Advanced functions: Creating your own numbered lists

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Advanced functions: Creating your own numbered lists

You can create new numbered lists and edit them in a customized manner. For example, you can customize the number formats for each level.

To create a new numbered list, proceed as follows:

1.If you want to apply the new numbered list immediately after creating it, first select the desired paragraphs.
2.On the ribbon tab Home | group Paragraph, click on the small arrow of the Numbered lists icon numbered_lists_icon and select Format numbered lists to open the dialog box.
3.Switch to the Numbered lists tab.
4.Click on the New button.
5.Enter any name for the new numbered list. Select one of the predefined styles and confirm with OK.
If you now want to customize the style, click on the Edit button rather than on OK, and make further settings for the numbering if necessary (see below).

The new numbered list has now been created. If you want to apply the changed list to the paragraphs that are currently selected, click on Apply. Otherwise, click on Close.

You can now use the numbered lists created with the New button at any time. For more information on applying numbered lists, see Applying numbered lists.

The Edit button opens a dialog box in which you can make the following settings for the selected numbered list:

General options

Simple list or Hierarchical list

The option you select here is crucial for the appearance of the numbered list because it determines the type of list:
Select Simple list for a simple numbering with only one level (thus 1., 2., 3. etc.)
Select Hierarchical list for a hierarchical numbering with multiple levels (for example, 1., 1.1., 1.1.1., etc.)

Use paragraph's outline level as list level

This option is available only if the list type Hierarchical list was enabled.
If this option is enabled, the outline level of each paragraph is automatically used as the level for numbering the list. If, for example, a paragraph has an outline level of 3 (thus a third-order heading), it becomes a level 3 list item when the list is applied (for example, "1.1.1").

Note: If this option is enabled, the numbering appears only for headings. Normal text (text with outline level zero) has no numbering.

For more information on working with outlines, see Outlines.
If the option Use paragraph's outline level as list level is not enabled, you can set the list level manually via the option List level in the main dialog box. For more information, see also Applying numbered lists.

Level

This option is available only if the list type Hierarchical list was enabled.
Here, you can click to select the level of the list you want to change. If you click on "3", for example, you can change the settings for the third level.
Each level of a hierarchical list can have its own settings. For example, you can set the color for the numbers at level 1 to blue, and the color for the numbers at all other levels to black.

Preview

The Preview field shows how the numbering will look with the current settings.
Here, you can also select which level you want to edit (as in the aforementioned Level field) for hierarchical lists. To do so, click on the desired level in the preview.

Display higher levels

This option is available only for list levels of 2 or higher in hierarchical lists.
If this option is enabled, the number applied to the numbering contains all list levels. List level 3 uses the number "1.5.9.", for example.
If this option is not enabled, only the number for the current level is applied (thus only "9." in the above example).

Don't restart the level

This option is available only for list levels of 2 or higher in hierarchical lists.
If this option is enabled, the number of this list level is not reset to 1 if this level follows a higher level.
Thus, if you enable this option for level 2, for example, the result will be as illustrated below:

Option disabled:

Option enabled:

1.

1.

1.1

1.1

1.2

1.2

2.

2.

2.1

2.3

As you can see from the last item of the above example, the 2nd level is continued with 2.3 instead of being reset to 2.1 if this option is enabled.

Reset button

If you ever make a major mistake while editing a numbered list, you can click on the Reset button to start again. This discards your changes and restores the original settings (for all list levels).

The other options in this dialog box allow you to change the appearance of the numbered list (see the following pages).

As mentioned above, each level of a hierarchical list can have its own settings. Thus, before setting any of these options, click in the Level field to select the level whose settings you want to change.

Options for bullets

If you have selected the option Bullet for Type, the following options appear in the dialog box:

Bullet section

Here, you can select the bullet to be used.
The Default row contains predefined bullets from which you can choose, while the Custom row contains user-defined bullets. To do so, click on one of the bullets in the Custom row, then click on the Change button to the right of that row and select the character to be used as the bullet.

Color (only for default bullets)

You can select a different color for the bullet from the dropdown list Color. In addition to the colors offered here, you can define new colors at any time. For more information, see Document properties, Colors tab.
Tip: If you set the color to "Auto", TextMaker automatically uses the font color of the paragraph to the right of the bullet.

Size (only for default bullets)

Here, you can change the size (in points) of the bullet.
Tip: If you select the option "Auto" here, TextMaker automatically uses the font size of the paragraph to the right of the bullet.

Character button (only for custom bullets)

For custom bullets, the Character button appears instead of the two options above. Click on this button if you want to change the character format (font size, color, text styles, etc.) of the bullet.
Tip: If you do not change these settings, the bullet automatically uses the character format of the paragraph to the right of the bullet.

Horizontal position

This option allows you to specify how far the text should be indented to the right to make room for the bullets.

Vertical position

This option allows you to specify the vertical position of the bullet on the line. If the value is negative, the bullet is positioned lower. It is positioned higher if the value is positive.

Additional indent

You can use this option to indent the entire text (including the bullet) to the right.

Options for numbering

If you have selected the option Numbering for Type, the following options appear in the dialog box:

Numbering text

You can use this option and the next one to change the format of the numbering.
The option Numbering text is filled in automatically by the program. However, you can always make changes. {1} is the placeholder for the number in the selected format (see next option). If {1} is entered here, the numbers will be displayed in the form 1, 2, 3, etc. If you enter -{1}-, however, the numbers will appear in the form -1-, -2-, -3-, etc.
If the numbering contains multiple levels, the placeholders are called {1}, {2}, {3} (for the number of the first, second, third level), etc.

Format

Here, you specify the format for the numbering. In addition to the usual "1., 2., 3., ...", you can select letters (A, B, C, ...) or Roman numerals (I, II, III, ...).

Numbering starts with ...

If you want the numbering to start with a value other than "1", then you can enter the start value "5" here, for example, and the numbering will start with "5".
This option takes effect only when the numbering starts again or is reset via the option Restart numbering in the main dialog box of the command.

Tip: Furthermore, you can also do the following (of particular interest for legal texts): If, for example, you have set the numbering a, b, c, etc., for the above option Format, and have entered the start value "aa", you create numbering like aa, bb, cc, etc. Alternatively, if you enter the start value "aaa", you create numbering like aaa, bbb, ccc, etc.).

Character button

You can click on this button to change the character formatting (font and font size, text styles, etc.) of the numbers.

Horizontal position

This option allows you to specify how far the text should be indented to the right to make room for the numbers.

Vertical position

This option allows you to specify the vertical position of the numbers. If the value is negative, the number is positioned lower. It is positioned higher if the value is positive.

Additional indent

You can use this option to indent the entire text (including the number) to the right.