MS Word —

Correct Automatic Numbering in Numbered Lists

  1. Reset (Restart) Each Numbering List
  2. Continue Numbering
  3. Set Numbering Value

One of the common issues that users encounter when working with MS Word is the numbering not continuing as expected. This can happen when the user inserts a new paragraph, changes the style, or applies a different list level. There are several ways to fix this problem and resume the numbering sequence.

Let's take a look at your options for correcting (or avoiding) the problem.

Reset (or Restart) Each Numbering List

If you have the patience, you can restart each list manually by right-clicking on the item that is out of sequence and choosing Restart at 1 from the shortcut menu. This will create a new list with a separate numbering sequence.

Continue Numbering

The Continue Numbering option is helpful when you want to resume the numbering from a previous list that was interrupted by a different paragraph style or level as shown in the following figure:

Follow these steps to continue numbering from the previous listing:

  1. Right-click on the number where the numbering should continue.
  2. Select Continue Numbering from the context menu.

This will link the current list to the previous one and continue the numbering sequence as shown in the following figure:

Set Numbering Value

The Set Numbering Value option allows you to customize or reset the numbering of a list. This feature is particularly useful when you want to change the starting number of a numbered list, restart numbering, or skip numbering from a specific point. For example, you can start a numbered list with 4 instead of 1. Follow these steps to set numbering value:

Start a New List Out of an Existing List

  1. Right-click on the item that is out of sequence.
  2. Choose Set Numbering Value from the shortcut menu.
  3. In the Set Numbering Value dialog box, choose Start new list option to break the existing list and start a new list.
  4. Specify the starting number in the Set value to box for the new list. For example, you can change it to start at 100 instead of 1.
  5. Click OK

Skip Some Numbers in a Numbered List

The Advance value (skip numbers) checkbox in the Set Numbering Value dialog box allows you to skip some numbers in a numbered list. For example, if you have a list that goes from 1 to 10, and you want to skip numbers 4 and 5, you can use this option to do so:

  1. Right-click on the number that you want to skip from (e.g. 4) and choose Set Numbering Value from the context menu.
  2. In the Set Numbering Value dialog box, choose Continue from previous list option and check the Advance value (skip numbers) box.
  3. Enter the number of values that you want to skip in the Set value to box next to it. In this case, enter 6.
  4. Click OK.

The list will now skip numbers 4 and 5 and continue from number 6. You can use this option to skip any number of values in a numbered list.