WD98: Changes to List Number Styles May Be Lost (181258)

SYMPTOMS

When you make changes to any of the tab or indent attributes of the List Number or List Bullet styles, those changes may be lost when you close and restart Word. This problem occurs even if you selected the Add To Template option in the Modify Style dialog box (on the Format menu, click Style, and then click Modify.)

CAUSE

This functionality is by design. The bullets and numbering feature in Word is dependent on the tab and indent attributes of the List Number and List Bullet styles. If the tab or indent attributes of these styles are changed, the bullets and numbering feature may work incorrectly. To prevent this from happening, Word resets the tab and indent attributes to their default settings every time you restart Word.

WORKAROUND

Create and use a custom style instead of the List Number styles.

For more information about creating a new custom style, click Contents And Index on the Help menu (or on the Balloon Help menu if you are using a version of the Macintosh operating system earlier than 8.0), click the Index button in MS Word Help, type the following text

styles, creating

and then click Show Topics. Select the "Create new styles" topic, and click Go To. If you are unable to find the information you need, ask the Office Assistant.

MORE INFORMATION

The built-in styles that exhibit the behavior described in the "Symptoms" section are:

List Bullet
List Bullet 2
List Bullet 3
List Bullet 4
List Bullet 5
List Number
List Number 2
List Number 3
List Number 4
List Number 5

REFERENCES

For additional information, please see the following articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

181259 WD98: Format of List Style Unexpectedly Removed

181041 WD98: Custom Style Based on List Number Style Drops Numbering