Freezing list numbers when pasting?

[Ian]

Using Word97.

We need to copy/paste many old documents written with Word95 and Word97
into new Word97 documents. Everything works (more or less) fine, except
for list numbering, where the list numbers after pasting into the new
documents often bear no resemblance to the originals.

Is there any way we can freeze the list numbers when copying/pasting, so
we don't have to manually fix them in the new documents? Some very long
documents contain literally hundreds of short, multi-level numbered
lists, and fixing them manually will be a non-trivial, very expensive
exercise.

[I should add that the copy/paste from old documents to new is a
one-to-one exercise; i.e. one old document goes into one new document,
so there is no issue of the numbered lists from one document interacting
with the numbered lists of another].

 

[Jean-Guy Marcil]

Hi Ian,

Quick question:
Are the paragraphs with numbered list in the original documents associated
with particular styles or are they all in the Normal style?
In other words, where the numbered paragraphs created on the fly with the
numbering button on the toolbar or by accessing the Bullets & Numbering
dialog box directly, or where they created by first creating a paragraph
style (or modifying a built in style) so as to include numbering?

--
Cheers!
_______________________________________
Jean-Guy Marcil - Word MVP
(e-mail address removed)
Word MVP site: http://www.word.mvps.org

 

[Ian]

Hi Jean-Guy.

Quick answer. The old documents do not use Normal, they all use
specially developed styles which support numbering. (At least, that's
what the authors *should* have used, but I suspect there are many
instances of "on the fly" toolbar clicks as well!).

--
Ian

Hi Ian,

Quick question:
Are the paragraphs with numbered list in the original documents associated
with particular styles or are they all in the Normal style?
In other words, where the numbered paragraphs created on the fly with the
numbering button on the toolbar or by accessing the Bullets & Numbering
dialog box directly, or where they created by first creating a paragraph
style (or modifying a built in style) so as to include numbering?

--
Cheers!
_______________________________________
Jean-Guy Marcil - Word MVP
(e-mail address removed)
Word MVP site: http://www.word.mvps.org

Using Word97.

We need to copy/paste many old documents written with Word95 and Word97
into new Word97 documents. Everything works (more or less) fine, except
for list numbering, where the list numbers after pasting into the new
documents often bear no resemblance to the originals.

Is there any way we can freeze the list numbers when copying/pasting, so
we don't have to manually fix them in the new documents? Some very long
documents contain literally hundreds of short, multi-level numbered
lists, and fixing them manually will be a non-trivial, very expensive
exercise.

[I should add that the copy/paste from old documents to new is a
one-to-one exercise; i.e. one old document goes into one new document,
so there is no issue of the numbered lists from one document interacting
with the numbered lists of another].

 

[Shauna Kelly]

Hi Ian

You can convert all the numbers in a document to text (ie to hard-coded
numbers). If you do so, they lose all their automatic numbering ability.
So I would **strongly** suggest that you only use this on copies of your
documents. There's no going back.

To convert all the numbers in a document, open the document. Do Alt-F11.
In the Immediate pane type ActiveDocument.ConvertNumbersToText and press
Enter.

You'll then be able to copy into another document and, since the text
has lost all its automatic numbering ability, it will just paste as
text.

Hope this helps.

Shauna Kelly. Microsoft MVP.
http://www.shaunakelly.com/word

Hi Jean-Guy.

Quick answer. The old documents do not use Normal, they all use
specially developed styles which support numbering. (At least, that's
what the authors *should* have used, but I suspect there are many
instances of "on the fly" toolbar clicks as well!).

--
Ian

Hi Ian,

Quick question:
Are the paragraphs with numbered list in the original documents associated
with particular styles or are they all in the Normal style?
In other words, where the numbered paragraphs created on the fly with the
numbering button on the toolbar or by accessing the Bullets & Numbering
dialog box directly, or where they created by first creating a paragraph
style (or modifying a built in style) so as to include numbering?

--
Cheers!
_______________________________________
Jean-Guy Marcil - Word MVP
(e-mail address removed)
Word MVP site: http://www.word.mvps.org

Using Word97.

We need to copy/paste many old documents written with Word95 and Word97
into new Word97 documents. Everything works (more or less) fine, except
for list numbering, where the list numbers after pasting into the new
documents often bear no resemblance to the originals.

Is there any way we can freeze the list numbers when copying/pasting, so
we don't have to manually fix them in the new documents? Some very long
documents contain literally hundreds of short, multi-level numbered
lists, and fixing them manually will be a non-trivial, very expensive
exercise.

[I should add that the copy/paste from old documents to new is a
one-to-one exercise; i.e. one old document goes into one new document,
so there is no issue of the numbered lists from one document interacting
with the numbered lists of another].

 

[Ian]

Aha! This looks promising. I will try it out tomorrow.

Thanks Shauna.

--
Ian

Hi Ian

You can convert all the numbers in a document to text (ie to hard-coded
numbers). If you do so, they lose all their automatic numbering ability.
So I would **strongly** suggest that you only use this on copies of your
documents. There's no going back.

To convert all the numbers in a document, open the document. Do Alt-F11.
In the Immediate pane type ActiveDocument.ConvertNumbersToText and press
Enter.

You'll then be able to copy into another document and, since the text
has lost all its automatic numbering ability, it will just paste as
text.

Hope this helps.

Shauna Kelly. Microsoft MVP.
http://www.shaunakelly.com/word

Hi Jean-Guy.

Quick answer. The old documents do not use Normal, they all use
specially developed styles which support numbering. (At least, that's
what the authors *should* have used, but I suspect there are many
instances of "on the fly" toolbar clicks as well!).

--
Ian

Hi Ian,

Quick question:
Are the paragraphs with numbered list in the original documents associated
with particular styles or are they all in the Normal style?
In other words, where the numbered paragraphs created on the fly with the
numbering button on the toolbar or by accessing the Bullets & Numbering
dialog box directly, or where they created by first creating a paragraph
style (or modifying a built in style) so as to include numbering?

--
Cheers!
_______________________________________
Jean-Guy Marcil - Word MVP
(e-mail address removed)
Word MVP site: http://www.word.mvps.org


"Ian" <[email protected]> a écrit dans le message de (e-mail address removed)...
Using Word97.

We need to copy/paste many old documents written with Word95 and Word97
into new Word97 documents. Everything works (more or less) fine, except
for list numbering, where the list numbers after pasting into the new
documents often bear no resemblance to the originals.

Is there any way we can freeze the list numbers when copying/pasting, so
we don't have to manually fix them in the new documents? Some very long
documents contain literally hundreds of short, multi-level numbered
lists, and fixing them manually will be a non-trivial, very expensive
exercise.

[I should add that the copy/paste from old documents to new is a
one-to-one exercise; i.e. one old document goes into one new document,
so there is no issue of the numbered lists from one document interacting
with the numbered lists of another].