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Alison Totten wonders: <<Wondering if any folks out there have had any
experience trying to custom format numbers (list, like bullets). I want to
make some numbered list with black circles and white numbers in them, or
orange boxes with yellow numbers, etc.>>
There are a couple ways you might succeed. The most likely is to customize
the font used for numbering when you define the "numbered list" paragraph
style. In the dialog box for bullets and numbering, select the Numbering
tab, then click the Customize button. You'll see a second dialog box that
lets you choose which font to use for the numbers, and how to format them.
Playing around with the parameters in this dialog box might help some, but
if you can find a font that already has the numbers you want preformatted as
part of the font, use that font instead. Of course, then you're relying on
Word's autonumbering function, which isn't necessarily a good choice; it's
unreliable and buggy.
Another approach might be to use "sequence" codes to define the numbering.
Then, if you can format the numbers produced by that sequence either by
applying the correct font (see prev. paragraph) or by adding a background
graphic (e.g., a black circle) behind the sequence field, that might work
too. Check the online help for details on how to use sequence fields. Last
but by no means least, you could probably use a macro such as the one Steve
Hudson suggested; such a macro might select the numbers, change their color
to white, and finally paste a black square or circle behind them. Kludgy,
but it might work.
If all else fails, insert the numbers manually using a font that has the
correct symbols for your needs. Really, this isn't nearly so tedious as it
sounds, and it's much less frustrating than trying to trick Word into doing
what it claims it knows how to do.
--Geoff Hart, FERIC, Pointe-Claire, Quebec
geoff-h -at- mtl -dot- feric -dot- ca
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