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m4tze
Participating Frequently
September 30, 2020
Answered

Numbering in list doesn't work – it stays at 1. for all paragraphs

  • September 30, 2020
  • 4 replies
  • 11651 views

Hi all, don't know if this is a known issue or not:

I'm am setting up numbered lists and want to save them as a paragraph style. The weird thin: As soon as I save the style, all numbers in the list switch to 1. Even if I just use the default settings from InDesign and then just try to save these as a style. What am I missing here?

Correct answer hammer0909

That's because by default when you create a numbered list and save it as a style, the style records the bullets and numbering properties always starting at 1. You need to edit the style and go to the Bullets and Numbering section and change the mode to "Continue from Previous".

4 replies

Participant
March 12, 2024

I figured it out (well my collegue actually did). It is pretty simple. Just don't select the whole the text but just have your blinker at the start of the list and then create the list. 

I selected the whole list at firts and InDesign seems to think that every line is a new start of a list.

hammer0909
Community Expert
hammer0909Community ExpertCorrect answer
Community Expert
September 30, 2020

That's because by default when you create a numbered list and save it as a style, the style records the bullets and numbering properties always starting at 1. You need to edit the style and go to the Bullets and Numbering section and change the mode to "Continue from Previous".

Participating Frequently
October 22, 2024

When I have the style set to "Continue from Previous" it starts the new list on the number after the previous list, which I don't want. Each new list should start at 1. But when I select "Start at 1", every item in the list is numbered "1", unless I place the cursor in the first item on the list, go to paragraph > bullet and numbering > restart at one. But it doesn't work as a style.

 

Participant
March 5, 2025

In a long document that uses the same list styles, there are only two ways to have each list restart at 1 —

  • Right-click on the first list item and set "restart numbering at 1." This is, I believe, the canonical/correct way to do it, but I dislike it because it is an applied override that cannot be made part of a style, and thus has messy edges in actual use.
  • Use a child style that resets numbering to 1. Thus, all list items of this type would use MYLIST, while the first item of each list would use MYLIST-1. This is more orderly in ID practice but does need the extra level of format management.

This was awesome! I have two lists on the same page and I was either getting the second list starting at 6 or all the bullets in the second list showing 1. Right-click and "restart numbering" did the trick. Thanks!

Barb Binder
Community Expert
Community Expert
September 30, 2020

Would you mind sharing a screen shot of the numbering properties of the style in Paragraph Style Options > Bullets and Numbering after saving the style? Use the Insert Photos button on the toolbar in your reply (mountain range icon).

 

~Barb 

~Barb at Rocky Mountain Training
m4tze
m4tzeAuthor
Participating Frequently
September 30, 2020

So this is what happens:

---

Typing list and selecting Numbered list (or whatever it's called in the english version)

1. First paragraph

2. Second paragraph

---

Then I select this, click on the paragraph style panel, and save it. Immediately the numbering changes:

1. First paragrah

1. Second paragraph

 

Working on the latest version under MacOS Catalina.