Cannot restart numbering for sublist

[kevin_elmore1]

I'm not sure if the problem is my ignorance about CSS or RoboHelp styles.

I have a multi-level list where the first level uses numbers and the second level uses letters. For example:

1. Step 1

a. Substep a

b. Substep b

2. Step 2

3. Step 3

c. Substep a

d. Substep b

4. Step 4

I want the sublist under Step 3 to start at a. I created these really nice styles that look beautiful (List-Number-1 and List-Number-2), but RH clearly treats each item associated with each style as a giant list. When I try to right-click and choose Bullets and Numbering, it says that the list restarts at 1, but that particular item obviously did not get the memo.

When I look at the HTML, I expected something different. I expected to see <OL> tags, but I have something unfamiliar to me. Here is what the HTML looks like:

<?rh-list_start class="rl-P-List-Number-1" an="1" level="1" style="list-style: rh-list; list-style: rh-list;" ?><p class="List-Number-1">Step 1</p><?rh-list_end ?>

<?rh-list_start an="1" class="rl-P-List-Number-2" level="1" style="list-style: rh-list; list-style: rh-list;" ?><p class="List-Number-2">Substep a</p><?rh-list_end ?>

<?rh-list_start an="1" class="rl-P-List-Number-2" level="1" style="list-style: rh-list; list-style: rh-list;" ?><p class="List-Number-2">Substep b</p><?rh-list_end ?>

<?rh-list_start class="rl-P-List-Number-1" an="1" level="1" style="list-style: rh-list; list-style: rh-list;" ?><p class="List-Number-1">Step 2</p><?rh-list_end ?>

<?rh-list_start class="rl-P-List-Number-1" an="1" level="1" style="list-style: rh-list; list-style: rh-list;" ?><p class="List-Number-1">Step 3</p><?rh-list_end ?>

<?rh-list_start level="1" an="1" class="rl-P-List-Number-2" style="list-style: rh-list;" ?><p class="List-Number-2">Substep a</p><?rh-list_end ?>

<?rh-list_start an="1" class="rl-P-List-Number-2" level="1" style="list-style: rh-list; list-style: rh-list;" ?><p class="List-Number-2">Substep b</p><?rh-list_end ?>

<?rh-list_start class="rl-P-List-Number-1" an="1" level="1" style="list-style: rh-list; list-style: rh-list;" ?><p class="List-Number-1">Step 4</p><?rh-list_end ?>

Is there something I can do to force the list to restart numbering in the middle?

This was a project that was created in RH 9 and is now being edited in RH 12, if that should make a difference.

[Peter Grainge]

By Rh12 I take it you mean Rh2015.

Numbering will continue but there is an option when that happens to Restart Numbering. Right click in 3c and you should see it.

---

See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

@petergrainge

[kevin_elmore1]

I've tried that, and it indicates that Restart Numbering is still turned on.

Oh, but on a lark, I decided to choose List Style from my right-click menu. There is also the option to restart. This looks like it's possibly sticking. Now my HTML looks like this:

<?rh-list_start class="rl-P-List-Number-1" an="1" level="1" style="list-style: rh-list; list-style: rh-list;" ?><p class="List-Number-1">Step 1</p><?rh-list_end ?>

<?rh-list_start an="1" class="rl-P-List-Number-2" level="1" style="list-style: rh-list; list-style: rh-list;" ?><p class="List-Number-2">Substep a</p><?rh-list_end ?>

<?rh-list_start an="1" class="rl-P-List-Number-2" level="1" style="list-style: rh-list; list-style: rh-list;" ?><p class="List-Number-2">Substep b</p><?rh-list_end ?>

<?rh-list_start class="rl-P-List-Number-1" an="1" level="1" style="list-style: rh-list; list-style: rh-list;" ?><p class="List-Number-1">Step 2</p><?rh-list_end ?>

<?rh-list_start class="rl-P-List-Number-1" an="1" level="1" style="list-style: rh-list; list-style: rh-list;" ?><p class="List-Number-1">Step 3</p><?rh-list_end ?>

<?rh-list_start level="1" an="1" class="rl-P-List-Number-2" start="1" ?><p class="List-Number-2">Substep a</p><?rh-list_end ?>

<?rh-list_start an="1" class="rl-P-List-Number-2" level="1" style="list-style: rh-list; list-style: rh-list;" ?><p class="List-Number-2">Substep b</p><?rh-list_end ?>

<?rh-list_start an="1" class="rl-P-List-Number-1" level="1" style="list-style: rh-list; list-style: rh-list;" ?><p class="List-Number-1">Step 4</p><?rh-list_end ?>

Which is interesting because the tag for step 3a is smaller. It does have list_start level and start. I tried adding start before, but I put it in the <p> tag and not the <?rh-list> tag. That latter tag is really messing me up. I'm not familiar with it at all. I'll have to look that up.

[Peter Grainge]

Not following how you can see the numbering as "still turned on". Can you add a screenshot of that please?

If you right click at 3c there should be an option Bullets and Numbering. There is restart option in the dialog that appears.

---

See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

@petergrainge

[kevin_elmore1]

Now that the renumbering has been fixed, I don't have an example to show anymore.

But the steps I took were:

1. Right-click on list item that needs to restart (i.e., 3c).
2. Select Bullets and Numbering from the right-click menu.
3. See that the check box for the restart option.

But where Bullets and Numbering did not work, it seems so far that List Style works. I don't recall seeing this in RH 9. Is this new to 2015, or has it been available prior to this? Here is what I see when I right-click on a number list:

Here is a side-by-side comparison of both dialog boxes. Both of them contain an option to restart numbering, but only the List Style dialog seems to work in the case of these styles I have.

Typically, the Bullets and Numbering menu item is all I need. It's done very well, but I think it might depend on how the style is defined in the project? We have several projects created anywhere from RH 3 to RH 9, so some styles seem to act differently. For example, this situation where Bullets and Numbering doesn't change anything.

[Peter Grainge]

Lists changed a lot at Rh8 so that could be part of the problem. There is a page on my site about that.

---

See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

@petergrainge

[kevin_elmore1]

Hmm, yes, I think that may be true. Most of our help files were created in RH 3. The incident that prompted me to start this topic was a help file that I remember creating in RH 9. This latest upgrade will probably prompt us for some much-needed auditing of our help files.