Replies

You’re welcome Bob. I’m glad if it got you going. Kim

Is it possible there’s a corrupt section break? Does this odd/even thing start immediately in the document or at a given section? If throughout, is there an empty section at the end of the document? I’ve sometimes seen that cause havoc with headers and footers.

Are there continuous section breaks? I’ve seen that confuse footers before, too.

Unfortunately, without seeing the document itself, there’s little hope of us doing much more than throwing vague possibilities at you.

So… HTH! Kim

I think we need a little more data. Not sure what you mean by “click off the Word doc and then click back on” — by clicking outside the program? Or clicking another open document? Will clicking off then back on work if you do it immediately? Has the template always done this or has it started doing it? What is the purpose of the template?

It sounds like it’s a document creation template. You said that once Word is open, File > Open opens a document (associated with the template) without issue. Does the template run an AutoExec macro?

Is the template local or on a network? Are any of the items on the ribbon reaching out to places on a network or the internet? Is it looking for something in the Word environment that needs to be fully loaded before it can complete loading? Have you included a gallery, for example?

I have several large templates, each with lots of macros, some which insert custom groups into existing ribbons and some with their own full length custom ribbons. They all load instantly when a document associated with it is double-clicked.

Best, Kim

Suzan, are you familiar with the VB Editor? If so, reviewing the results of macros you’ve recorded will start you on the way to understanding the structure of VBA. If you’ve never been in the VB Editor, let us know.

You can do a lot more useful things writing VBA code directly, than you can in a recorded macro, as Andrew’s code demonstrates. If you’re interested in macros and what they can do, it’s worth it to start learning it in earnest. If not, it might prove to be more work than you really want to take on.

This article on getting started with Word VBA from Microsoft is for Word 2010, but you’ll find it applicable to 2013. If that doesn’t suit, you might consider this book. Again, different version of Word, and while MSFT does add and remove commands, you’ll find most of it applies to 2013.

HTH, Kim

sati, I second Macropod’s recommendation. Word 2010 is stable, the interface is better than 2013 and 2016 (IMO), and unlike 2007, you can edit the ribbon (and yes, you can do this with 2013 and 2016). This means you can place each macro on the tab that’s most appropriate for it.

Kim

Office 2013 was the first version designed with use on a tablet in mind. It, too, has icons spaced far apart on the QAT, the better to hit the right one with a finger. That there is no option to close up the space between is an error in judgment on MSFT’s part, but they’ve never listened to me. Web designers handle touch vs desktop better than MSFT at this point.

If you want a version with the ability to place more icons on the QAT, you have to go to 2010.

Charles is right, RaymondB,

First thing to do when setting up complex numbering is to understand numbering. Shauna did an excellent job of it.

However, your example seems to show that you only sometimes need the next level numbering to follow a heading on the same line. In that case, you can use a listnum field. See the example doc I’ve attached and take a look at the fields by toggling Alt-F9.

HTH, Kim :bananas:

naiveblueeyes,

I enjoyed the challenge. It’s quite amazing to find what you can and can’t do with Word. So, not a waste of my time at all. And I’m glad it’s going to suit your dad.

Kim

naiveblueeyes,

You were ALMOST there. Take a look at the edit of the document you posted at the bottom of this post. Basically, there are THREE styles in each paragraph.

In your document, the first style is list number (causing a number to appear). The second style is Heading 2 style (causing the entry to appear in the Nav Pane and TOC).

But the third style is ALSO List Number–this is what’s causing the numbering to skip in your list. Even though the number doesn’t appear, the list number style still increments a number in the sequence, causing your list to seem to skip a number.

In my redo, I simply applied Body Text as the third style. This straightens out the numbering.

So…
The first style–List Number–supplies the number.
The second style–Heading 2–makes the author’s name appear in the Nav Pane and the TOC.
The third style–Body Text–allows you to type text in the paragraph that will not appear in the Nav Pane/TOC, and will not cause the list numbering to increment.

