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Hi,
I'm writing a long document with 5 levels of list: Chapter, section, subsection, data, image
Let's say I've got Chapter 3, section 2, subsection 1 and data 'a' - the numbering reads 3.2.1.a - great!
If I've got Chapter 3, section 2, NO subsection, and data 'a', the numbering ALSO read 3.2.1.a - duplicate! incorrect!

I'm not sure if it should read 3.2.0.a or just 3.2 a, but either way it's got to be something different. I cannot figure out the best way to solve this. Maybe making a separate header style for NO subsection data items? The problem is, these data need to be in the same TOC flow as the rest of the data, in correct order...

If anyone has experience with this, or a good solution, let me know.

-laru

You can definitely achieve either "3.2.0.a" or "3.2 a" via styles, and include everything in the same numbering flow.

How to get something like "3.2.0.a" when a component is missing:

1. Customize your tiered list style so that it starts numbering at 0 by default, instead of 1.
1 a. Switch to the stylesheet view.
1 b. From the list on the left, select your list style.
1 c. From the preview on the right, select a single list level.
1 d. From the Lists palette, change the "number" to 0.
1 e. Repeat steps c-d for all list levels you intend to use.

2. Customize your heading paragraph styles so they enforce not only the list style, but also a starting number of 1.
2 a. Switch to the stylesheet view.
2 b. From the list on the left, select your paragraph style (eg: "Chapter").
2 c. Using the Lists palette, apply your list style.
2 d. Also in the Lists palette, change the "number" to 1.

Now when you are working in your main document, just apply your paragraph style to enforce the list style and regular 1-based numbering.

How to get something like "3.2 a" when a component is missing:

This time you want your list style's default starting number to remain at 1. Instead you'll want to customize the level numbering format enforced by your paragraph styles. Let's look at configuring the paragraph style that should show as "3.2 a":

1. Switch to the Stylesheet view.
2. From the style list on the left, select your paragraph style, eg: "Data - No Subsection".
3. Using the Lists palette, apply your list style.
4. Also in the Lists palette, adjust the list level as needed, ie: increase the list level to 4.
5. Also in the Lists palette, customize the numbering format:
5 a. Switch to the "custom" format by clicking the tab labelled "#".
5 b. Edit the "level format" field to cut out the list level numbers you're not interested in showing. To achieve "3.2 a" you'd want to replace the level number bubble "(3)" with a space.

Now when you are working in your main document, just apply your "Data - No Subsection" paragraph style to enforce the list format that doesn't show any sub-section number.

I hope that helps, and isn't too confusing. Let me know if you have any questions.

thanks! i just got back to fiddling with this - the second option seems to be working. I've just got to recompile the TOC...