Outline numbering doesn't work for Body Text

[eteb3]

I have a legal document and I want every heading and paragraph numbered. Eg,

1 Heading One
1.1 Subheading one-point-one
1.1.1 A paragraph giving info relevant to subheading one-point-one
1.1.2 Another such paragraph
1.2 Subheading one-point-two
1.2.1 A paragraph giving info relevant to subheading one-point-two
etc

When the paragraph has a heading style, I can promote or demote the paragraph using Tab or the Increase / Decrease Indent buttons.

However, Body Text paragraphs show outline numbering, and also the buttons (and tab shortcut) do nothing for the hierarchy: they are fixed at 1.1.1 level (1.1.2, 1.1.3, etc)

I can work around by applying a heading style, getting all my paragraphs to the correct level in the hierarchy, and then applying Body Text style. But this ‘should’ be unnecessary.

Am I missing something?

Thanks.

PS Hitting “enter” at the end of the Body Text paragraph gives the next paragraph an outline numbering that is the next in the sequence, but again, it cannot be promoted or demoted.

[ajlittoz]

How do you number your Body Text paragraphs? “Outline numbering” is a very special list. To avoid issues, it is protected against “easy” assignment to paragraphs.

Apparently, you want to include your Body Text paragraphs into the outline hierarchy, but these paragraphs will probably appear at various levels. Your example shows them at level 3, but is this always he case? If the answer id yes, use Heading 3 (and customise the style to make it look like Body Text) or replace Heading 3 by Body Text in Tools>Heading Numbering.

If the answer is no, the case is a bit more complicated by doable but you’ll lose the automatic association between level n and Heading n. The solution is to attach a custom list style to built-in Heading n and the same list style to Body Text. And you’ll need to manually promote each paragraph to its numbering level with Tab or Shift+Tab.0

Before I describe a solution, I’d like to have a look at what you did in a reduced sample document.

[eteb3]

@ajlittoz

Apparently, you want to include your Body Text paragraphs into the outline hierarchy, but these paragraphs will probably appear at various levels. Your example shows them at level 3, but is this always he case?

The answer is no. Please see reduced sample attached. Thanks for the pointers so far.

Mutual CLG extract 2.odt (22.5 KB)

[EarnestAl]

Having recently gone through this, I used Heading Numbering for the headings but I also wanted numbered clauses. If the clause numbering doesn’t need to continue the heading numbering because the clauses are defined by the heading then you can specify a paragraph style with linked outline numbering list style (in tab Outline & List)
SampleHeadingLevelWNumberedParagraphs.odt (29.7 KB)

[eteb3]

Thank you. For heading numbers that don’t have to mesh with paragraph numbers, this looks a nice quick solution. Will play around with it.

[ajlittoz]

The solution is easy. Let’s abstract the problem.

The document is made of a single numbered list, out of which some items are considered headings.

Since this is a single list, all items must be managed by the same list style. But because the heading numbering style is internally protected and completely managed by the heading engine, you can’t share it with other paragraphs. We’ll then use a “common” list style. I chose Numbering 123.

The list is made of headings and clauses. The distinction is only a matter of paragraph styles: Heading n for headings and Body Text for clauses.

1. First thing to do is to disable the built-in heading numbering feature. Go to Tools>Heading Numbering and set Paragraph Style to [None] at all levels. This also resets properties in Heading n styles.

2. Customise Heading n to reconfigure them as numbered headings

   1. Open Outline & List tab
   2. Assign the appropriate outline level
   3. Attach List Style: to Numbering 123

3. Customise Body Text to make it part of the list

   1. Open Outline & List tab
   2. Attach List Style: to Numbering 123
      Don’t assign any outline level; keep it at [None] (otherwise you make it a heading)

4. Customise Numbering 123. This is aesthetically the most difficult part to achieve nice indenting and alignment because of the growing length of the numbering with level.

Since we no longer use the internal heading machinery, you must manually adjust the list level to be the same as the outline level when you type. Hit Tab or Shift+Tab at the very beginning of the item to promote or demote it.

And you can still create a TOC without it being cluttered by clauses.

Mutual CLG extract ajl.odt (31.4 KB)

[eteb3]

Thank you for such a comprehensive explanation. That looks like the complete solution, so I’ll check back and mark it as such once I’ve applied it to my doc.

By the by, getting list styles to the forefront of my mind is still my major hurdle with LO - thanks for patiently re-stating things!