1,2,3,4 and repeat - line numbering for a transcript help.

April 28, 2010 6:54 AM

Microsoft Word line numbering transcript query.

My flatmate is struggling to number individual paragraphs within a dialogue with line numbers. She wants each paragraph to have a set of line numbers that restarts at the beginning of every new section. At the moment she is only able to number the whole document continuously. One ugly workaround would be to split the dialogue sections onto individual pages; but she doesn't want to have to take this step.

She is on Microsoft Word on a PC.

If there is any macro or setting within page setup she would greatly appreciate advice as the hand-in is tomorrow.

Thanks.

posted by multivalent to Computers & Internet (6 answers total)

Best answer: Not sure if this is exactly what you're asking, but you can select a block of paragraphs, go to Format > Bullets and Numbering, then choose 'Restart Numbering' at the bottom of the Numbering tab.

This could easily be assigned to a macro I should think.
posted by le morte de bea arthur at 7:18 AM on April 28, 2010 [1 favorite]

Use continuous section breaks between each paragraph (after each paragraph, Insert>Break>Continuous), and choose "restart each section" in the options dialog box for line numbering.
posted by odin53 at 5:41 PM on April 28, 2010

Best answer: le morte is exactly right that Restart Numbering should work. There's a really long, convoluted explanation for why numbered and bulleted lists are so screwed up in Word, which doesn't help you much to know except for this: The following field and switches will always stop the numbered list. It looks like a long set of steps, but it's not hard, and the last step is copy/paste so you only have to do it once.

On the off-chance that it does not, do this (written for pre-Word 2007; Word 2007 and later will has a different interface, but the basics are still the same):

1. Click at the end of the last numbered item in the section.
2. On the Insert menu, click Field. The Field dialog box opens.
3. On the bottom-left corner of the dialog box, click Field Codes. The Advanced Field Properties group displays on the right.
4. On the Field Names list (on the left), select ListNum. In the Field Codes on the right, it now says this: LISTNUM.
5. On the bottom-left corner of the dialog box, click Options. The Field Options dialog box opens. On the Field Specific Switches tab, it lists two switches.
6. Select \l and then click Add to Field. That switch is now added to the Field Codes, which shows at the bottom of the dialog box.
7. In that same Field Codes field, type this: 1 (That is, type the number one.)
8. From the Switches list, select \s and then click Add to Field. The second switch is now added to the Field Codes, after the number 1 that you typed.
9. In the Field Codes field, after the \s, type this: 0 (That is, type the number zero.)
10. Click OK to return to the Field dialog box.
11. On the Field dialog box, click OK. The field and switches are added to your document. Where you added the field and switches is this: 0. (That is, the number zero and a period.)
12. Highlight the 0. only -- do not select the space before or after -- and then on the Format menu, click Font. The Font dialog box opens.
13. In the Effects group, select Hidden and then click OK. You are returned to your document. Although the field/switches is hidden, you can still select it.
14. Select the hidden field/switches and copy/paste it to the end of all other sections, at the last numbered item for each section.

posted by Houstonian at 6:18 PM on April 28, 2010 [2 favorites]

(And this is the best explanation I've seen of why lists are so screwed up in Word, just in case you're curious.)
posted by Houstonian at 6:32 PM on April 28, 2010

Houstonian, very interesting tip -- hopefully you only have to use it rarely. However, isn't multivalent talking about line numbering, not list numbering?
posted by odin53 at 9:06 PM on April 28, 2010

Response by poster: Thanks very much for the help everyone. And that was a useful tip Houstonian, but as odin said a little different to what she required.
posted by multivalent at 6:22 AM on April 29, 2010