting the first number to 4988, and copy/paste the field, EVERY
SINGLE instance has 4988. Updating the field does not help.

I'm giving up for now, but a solution would be nice if anyone has one.

--

Don't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/

Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie, Microsoft MVP, Word and Word:Mac
Nhulunbuy, NT, Australia. mailto:[email protected]

 

[kyuuta6]

I'd actually tried that to no avail.

With a clearer head this morning, I inserted a new field and specified the level to 1 (l\1) just as I had with the first field, and that copies and pastes correctly. Thank you so much!

Unfortunately, the tab method did not work for me because it insisted on having punctuation somewhere, either periods or parentheses. I assume that's somewhere in the styles, but trying to coordinate styles and numbering is too much of a headache for me. For the time spent, it's easier to manually number everything.

On my wish list (after the help files are written and this process is made intuitive) is to make it possible to eliminate the codes, leaving only the hard numbers.

 

[John McGhie]

No, "No punctuation at all" is NOT one of the available options

And I am way ahead of you: I have had this feature request in to Microsoft
for a couple of years.

Since it requires a change on both the PC and Mac Word side of the fence, it
will take a little longer... They can't roll it out until PC Word can
correctly interpret it.

The most available solution would be to make the venerable SEQ field a "Hot"
field.

Word has three grades of field: Cold, Warm, and Hot. A Cold field updates
only when you manually update it. Warm fields update when certain defined
document events occur: Open and Save are the most common. A Hot field
updates continuously and dynamically.

Currently, the SEQ field is a Cold field, the ListNum field is a Hot field.

However, you can specify anything you like about a SEQ field, including its
number formatting. If we could just make it update dynamically, there would
be no need for any other kind of numbering in Word.

Cheers

I'd actually tried that to no avail.

With a clearer head this morning, I inserted a new field and specified the
level to 1 (l\1) just as I had with the first field, and that copies and
pastes correctly. Thank you so much!

Unfortunately, the tab method did not work for me because it insisted on
having punctuation somewhere, either periods or parentheses. I assume that's
somewhere in the styles, but trying to coordinate styles and numbering is too
much of a headache for me. For the time spent, it's easier to manually number
everything.

On my wish list (after the help files are written and this process is made
intuitive) is to make it possible to eliminate the codes, leaving only the
hard numbers.

--

Don't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/

Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie, Microsoft MVP, Word and Word:Mac
Nhulunbuy, NT, Australia. mailto:[email protected]

 

[CyberTaz]

Unless I'm misinterpreting, select the content that includes the fields then
key Command+6 or Shift+Command+F9 to unlink the fields.

HTH |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

 

[kyuuta6]

Thank you for that suggestion, but I think that's for bookmarks.

 

[CyberTaz]

Since you neither quote back nor address your reply I'm assuming your
reference is to my suggestion to unlink the fields. If so, then No, it
applies to *any* type of field - not just Bookmarks - and converts the
current content of the field being unlinked to plain text... TOC, Index,
Date, whatever, so I will no longer update.

Regards |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

 

[kyuuta6]

I'm not able to quote with this interface, but indeed I was responding about unlinking fields, Bob. (I guess I have to investigate how to do so.) I tried unlinking as you suggested before responding (as well as several other combinations), and it did not work.

It might be that one of my Apple function keys is interfering, so I'll try this in the morning.