Word won't apply my numbering styles

[Mark]

In a Technical document that I'm writing, I want the following format:

1. Click on the foo button.
The foo-1 dialog box apears.

2. Enter your name in the User text box.

3. Click OK.
A confirmation message appears.

4. Click OK.

I want to set this up with styles, so that I don't have to format
manually. I have created styles called Step 1, Step Reaction, and Step
2. Word will not accept them. It randomly applies numbers and changes
the indents. My styles are not based on any other styles. Right
clicking on the text and clicking Numbering and then trying to reset
or continue numbering does not work. Those options are dimmed. Yet,
all the settings in the nubmering dialog box are exactly as I set
them. How do I get around this?

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

What sort of numbering are these styles supposed to have?

 

[Mark]

What sort of numbering are these styles supposed to have?

I don't understand your question about what are my styles supposed to be.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Okay, I think I see what you're trying to do, and you're going about it all
wrong. You don't need a separate style for each step. You need a style for
all the steps and a style for all the reactions. And you need a way to
restart the numbering.

For a start, try using the built-in List Number style for the steps and List
Continue for the reactions. You can modify those styles to look any way you
like, but their default formatting will do until you get the hang of them.
You can modify the styles so they'll alternate (set each one as the
following style for the other), or you can assign keyboard shortcuts to
them.

If you have any higher-level style that always occurs between sets of steps
(a heading style, for example), then you can set up your numbering as an
outline-numbered list using the heading (or other style) as Level 1 (which
need not be numbered) and the step style as Level 2 (for more on this, see
http://www.shaunakelly.com/word/numbering/OutlineNumbering.html.

If there isn't any higher-level style that can be used to restart the
numbering, see http://www.syntagma.demon.co.uk/FAQs/ListRestartMethods.htm