Problem: When adding a paragraph style to one level of chapter numbering there’s only the possibility to add one single paragraph style for a level, for example “H2”. But there a several contexts a H2 can appear, for example after normal text or directly after H1. In these contexts the paragraph styles must differ (for example spacing above H2).
Required solution: Is there a possibility to add more than one paragraph style to the chapter numbering level?
The answer is “yes”, but before going for a relatively complex task, think about your problem.
If this is only a matter of “contextual” spacing, you can solve it elegantly by configuring your paragraph styles.
You have two spacing parameters: Above and Below. Usually people customise only Above, leaving Below set to 0.
Your context seems to be Heading 1 vs. Text Body may precede Heading 2.
A wider space between Heading 1 and Heading 2 than between Text Body and Heading 2 is solved by setting a Below spacing in Heading 1.
The reverse case cannot be solved in this manner because it is not possible to give negative values to spacings. You must then create a custom paragraph style, say H2. Whether you define it as based on Heading 2 (with right-click on Heading 2 in the style sidepane and New) or independent (i.e. based on Default Style) is a matter of personal choice.
In the Outline & Numbering tab, select from Outline level drop-down menu the level to assign to the style, here Level 2. Things become complicated if your chapters are numbered because you cannot attach a user style to Chapter Numbering Numbering style. You must create your own counter with a dedicated list style (accessed through the fifth icon from the left in the toolbar). But, CAUTION, this counter is not related at all with the chapter number. This means you have two independent chapter numbering which is not what you expect. To get a unified numbering, you must redefine the Heading n family to use your counter (which is very tricky) or create a new Hx family with variants in levels and associate all styles to your counter.
One last word: the custom styles are attached to an outline level but the user-chapter counter is not synchronised with the outline level. To force the counter to the desired level, you must press Tab (at start of heading) to promote the paragraph to the required level: none for level 1, one for level 2, n-1 for level n.
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Thanks a lot for the detailed and precise help! If I understand this properly you can bypass the use of Chapter Numbering settings completely by creating your custom paragraph styles with custom Numbering Styles attached to this custom paragraph style which also has set Outline & Numbering according to the intended chapter level. That did the trick for me! Why, then, is there at all a Chapter Numbering if that can be bypassed? Is it just for people who just want to use the default settings without adjusting something? Thanks again!
Tools>Chapter Numbering defines a numbering counter you can’t assign to anything else than Heading n. Then you can’t mess up the numbering and chapters styled with Heading n are always consistent. Add to that the"n" in Heading n automatically selects the correct level.
When you create your own chapter numbering, you don’t benefit of this automatic level synchronisation. Your own “chapter” numbering is nothing more than a list. Traditionally, a list is a single paragraph style linked to a list style. Works fine for common lists.
But styles are different with chapter levels, this means you create several paragraph styles (corresponding to levels) linked to the same list style. When you use your MyHeading 3 (it is indeed associated to outline level 3), you must hit Tab twice so that the list counter is set to level 3. No longer automatic!
So, use custom chapter numbering only when forced to. E.g. to add alphabetic appendices to numeric chapters.
Thanks again for the explanation! In my case I have to use this bypass because (in addition to my described case that I need different spacings between Headings, and yes, I’d need the negative spacing that isn’t possible) I have a level 1 heading (for the bibliography at the end of an article) that exceptionally mustn’t have a counter although it’s outline level 1. Thanks again!
This is the typical use case for multiple level-1 styles: Heading 1 for your numbered chapters and a custom NoNumberHeading 1 for the bibliography or other “supplement”.
