Lists, outlines, alignment of numbers

[DIZ]

I'm finally getting to setting up a base document for my writing, and I've come across something that has me banging my head against the wall.

It seems pretty straightforward, and yet....

What I would like is to have my outline numbers right align on the decimal point, so that the hang in a blank margin. I've mocked it up using a decimal tab and indents, image attached.

I think the editing of styles and lists could be a little bit more user friendly in the sense that some combinations should not be allowed, for example, if I want outline numbers, and I click on any of the bullet alignment options, then "custom list bullet" is added to the style, and formatting changes beyond this don't show up until this is removed. Not sure if this is a bug or if I am completely missing something here, which is very possible!

Any advice is greatly appreciated!

SCREENGRAB 1.jpg (38.33 KiB) Viewed 2667 times

[martin]

Hi DIZ,

Welcome to the forum. Hopefully we can get your problems cleared up, so your lists look just as you'd please.

It sounds like you're applying list numbering options (eg: list item alignment) to the paragraph style itself. Instead I'd recommend that in general you apply those options to the levels of your list style, and then just apply the list style to your paragraph style. For example:

1. Select the "Outline" list style in the stylesheet view.
2. From the list style preview (on the right), select the list level you want to adjust (eg: level one).
3. Use the Lists palette to change the alignment of the list item/number to be right-aligned.
4. Now select the paragraph style (eg: "Heading 1") that you'd like to have enforce these list numbers.
5. Apply the "Outline" list style.

I'll attach an example document that hopefully makes this structuring clear. You'll see that I also use the "Display As Uppercase" formatting option for the heading style.

I hope this helps. Please let us know if you have any questions.

[DIZ]

Thanks Martin for your quick and effective answer.

I was understanding the difference in paragraph settings from list settings, but it was the way the numbers work here that got me; Word (and Quark and Adobe etc.) had me thinking in indents and negative offsets from that, thus my confusion. But it is fixed now and works great. Thanks again!