Auto Numbering Space after number

[Inspiring_Fountain5E5A]

I am sure this is an easy fix but I am struggling on how to figure it out.  I am using FM 2015 64bit.  The image below, the left side the auto number (10) does not automatically adjust its space relative to the text like the one on the right side does, that one is from Microsoft Word.  I am sure there is a setting somewhere but I can not find it.  Any help would be much appreciated.

[LinSims]

If you want your step/line numbers to line up on the right-most digit, you have to create two separate tab settings on the Basic tab, one for the number itself and one for where you want the text to start. Then you have to insert a tab into the Autonumber definition on the Numbering tab.

[LinSims]

I forgot to mention, you can also make that Right tab a Decimal tab, and then it will align on the period after your step number. It will either way, actually, but using the right tab means that FrameMaker won't lose its mind if you happen to have a numbering sequence like "8.3.a.ii".

(NB: I have never tried to use a decimal align with this sort of paragraph numbering; I'm not sure what would actually happen. It might align at either the first one or the last one.)

[Barb Binder]

You got it right, Lin. You do need two tab stops: set a decimal tab to control the position of the numbers, and a left align tab to align the text that follows.

Teaching today but can follow up with a screen shot later if necessary.

~Barb

[LinSims]

Decimal tabs work well if you're only working with single-level numbered procedure steps, but they don't work too well if you're doing multi-level numbering. Most people don't for procedures, of course, but I've generally found that it's simpler to reserve decimal tabs for when I'm actually working with numbers that contain decimals, such as currency or measurements, and use right-align tabs if I'm numbering headings or procedure steps. YMMV.   

[Inspiring_Fountain5E5A]

Ok, so here I thought there was the ability to create a default space and

when you went to your next auto number it would apply that space

automatically.

We are converting some files from Word and they import ok but the space

issue exists for all the auto numbers in the steps. It gets progressively

worse when it gets to three numbers. I really wanted to avoid having to

touch each step.

[LinSims]

Word and Frame have very different approaches to a lot of things. Word makes a lot of assumptions about what you want to do and then does it for you without your having to do much. Frame does what you tell it to do, but it does require you to actually tell it what you want in detail.

So. Before getting into this too far, I (at least) need to know three things:

Did the creator/maintainers of this document use the Ribbon bar list gallery to apply the step formatting, or did they create actual named styles for the steps and use list styles to create the numbering? (A list style is associated with the paragraph style that is applied to your numbered list.)

Are you using multilevel lists or only single level lists?

If they are all single level lists, do they all start at the same place with respect to the left margin?

[Inspiring_Fountain5E5A]

Styles were created in the Word document. I knew this, and I also knew

that the conversion would not pick up that style but my assumption was in

the unstructured FM, that I would be able to create the same type of

default for the numbers list so that when the auto-number was generated, it

would create a default space.

There are multi-level lists in the Word document but this particular list

was a single level. If you look at the graphic I added in the picture, you

can see that the lists on the right have the same left margin but the

number (10) auto populates and the space is autogenerated between the

number and the words when you hit the enter button. That is what I assumed

I could do in FM.

[Barb Binder]

Swinging back through with screen shots. If you define paragraph style for the list, you can just set it up once. You only showed a single-level list in parentheses so I'm going with that.

Set up auto-numbering as per Lin's first response:

Define two tab stops (I set a decimal tab at .4" and a left align-tab at .6") and define a left indent that matches the left-align tab (for me that is .6").

This holds up for one, two and three digit values.

~Barb

[LinSims]

I'm afraid not. FrameMaker doesn't adjust styles that way, you have to tell it very specifically exactly where you want everything.

There are a couple of ways to approach this. You can have a set of styles that handles multilevel lists and set up the tabs so that there's enough room for the largest number you expect to see. On the minus side, this means that in shorter lists, you're going to have space to the left of the numbers. On the plus side, however, the numbers for each item in all of your lists will be aligned at the right, and that's a neat and tidy look.

Or you could have a set of style for the shorter lists (say, up to 2 digits) and a separate one for the longer ones that you know will be 3 digits or so. On the plus side, you'll have far less white space to the left of the numbers. On the minus side, you're going to have different indenting depending on which set of styles you use.

If you have specific style names in use in the Word document, what you CAN do is create your Frame template using the same style names and setting things up the Frame way. When you import the Word document, the Frame document will be formatted (largely) correctly. There will still be some handwork (if you have tables in these documents, buy Rick Quatro's TableCleaner plugin--it will save you a lot of grief), but the majority of the reformating should be done.

<frowns> BarbBinder​, I don't recall: do you have to do a Global update or something to get the tags applied properly so there aren't overrides or does it import more or less cleanly so long as you have Frame tags using the same names as the Word styles?

[Barb Binder]

Hi linsims:

I use style mapping on import (to map the Word styles to the equivalent FrameMaker style), but I still use Find/Change to remove to overrides:

richardb52338873, if style mapping is new to you, you can read about it here:

https://www.rockymountaintraining.com/adobe-framemaker-smoother-import-word-files-style-mapping/

~Barb

[Inspiring_Fountain5E5A]

Barb and Linsims, thank you for your help. We will explore these solutions

today at work and see what works best. I appreciate both of you taking the

time to help me.