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About Suzanne S. Barnhill
Expertise
I've been using Word for Windows since version 2.0 (1992), and the more I learn
about it, the more I realize how little I know. But I may know a few things
that you don't, and I'll help if I can. I answer many questions every day in
Microsoft's peer support newsgroups and as a result have been awarded the
MVP (Most Valuable Professional) designation by Microsoft Corporation. You
may be able to find the answer to your question at the Word MVPs' FAQ site or at my own Word FAQ site, so please check those first! Please, no questions about VBA (macros), Registry editing, networks, or complex merges, as I have no experience with these aspects of Word, nor do I have any experience with Word for the Mac.
Experience
I have a master's degree in classics (Latin), which is surprisingly helpful, though I no longer teach. The things I am proudest of: Having raised two children to maturity, both Merit Scholars, both college graduates (one a philosophy major!), one Phi Beta Kappa (from Harvard!); having been made a Paul Harris Fellow by my Rotary club; having been designated a Microsoft MVP.
Education/Credentials
B.A. (Latin), Agnes Scott College, 1966; M.A. (Classics), Emory University, 1972.
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You are here: Experts > Computing/Technology > Microsoft Software > Microsoft Word > Word 07 List Formatting
Expert: Suzanne S. Barnhill - 11/1/2009
Question
I prepare medical reports using Word '07. Each report contains several lists which must meet the following conditions: Arial 11, heading at left margin, numbers (followed by a period) at the left margin, first line of text two spaces after period, second line of text aligned with first line of text, and all justified.
I was able to accomplish this easily in Word '03, but no one has been able to show me how to do it in Word '07, either with direct typing or auto-numbering. The text just never lines up quite right.
When I brought the question to MS tech support chat, they said it would take 20-30 minutes to "FIX" my issues. I cannot believe that such a simple request would be so difficult to manage.
Can you help?
Answer
What you have been told is correct in that there is no way to reliably line up runover lines (using a hanging indent) as long as you insist on spaces following the numbers. If you instead use a tab character, with a tab stop at the same position as the hanging indent, then your lines will align correctly. If your lists often exceed nine items, I would strongly recommend aligning the numbers Right so that the periods will align. You can set this up to align list items 1-9 with the left margin, allowing two-digit list numbers to hang into the margin, or you can align the two-digit ones, with the single digits slightly indented. However you do this, you will ensure that the space between numbers and text will be uniform for single-digit and two-digit numbers, which is not possible if you have the numbers left-aligned.
In order to have complete control over the format of numbered items, you must use a "Multilevel List," even if your list will have only one level. The "Define New Multilevel List" dialog allows you to specify the placement of each element (numbers, text following the numbers, runover lines) and also (after clicking More to expand the dialog) to link the formatting to a paragraph style. If you start with the List Number style, you will find that it already meets most of your requirements (except for the Right-aligned numbers).
For more on number alignment, see http://sbarnhill.mvps.org/WordFAQs/NumberAlignment2007.htm
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word) 1999-2009
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