Document Map problems

[Mark]

I am having problems with the Document Map not showing some headings, and
showing blank spaces where there is a heading. I checked Word MVP at
http://www.word.mvps.org/faqs/general/TipsAndGotchas.htm and they recommend
against using document maps, although there is no explanation why. I have
always found it to be a useful tool, except for the occasional problem that
I am having.

I am using MS Word 2002 SP3 on Windows XP.

Thanks

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

If DM is not showing your headings, it may be that they don't have a heading
style or an outline level applied. The problem with DM is that it has a
tendency to "promote" body text paragraphs to heading levels behind your
back. You can cut down on this (or perhaps eliminate it altogether) by
changing the settings on the AutoFormat As You Type tab of Tools |
AutoCorrect (see http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/Formatting/TameAutoFormat.htm).

 

[Mark]

Actually, these do have heading styles applied. However, when I collapse
the headings, some of the lower level headings still appear while the others
collapse. I have tried to change the ones that won't collapse to normal,
and then back to the lower level headings, but it still won't collapse. I
will look at the article you suggested, but most of my autocorrect settings
are already unselected.

 

[adrian]

hi mark

it was nice to see your email on this topic. nothing else had helped me.
when i checked suzanne's idea out, word had not applied any new styles to
my text, but the document map still showed a lot of regular text as
headings.

anyhow i worked it out. Document map secretly applies "outline levels" to
the document. These are not styles! Show outline view to show what Word
has done. you can highlight large amounts of text and reset it to being
"body text" with the double arrow toolbar icon on the outline toolbar.
then only your heading styles or levels will be displayed in document map.

(there should be a preference to turn off 'auto-outlining')

adrian