Adobe FrameMaker: Numbering Headings

by Barb Binder

I love paragraph numbering in FrameMaker, mostly because no matter what numbering style a student shows me, I can make it happen by mixing and matching the building blocks in Numbering properties. Today, a former FrameMaker student asked me to help her fix paragraph numbers. Here's what she wanted:

Chapter 1. ChapterTitle text here

1.1. Heading1 text here

1.2. Heading1 text here

1.3. Heading1 text here

1.3.1. Heading2 text here

1.3.2. Heading2 text here

1.4. Heading1 text here

The trick is to look at the numbers as columns. I'll sketch them on paper for complex situations. Here's how numbering properties should look for each of these paragraph formats:



Here's why it works:

Series Label. The series label tells FrameMaker that these three paragraph formats are part of the same numbering series. I use H for a Heading series, but any uppercase letter will do.

ChapterTitle. Prints the word "Chapter" followed by the chapter number, a period and a space. < =0> resets the column 2 and 3 counters back to 0 for each new chapter, but the space says don't show it.

Heading1. Repeats the chapter number, followed by a period. The <n+> adds one to the 2nd column counter and shows the result.
The < =0> resets the third column counter back to zero, but doesn't show it.

Heading2. Repeats the chapter number followed by a period, the <n> repeats the 2nd column counter without changing it, and <n+> adds one to the 3rd column counter and shows the result.

Voila! Using this logic, you can number as many paragraphs as you could ever want.

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If you are new to FrameMaker and want to get up to speed quickly, join IconLogic's instructor-led, online Introduction to Adobe FrameMaker class. Hope to "see" you there.

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About the author: Barb Binder is the president and founder of Rocky Mountain Training. Barbara has been a trainer for nearly two decades and has been recognized by Adobe as one of the top trainers world-wide.

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Comments

[T J]

I have no problem numbering my sections like you mentioned, but how do you get them to show up in the table of contents?
My manual is set as follows:
1 Introduction
1.1 Description
1.1.1 Elements

I am able to get my chapter number to show up in the table of contents, but I can't seem to get the subsections to list. I've messed around with the reference pages, but can't seem to find out how to do it.

[T J]

Thank you very much for the information. The problem I am having now is that when I generate my table of contents, it does not list the section numbers for each of the sections.
I would like my table of contents to read:

1 Heading 1 Text
1.1 Heading 2 Text
1.1.1 Heading 3 Text

The only thing that shows up in my table of contents now is:

1 Heading 1 Text
1 Heading 2 Text
1 Heading 3 Text

I can't seem to get the subsections to show up.

Thanks in advance.

[T J]

OH! I figured it out. is quite the powerful little building block. I put it in front of my in my reference page of the TOC.