Outlining
Home Basic Formatting Styles Sections Sections / Headers and Footers Complex Documents Mail Merge Tables Template Basics Outlining Troubleshooting

Introduction Web Resources Word Books Confidentiality Word FAQ Downloads Word 2002

 

 

____________

 

Floating Pillcrow - trademark of Add Balance

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Click here for more information about the book at Amazon.com.


Click here for more information about the book at Amazon.com.


Click here for more information about the book at Amazon.com.

Click for information on Amazon.com about this book.

Click for information on Amazon.com about this book.

other books
about using Word

 

 

Flying Pillcrow - trademark of Madison Wisconsin Criminal Defense Lawyer Charles Kenyon'n Word sites - symbolizing the wish to make Word fly!

 

Users Guide
Tutorials

Basic Formatting

Complex Documents
Tables of Contents
Tables of Authorities
Cross-References

Confidentiality
and MetaData

Numbering

Sections and
Section Breaks

Headers and Footers

Styles

Boilerplate
Building Blocks
Autotext and Autocorrect

Tables

Track Changes
& Compare
Documents /

Merge Documents

Template Basics
Normal.dot

Troubleshooting

Document
Corruption

Third Party
Vendors
Directory

Flying Pillcrow - trademark of Madison Wisconsin Criminal Defense Lawyer Charles Kenyon'n Word sites - symbolizing the wish to make Word fly!

Use Google to
Search the
Usersguide to
Microsoft Word

 

 

 

 

Other Word
Links

Frequently
Asked
Questions

Books
about
Microsoft Word

Microsoft Word
Free
Downloads
:
Add-Ins
Tutorials
Templates

Links

 

Flying Pillcrow - trademark of Madison Wisconsin Criminal Defense Lawyer Charles Kenyon'n Word sites - symbolizing the wish to make Word fly!

 

 

This site maintained
as a hobby
as part of my
 criminal defense
attorney web site
 in
 Madison, Wisconsin.

 

 

Flying Pillcrow - trademark of Madison Wisconsin Criminal Defense Lawyer Charles Kenyon'n Word sites - symbolizing the wish to make Word fly!

 

Users Guide
Tutorials

Basic Formatting

Complex Documents
Tables of Contents
Tables of Authorities
Cross-References

Confidentiality
and MetaData

Numbering

Sections and
Section Breaks

Headers and Footers

Styles

Boilerplate
Building Blocks
Autotext and Autocorrect

Tables

Track Changes
& Compare
Documents /

Merge Documents

Template Basics
Normal.dot

Troubleshooting

Document
Corruption

Third Party
Vendors
Directory

Flying Pillcrow - trademark of Madison Wisconsin Criminal Defense Lawyer Charles Kenyon'n Word sites - symbolizing the wish to make Word fly!

Use Google to
Search the
Usersguide to
Microsoft Word

 

 

 

 

Other Word
Links

Frequently
Asked
Questions

Books
about
Microsoft Word

Microsoft Word
Free
Downloads
:
Add-Ins
Tutorials
Templates

Links

 

Flying Pillcrow - trademark of Madison Wisconsin Criminal Defense Lawyer Charles Kenyon'n Word sites - symbolizing the wish to make Word fly!

 

 

This site maintained
as a hobby
as part of my
 criminal defense
attorney web site
 in
 Madison, Wisconsin.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Outlining in Microsoft Word

This chapter is for use with Word 97 - Word 2024/365. Unlike many of the other chapters, it is not a collaboration but the work of a single author without peer review.  
 

bulletBig Idea #1 - Use Styles with an Outline Level Set
bulletBig Idea #2 - Use Built-In Heading Styles Rather Than Create Your Own
bulletBig Idea #3 - If You Want Outline Numbering or Even Different Levels of Lists stay away from the buttons!
bulletBig Idea #4 - Use Outline View
bulletBig Idea #5 - Use the Navigation Pane in Word 2010 and later
bullet Big Idea #6 - Use Collapsible Headings in Word 2013 and later
bullet Big Idea #7 - Outline Level and Numbering Level are not the same thing
bullet Big Idea #8 - Do Not Destroy Your Work Using the Master Documents "Feature"

Big Idea #1 - Use Styles with an Outline Level Set

See Understanding Styles in Microsoft Word

You want to use a paragraph style that has an outline level set. Here is how to create such a new style. (You can also modify an existing style to set an outline level.)

