Numbering button

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« Applying numbering

One problem we run into is the List Number Default button on the Formatting toolbar. This is normally called the Numbering button. 

In previous versions of Word, it always applied a predefined list numbering format. In Word 2000, this was changed. It now applies an outline List Template, and the List Template it applies is the one used most-recently by the particular user-ID on that particular computer.

If you select ten paragraphs in Word 2000 and click the Numbering button, the list will be an Outline list by default. There is no indication of this, but each paragraph has become a member of a list that contains nine levels.  To change levels:

Let's say I select some paragraphs and choose Format>Bullets and Numbering>Numbered and choose one of the List Templates. This will make the List Template I chose my "Default". From then on, each time I click that button on that computer using that user-ID, I will apply exactly the same List Template. If I have gone further and defined that List Template to associate with a style, whenever I click that button, the List Template and the style will both be applied.

However, if I take the document home, and apply some numbering from there, the numbering applied by that button will be the default List Template on that machine. It will be different: it may also apply a different style. If another user gets hold of the document, the numbering they apply will be different again. Yet all three times the users hit exactly the same button whenever they wanted numbering!