Control how your new style displays in an outline (Word 2000/2002/v. X/2003)

Outline levels are display tools that work in conjunction with paragraph and heading styles. Often, when you're editing a document, you need to see your document's hierarchical structure in Outline view or in the Document Map. If you take a few moments to set appropriate outline levels, organizing your document in Outline view is a simple matter. If you don't select outline levels for your custom styles, you won't find all the information you need in Outline view.

When you create a new style, the outline level is automatically the same as the outline level of the style that you based it on. For example, if your new style is based on Word's built-in Heading 1 style, its outline level is set to 1 by default. If you choose not to base your new style on an existing style, then your new style's outline level defaults to Body Text.

To change a new style's outline level:

1. In the New Style dialog box, click Format and select Paragraph from the resulting dropdown list.
2. In the Paragraph dialog box, click on the Indents And Spacing tab (if necessary), and in the General area (the upper area in 2000 and v. X), select the outline level you want from the Outline Level dropdown list.
3. Click OK to close the Paragraph dialog box, and continue specifying the features of your new style. Notice that the Outline Level setting you applied is reflected in the Description area of the Modify Style dialog box, which is located below the preview window.
4. Click OK in the New Style dialog box to create your new style.