Crazy Word 2016 issue I can't even begin to troubleshoot.

[thecomputerguy]

I'll try to make this as simple as an explanation as possible but it's pretty tricky problem.

I have a Law client who has document templates. Most of these templates are 20+ pages long filled with legal jargon. They use these templates and fill in the necessary information relating to the client/parties.

This template begins with a table of contents at the beginning and follows a numbering scheme as shown below. If you CTRL+Click the table of contents it will take you to that section. This template was created in who knows what version of Word years ago.

TABLE OF CONTENTS:
​

1. Hello this is a major line containing the title of the section.......................................pg1

a. This is a minor line which contains a description of the paragraph below.........pg1

​

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

​

1. Hello this is a major line containing the title of section.

a. This is a minor line which contains a description of the paragraph below

This is the paragraph which contains all of the legal jargon included in the template.
This is the paragraph which contains all of the legal jargon included in the template.
This is the paragraph which contains all of the legal jargon included in the template.
This is the paragraph which contains all of the legal jargon included in the template.
This is the paragraph which contains all of the legal jargon included in the template.
​

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------




The issue is, intermittently, when she modifies something in the document that will then modify the Table of Contents she will retain the numbering of the Major lines, but lose the numbering/lettering for the Minor line in both the Table of the contents. She updates the table of contents by going to References > Update Table > Update Entire Table. After updating the table she will safe the document and it will be fine. She will print the document and it will be fine. ONLY after she closes and re-opens the document is it then broken and she has to manually re-create the numbering format.

An actual example of how this looks is below. This is after modifying the document in a way that modifies the table the contents. She updated the entire table, saved it, printed it, and this is what happened when she re-opened it.

This is happening across multiple template files and I have no idea how to help her. Right is what it is supposed to look like, Left is how it looked after updating, saving, printing, and re-opening. I was given permission to post this on the internet from her. This also removes the associated numbering in the Table of Contents. There is nothing important in this document.

I told her she might have to re-create the Templates and she wanted me to try and explore another solution.

​

 

[nlinecomputers]

Have you tried to just simply edit the template and save it so that it is saved as a modern version?

 

[Archon Prime]

Have you tried to just simply edit the template and save it so that it is saved as a modern version?

This was what I was going to recommend as well. Create a copy of it and save it as a 2016 docx version so it's properly converted. Then try editing.

 

[nlinecomputers]

It is a template so it would be a dotx file not a docx file.

 

[thecomputerguy]

So I logged in and it is actually already saved as a .docx - So I guess it isn't actually a Word template that is just what they call it. It's a Word doc that they call their template.

The file properties show that it's creation date was mid-2017 which is probably when she converted it to a docx herself. The last printed date shows 2015 which she thought was confusing but I assumed that was because the last time someone printed the file, blank, without being modified was in 2015 which was probably a mistake because they would never want to print that document blank.

I didn't however check all of their documents (templates) to see if they were all docx which they have quite a few of.

 

[sapphirescales]

Have you tried copying and pasting all contents into a NEW Word document once it looks perfect and re-saving? Sounds like a botched conversion. You may have to also copy all contents and put it into NOTEPAD (to remove ALL formatting), then copying and pasting the plain text into a NEW Word document and then reformatting it and saving it as a docX.

 

[thecomputerguy]

Have you tried copying and pasting all contents into a NEW Word document once it looks perfect and re-saving? Sounds like a botched conversion. You may have to also copy all contents and put it into NOTEPAD (to remove ALL formatting), then copying and pasting the plain text into a NEW Word document and then reformatting it and saving it as a docX.

I'll ask her if she tried that. Good idea

 

[glennd]

I'll try to make this as simple as an explanation as possible but it's pretty tricky problem.

I have a Law client who has document templates. Most of these templates are 20+ pages long filled with legal jargon. They use these templates and fill in the necessary information relating to the client/parties.

This template begins with a table of contents at the beginning and follows a numbering scheme as shown below. If you CTRL+Click the table of contents it will take you to that section. This template was created in who knows what version of Word years ago.

TABLE OF CONTENTS:
​

1. Hello this is a major line containing the title of the section.......................................pg1

a. This is a minor line which contains a description of the paragraph below.........pg1

​

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

​

1. Hello this is a major line containing the title of section.

a. This is a minor line which contains a description of the paragraph below

This is the paragraph which contains all of the legal jargon included in the template.
This is the paragraph which contains all of the legal jargon included in the template.
This is the paragraph which contains all of the legal jargon included in the template.
This is the paragraph which contains all of the legal jargon included in the template.
This is the paragraph which contains all of the legal jargon included in the template.
​

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------




The issue is, intermittently, when she modifies something in the document that will then modify the Table of Contents she will retain the numbering of the Major lines, but lose the numbering/lettering for the Minor line in both the Table of the contents. She updates the table of contents by going to References > Update Table > Update Entire Table. After updating the table she will safe the document and it will be fine. She will print the document and it will be fine. ONLY after she closes and re-opens the document is it then broken and she has to manually re-create the numbering format.

An actual example of how this looks is below. This is after modifying the document in a way that modifies the table the contents. She updated the entire table, saved it, printed it, and this is what happened when she re-opened it.

This is happening across multiple template files and I have no idea how to help her. Right is what it is supposed to look like, Left is how it looked after updating, saving, printing, and re-opening. I was given permission to post this on the internet from her. This also removes the associated numbering in the Table of Contents. There is nothing important in this document.

I told her she might have to re-create the Templates and she wanted me to try and explore another solution.

​

I'll see if I can remember this.

In the document formatting, where you define the format for a heading, part of the formatting for that heading is what format the following line will be. For example, Heading 1 will define the following line to be Sub-Heading 2 (or whatever). In this way when I type a heading 1 and press enter, I'm automatically in sub-heading 2 format so I just keep typing and press enter again and now I'm in default text format. The idea is to have all that formatting stuff automated so I don't have to think about it.

Now when I look at the right, I see that there is a sub-heading immediately following the major heading (ie "4.5" is followed by "a" "b" etc).

If you overtype or delete too much or backspace or something like that the following line formatting is lost and it takes on the format of the previous line. Hence on the left the second line appears in the same format as the first "4.5" line. In other words, the second line has lost it's own format and is now a heading just like the first.

It may not happen exactly this way but you get the idea. Usually I find if I place my cursor at the end of the first heading and press ENTER, the predefined formatting rules kick in and I get the correct formatting on the new line. Now I press delete until the text is brought up to the new line.

The table of contents will follow the document formatting so once you have the heading etc sorted out in the body of the document, you just refresh the TOC and it will be formatted correctly.

TLDR the error is the user is doing something she is not aware of.

It may be useful to switch on the hidden characters mode to see what the document thinks is going on.


She does what I do sometimes: Set up a regular document to be like a template, open it, type stuff in and Save As to a new document, close and don't save the first.