Greg writes to us to ask;

I have created a document with two numbered lists, and when I use that document as the basis for a mail merge, the resulting merged documents lists number continues from one page to the next, rather than starting from 1 (or a) at the top of each merged document. How do I fix that?

Turns out this is a common problem people have with Microsoft Word. If this happens to you, all you can do is number the list yourself manually, and not use the auto numbering feature of Word.

The trick there is that Word is pretty keen to help you, and if it sees you start a list with a number or letter, it will turn on auto numbering for you automatically. You need to turn that help off first;

On older versions of Word, you would click TOOLS, click AUTOCORRECT, and on the AUTOFORMAT AS YOU TYPE tab, untick the box next to AUTOMATIC NUMBERED LISTS.

In Word 2007, you click the “OFFICE BUTTON” which is in the top left corner, click on WORD OPTIONS, then PROOFING, then AUTOCORRECT OPTIONS, and you will find the same check box you can untick.

Once you’ve done that, delete the list that’s already there, and recreate it manually, and your mail merge should work fine!

1. On the Tools menu, click AutoCorrect.
2. On the AutoFormat As You Type tab, click to clear the Automatic numbered lists check box.
3. Click OK to close the AutoCorrect dialog box.