We have a client who wants the Microsoft Word files with the automatic numbering stripped out. They want hard numbers instead. The reason is that automatic numbering can get screwed up.
How do I convert my automatic numbering in my specifications to hard numbers?
Sometimes, if you remove the document template (*.dot) and replace it with another, such as normal.dot, the automatic numbering becomes fixed. It depends on a lot of factors, including the template. It often doesn’t work, though. You could clear the formatting, but then you’d have to insert all the numbers and letters. Sounds like an added service to me.
I’ve not had the automatic numbering get screwed up unless the computer the document is being opened on is screwed up.
Disaable automatic number in the style for each paragraph.
Or - copy the sections into Notepad as RTFs. Then copy them back into Word. You should have hard numbers. Still sounds like an added service.
Lynn,
I tried your suggestion about the copying text into Notepad. It strips off everything including font, line spacing, indents, etc.
That procedure is a little too severe and I would have to do a lot of work reformatting.
Thanks for the suggestion though.
Can’t you just select the numbered text, right click and pick the “Bullets and Numbering” option, and select None, or restart, or whatever you need?
Wayne,
Your suggestion strips the numbering off but also screws up the indents. I would have to go back and individually hard number each paragraph.
I was hoping to find some technique that would “fix” the numbering.
You can also select all text and then paste it into a new document using Edit > Paste Special > Unformatted Text. The numbering will remain, but the indents are lost. If you create a couple of styles for the basic paragraphs (PR1, PR2 etc., if you’re using Masterspec), it is a pretty rapid process to reassign the styles to the proper paragraphs. Assign the style to the first instance of a paragraph type, then click through the paragraphs using the F4 key (repeat last command). As far as I know, there is no command like “turn auto numbers into manually applied.”
To make John’s process a little easier, just save the file as a simple text file (.txt).
You can do this by clicking “Save as” under the “File” menu, then selecting “Plain text (*.txt)” in the list by “Save as type:”
Close the document and reopen the text file. All the formatting will be gone. Then apply the new styles, as John describes, and save the file as a Word document–the same as I described above, but select “Word Document (*.doc)” instead.
What are version are you using?
Would PDFs work?
Microsoft Word version 2003, SP3.
If you “Save As” “Rich Text Format (.rtf)”. All text including the paragraph numbering and indents will remain intact. Save the document and rename as a .doc. This will give you a Word document without auto paragraph numbering. I agree with Lynn, the usual reason auto paragraphing gets screwed up is that someone doesn’t know how to us it and trys to “tweek it” to work.
Hard numbering ALWAYS ends up looking like this after paragraphs have been removed:
1.1
1.2
1.4
1.5
1.7
Not perfect, maybe, but the best I could come up with.
David,
Open each style and record the indents and hanging indents and whatever formating you want to retain (such as lines before or after paragrphs). Nobody said it was seamless. There will be some trial and error involved. Once you have created new style for each paragraph, save the template to use with subsequent documents through Style Gallery.
Seems like this is one of those requests that the requestor thinks will be simple, but it really is not.
Verify that a simple QC of the final product and fixing the few numbering errors is not easier than converting the entire spec.
I have heard of sequence numbering (SEQ) fields being used for this type of thing. My initial attempts to make it work have had mixed results. David Lorenzini is da man if you want to try that, I’m sure he could tell us how it works.
First of all, I don’t know why you are giving Word files to a client in the first place, unless you are a subconsultant.
One of the perils of using “outline” autonumbering, a la MasterSpec, is that the application of a custom style wipes out all the numbering. That is why I use the SEQ field codes to produce styles (but that is another issue). I suffered for years applying my styles and then manually adding the paragraph numbers back in. I developed some macros for semi-automating the process, but it was still painful.
Then one day I came across a macro that has been literally worth hundreds of hours in time savings. I don’t know of any system as simple and as quick as this one. But there is a catch. You have to create a macro, something most Word users are loathe to do. The macro is this:
Sub ListPlain()
Dim lp As Paragraph
For Each lp In ActiveDocument.ListParagraphs
lp.Range.ListFormat.ConvertNumbersToText
Next lp
End Sub
[Note: Line 2, 3, and 5 should be indented once, and Line 4 indented twice.]
Create a Tool Bar button for the macro and you can just press it while the cursor is anywhere in the open document. You won’t see anything happen, but the numbers are now “fixed”. Now you can apply your style.
The best way to see the instantaneous action of this macro is to highlight a portion of the text that includes some paragraph numbers before running the macro. You will see that the numbers are not highlighted. When you run the macro, the numbers become highlighted immediately.
Hopefully, this little trick will encourage some users to take more interest in learning how to set up Word macros.
David,
We are contractually required to give the client our AutoCad DWG files and our spec Word files. I really don’t agree to this but have no choice.
I will try the macro. Thanks.