Numbering With Sequence Fields

As you learn in other WordTips, Word includes a special sequencing field that you can use to do all sorts of numbering. You can even use the SEQ field to help create broken numbered lists. (A broken numbered list is one in which the flow of the list is interrupted by paragraphs of a different format.) This approach to creating numbered lists is particularly helpful, and much less prone to the problems inherent in Word's built-in list numbering. For the purposes of this tip, the format of the sequence field is as follows:

{seq ident}

In this format you add the field braces by pressing Ctrl+F9, and then ident is replaced with a unique identifier for the sequence in question. Thus, you could have several sequences in a single document. For instance, one numbered sequence could use an identifier of MajorNum1, and another use an identifier of MajorNum2. The identifiers you use are entirely up to you.

You should understand that the sequence field can be much more powerful than implied in this tip. If you want additional information on how it can be used, you should refer to the on-line help for the SEQ field.

When you use the sequence field, and then combine it with the AutoText capabilities of Word, you have a powerful combination for creating numbered lists in your documents. As an example of how you can do this, follow these steps:

1. Follow the steps provided in the previous tip, using a list identifier of NumList in step 3.
2. If you want a period, tab, or some other character after the number, enter it after the number generated by the SEQ field.
3. Select everything you created in steps 1 and 2.
4. Choose the AutoText option from the Insert menu. Word displays a submenu from which you should choose New. Word displays the Create AutoText dialog box. (See Figure 1.)



Figure 1. The Create AutoText dialog box.

5. Enter a name by which you want this highlighted text known. This should be something short and meaningful, such as NumList or even NL.
6. Click on the Add or OK button. The dialog box closes.

Now whenever you want to insert the number, type the name you defined in step 7, and then press the F3 key. The field is entered in the document. Note that the number always shows up as 1, but it is updated when you print, or when you select the entire list and press F9.

The process described in this tip works best if you have a single list in your document. Note that the sequence field starts at the beginning of the document and numbers through the whole document, based on the identifier you use. If you are going to have multiple lists in your document, then you can add a second AutoText entry to help with this. The only difference in the above steps is that the SEQ field you define would look like this:

{ seq NumList /r1 }

The addition of the /r1 switch causes Word to start the sequence counter over at 1. You would use this whenever you wanted to start a new list, and use the regular field for the rest of your numbered items.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (1092) applies to Microsoft Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. You can find a version of this tip for the ribbon interface of Word (Word 2007 and later) here: Numbering with Sequence Fields.