This is an exceptionally unusual method of applying styles and numbering, and is intended to address what you seemed to request. However, what macropod describes is much more straightforward, easier to achieve, and less prone to confusion.

Having said all that, here’s the document: 43008-Excerpt-from-Dads-Booklist-REDO
HTH, and if you have any further questions, just ask. Kim :bananas:

naiveblueeyes,

Ah. I think I misunderstood an important bit. You wanted it to appear in the Nav Pane without numbers but in the TOC with numbers. Is that correct?

Cheers, Kim

naiveblueeyes,

After the holidays and when you have time, take a look at the document I posted. It illustrates how to have a numbered list where the numbers don’t appear in the TOC or Nav Pane. It requires two style separators within one paragraph. Happy holidays.

Cheers, Kim

MaryDiva,

In reviewing the entire string, I realized I missed the trigger for the problem. You say the issue happens when folks use your spell check macro on a particular document. Is that accurate? Is that the only time Normal crashes? If not, under what other circumstances does it crash? I know it’s hard to track this down (“I wasn’t doing anything!”), but your users are probably seeing a pattern that might be useful.

If it only happens with the one document, it probably has issues other than just being old. If it still happens after the document has been converted, you might try recreating the document in W2013.

It’s possible there’s something in your spell check macro that Word objects to (although I think this is unlikely).

After that you’ll need to look to something in your environment. How has the DMS issue played out?

I’m with Charles. Whatever else is going on, move your institutional macros into a global template now — it’s best practice. The Normal template was always intended to be the end user’s resource.

HTH and Happy Holidays! Kim

MaryDiva,

I use Office 2013 with SP1, and provide support for a firm that does the same. I’m not seeing any issues, but YMMV given that my Normal.dotm is very different from yours.

On the other hand, it definitely sounds like there’s a serious issue somewhere in your ecosystem. What, if anything, have you done to adjust Normal.dotm while trying to address the original issue?

Since a back rev to before SP1 may be extremely painful, is it possible to test Normal as previously suggested by moving the macros to a global template? I probably don’t need to say this, but remember when you’re troubleshooting to change only one thing at a time, then put it back if it doesn’t resolve the issue and try the next thing.

Because you were having problems before SP1 was installed, you can’t with complete certainty say it’s SP1, especially if you did anything else to Normal at the same time. On the other hand, the fact that problems escalated with the patch is very hard to ignore. Unless your computers are setting System Restore points (and one was set before the patch was applied), dealing with SP1 will be the difficult thing to test.

It would be easier to remove your macros from the equation for a test than removing SP1. If the problems go away, you’re ready to deal with how to make Normal behave. If they don’t, you can restore your Normal and move on to SP1.

HTH, Kim

naiveblueeyes,

I’ve attached a document that has an example of what you’ll need to do to number a paragraph yet only have the name appear in the Navigation Pane or a TOC. It requires patience and, as folks have pointed out, an understanding of styles. (Link is at the bottom of this message.)

42852-nav-pane-with-names-only

The document itself has other bits of useful info about this process.
HTH Kim :bananas:

42853-formatting-for-TOC-and-Nav-Pane

Hey Mike,

There’s no coding required. Yes, I am referring to the Quick Access Toolbar. Click File>Options>Quick Access Toolbar (or get there by right-clicking the QAT or Ribbon and choosing “Customize Quick Access Toolbar”).

Once there, choose All Commands in the drop down under “Choose commands from:” and scroll down to “Redefine Style”. Add it to your QAT. I’ve included a screenshot from Word 2010, but it’s the same in 2013.

42813-QAT-customize

I’m afraid I’m not familiar with the Win 10 / Office 2013 macro processing rules (perhaps someone else is and can jump in), but if you describe what’s going wrong I may be able to help. (I’ve run Word 2010, 2013, and 2016 on a virtual pc with W10 and not noticed any particular issues with macros other than deprecated features.)

Best, Kim