MS Word 2010: Fixing Numbered Headings & Styles - Avoid Black Squares in Multi-Level Lists

As you can see in the attached picture, I have a problem with the numbering in Word 2010. I set up the styles with the numbering of the individual sub-point levels and everything was fine until I restarted the previously saved file. After opening, instead of point "1." it shows me black squares and I have no idea what could be the reason, and what's worse, it tries to change to the new style numbering but after setting "1." a black square pops up. Help me because I am writing the theses of M.Sc.

It is quite difficult to diagnose. Most likely some problem with the styles library. You should try to open the file on another computer first and open it on your own.

I played a bit and I will say that on another computer it opens this file in exactly the same way. This is weird because the styles were completely new and formatted to my liking, and everything displayed very nicely until reopened.
I was able to work around this problem by editing the styles that are in Word headings 1, 2, etc. to my needs, i.e. I changed their appearance to the same as the styles that I created at the beginning and, surprisingly, it does not change them after reopening so there is a problem with the newly created ones but what i have not been able to solve.

The problem occurs after saving from doc to docx. In styles, something similar to a tab is written - because this symbol behaves in exactly the same way as a tab stop. In the text, the easiest way is to remove this black character, insert a tab and update the style as selected - the style settings should override nicely.

I don't know if I understood correctly. I did as you say and it did not help - when I insert the bullet points (numbering) the rectangles reappear. You can write again - more precisely - what is the problem and how to solve it?
Thanks!

I have the same problem as my colleague above - saving the document (base and output * .docx) everything was ok. After reopening it, the numbering changed to black squares .. How to "fix" it? My document is 90 pages .... I am asking for help, because I am broken ....

As the work is not too complicated, such a small procedure can fix the problem.

As I said, this black rectangle is like a tab stop. It is closely related to the style as shown in the picture below.


It is enough to erase this sign in one place and update the style by right-clicking on it on the ribbon and selecting "Update style as selected".



I do not promise that nothing will go wrong; P

Well, yes, but after erasing the multi-level numbering disappears - and it must be .... And when you try to insert 1.1 in the second line. the tab stops in black again and the numbering seems to be erased ...

Then maybe do these styles anew (updating as I showed) and then re-numbering the multi-level? I know that in the multilevel letter I also got tired. If you are not afraid to take the risk, you can send me your work directly by e-mail and I will be happy to get angry

This is probably the easiest way .... Anyway, thank you for your help

Znalazłem rozwiązanie tego problemu w sieci. I co najważniejsze... DZIAŁA!!!

Cytuję

1. Put your cursor on the heading just right of the black box
2. Use the left arrow key on your keyboard to move left until the black box turns grey
3. Use the keyboard combination ctrl+shift+s, the dialog "Apply Styles" should appear
4. In this box, click "reapply"



Pozdrawiam

I am digging out the topic, but I have the same problem.
owl85, your way works, but only as long as I'm using the file in question. When I save it and open it again, the problem appears again.
Do you know any other way that will permanently change these black squares?
I noticed that the problem only occurs in * .docx format ...

after the steps written by owl85
I copied all the text into a new file and after closing and reopening it works

Hello,
i had the same problem. I got a ready-made form with changed styles and started to create the content of the document in it. In version 3, I made some changes to the styles and there was a problem with black squares. I managed to solve it by saving the source style from the received format (path: Home -> Change styles -> Style set -> Save as quick style set ...). Then I corrected my document in the third version according to this style. Then I corrected the styles from the ready form and saved it again in the "local" style set. So if someone wrote that he corrected the document as he needed and saved its version, and after reopening it has black squares, he must save his style after correcting the document, save the document. When you reopen it, it should be approx.