Word 1997 - 2003

Format > Style > New Style > Format > Paragraph > Outline Level

Word 2007 - 2024 (365)

Home Tab > Styles Pane > New Style (button) > Format > Paragraph > Outline Level

You could apply this outline level formatting through direct paragraph formatting, but why would you want to? This is what styles are for!

If using Numbering, do the level assignment when creating the MultiLevel List Style. See How to create numbered headings or outline numbering in Ribbon Versions of Word by Shauna Kelly if you want to also have numbering in the levels.

Big Idea #2 - Use Built-In Heading Styles Rather Than Create Your Own

See Why use Microsoft Word’s built-in heading styles? by Shauna Kelly

The Built-In Heading styles already have outline levels assigned. They also have special properties that make other Word features work better. The first three levels even have built-in keyboard shortcuts (Ctrl+Alt+1, Ctrl+Alt+2, Ctrl+Alt+3). You can even have shortcuts for all nine levels if you want.

The built-in heading styles have paragraph formatting to keep the heading on the same page as the following paragraph. (This can be a problem if you put everything in a heading style.)

You can modify these styles to have any appearance you want. They can look the same as body text if you want.

Big Idea #3 - If You Want Outline Numbering or Even Different Levels of Lists

Do not just press a button or choose numbering format. This is almost always a mistake. Instead set up your styles by attaching them to a numbering list using the procedures outlined by Shauna Kelly:

bullet How to create numbered headings or outline numbering in Ribbon Versions of Word
bullet How to control bullets in Ribbon Versions of Word
bullet Outline Numbering in Word for OS X - Mac Instructions

This is the only known method of creating multi-level numbering/outlining/bullets that survives editing. Note that assigning a numbering level does not add an outline level.

Big Idea #4 - Use Outline View

Outline View has been available since at least Word 97 and continues in the Ribbon Versions of Word. It not only changes the view but gives quick access to Outlining controls. These allow collapsing Outline levels, promoting and demoting paragraphs and other helpful methods. Leave the Master Document controls alone!

In Word 97-2003, you can access it under the View Menu, in later versions, under the View Tab. Once you click on Outline View, you are taken to the Outlining Tab.

Outline view lets you Collapse/Expand parts of your document quickly. You can select and copy/move entire parts of your document within Outline view. In Word 2013 and later, you can collapse sections with outline-level headings directly in the print view of the document as well. When moving parts it is often best to use Cut and Paste rather than dragging, at least in larger documents.

You can print just the outline (collapsed/expanded as wished) by using the Quick Print button (Word 97-2003). For later versions of Word, you will need to add the button to the Quick Access Toolbar (QAT) as outlined by Suzanne Barnhill in this Answers Thread.

You can reorganize your documents. Simply move collapsed headings. You can cut and paste or drag-and-drop the headings. The collapsed text moves with the heading. The same is true of deletions! In Word 2013 and later, this works ind Print Layout view as well.

If you use the method set forth so well by Shauna Kelly of linking your numbering to styles, that works well with the Outline View. Changing levels in a paragraph will not change that paragraph's style. To have the outline level apply to the style, update the style to match formatting after you have applied the level to a paragraph using the style.

Warning: The Outline View in versions of Word after Word 97 has given access to the "Master Document features" of Word. These are dangerous and can destroy your work. See Master Documents before touching these "features."

See also: How to Save Yourself Hours by Using Outline View Properly by Dave Rado, MVP.

See also: How Writers Can Use Word's Outline View (Ribbon versions).

 

Big Idea #5 - Use the Navigation Pane in Word 2010 and later

Word 2010 introduced the Navigation Pane. Documents organized using Outline-Level headings and structure can be viewed and manipulated. Do not confuse this with the Document Map in earlier versions of Word, which should not be used for reorganizing.

You can promote/demote headings by right-clicking in the Navigation Pane.

The built-in heading styles will appear in the Navigaton Pane automatically. You can assign an outline level to a paragraph in some other style or make that level part of the custom style and it will appear in the Navigation Pane. However, you will not be able to promote or demote any styles other than the built-in heading styles (and styles based on those styles). Here you can see that the promote/demote commands are not available for custom styles even though they appear in the Navigation Pane.

See also: Navigation Pane in Word 2010 and later. See also: Headings that do not show up in the Navigation Pane or in a Table of Contents (or in Cross-References / Hyperlinks).

The Navigation Pane in Word for the Mac, as of January, 2024, cannot be used to reorganize documents. Use Outline View instead.

Big Idea #6 - Use Collapsible Headings (in Word 2013 and Later)

Word 2013 introduced the ability to collapse text under headings, actually under any paragraph with an outline level set in the paragraph formatting. This works by the outline level of the heading.

If your mouse pointer over any paragraph that has an outline level set, you will see a little triangle, either pointed to the right or angled down. That triangle appears in the left margin next to the paragraph. The appearance of the triangle is different in different versions of Word. The screenshot below is from Word 2019.

Clicking on the Triangle Toggles Between Collapsed and Uncollapsed

When you collapse a heading, Word hides the text following the heading paragraph until the next heading paragraph of the same or higher outline level. This will mean the rest of a document if there are no paragraphs in the appropriate outline level to stop the collapse.

The triangle showing collapsed text will show on the screen always.

The one to collapse text shows when you hover the mouse pointer over the paragraph. In the document shown the mouse pointer is over Heading 1, you still see the triangle indicating collapsed text in the first Heading 2, the second Heading 2 is not collapsed and does not show a triangle.

The ability to collapse/expand depends on the heading having an outline level.

Printing a Document with Collapsed Text

When you print a document that has text collapsed, the text collapsed is not printed. The little triangle indicating collapsed text is also not printed. The text is still there in the document. Links and Cross-References to that text will still work and using them will uncollapse the text.

If you convert to PDF, it will also not be printed.

Note: a Section break will stop Collapse/Expand.

The Navigation Pane view and Collapsing Text in the Body are Independent.

If you collapse text in your document at level 2 and there is text set to outline level 3 or lower in the collapsed area, it will still show up in the Navigation Pane. Likewise, if certain levels are collapsed in the Navigation Pane, it has no influence over what shows up in the document.

If you click on a heading shown in the Navigation Pane that is in a collapsed area of text, it will uncollapse the area. Clicking on either Heading 3 or Heading 4 in the Navigation Pane will uncollapse everything that is collapsed under that Heading 2 in the document text.

You can collapse your view of headings in the Navigation Pane. That has no effect on what is seen in the document, only on what is shown in the Navigation Pane.

Options for Collapsing Text

This is a feature designed into the Word program, itself. It is not a user option and you cannot turn it on or off.

There is an option to always uncollapse this text when opening a document. This is a user, not a document setting.

As of this writing (July 2022), collapsible headings do not work in the Mac versions.

You can set a paragraph to collapse by default. This is a document paragraph setting that can be a part of a style. This setting does not override the user setting to expand all headings when opening a document. The user setting controls.

Here is a screenshot doing the paragraph or style modification to collapse by default.

If you want all paragraphs in a style to be collapsed by default, you need to change the style. Again, when a document is opened on a system set to Expand all upon opening, the paragraphs will be expanded.

 

Big Idea #7 - Numbering levels and Outline levels are not the same thing.

You can give a paragraph style a numbering level without changing its Outline level and vice versa.

 

Big Idea #8 - Do Not Destroy Your Work Using the Master Documents "Feature"

This is on this page only because the Outlining Tab has buttons and options dealing with "Master Documents." I repeat: Do not touch these without reading my page on the Master Documents "Feature".

 

Note: The idea of labeling of sections as "big ideas" was stolen directly from Bill Coan's article on page numbering. The distinction between numbering levels and outline levels developed from comments by MVP Lisa Wilke-Thissen.

This page last edited by Charles Kenyon on Monday 14 October 2024

 

index.htm

Hit Counter views since 14 April 2004

Microsoft Word Manual Users GuideCopyright 2000, Microsoft Corporation.
Copyright 2000-2002, 2004-2006, 2010-2024 Charles Kyle Kenyon
See information about copy permission.

Search Intermediate Users Guide to Microsoft Word Using Google                                            My office page as a Madison, Wisconsin Criminal Defense Lawyer.

Original Legal Users Guide to Microsoft Word 2002 - Documents in Zip Format

A note about link exchanges. This site does not participate in link exchanges to build web presence. If you have a link that you think would be of use to people reading this page, please send it to the webmaster with the url of the page where you think it should appear and it will be considered. Your placing a link to this site will not affect the decision on whether to add your link, though.