Word heading number blacked out

Question

When opening the document I am working on in Word 2010 this morning, the number in heading level 1 is a black rectangle:

however, it still look ok in the bookmark pane:

Weird, ey?

Answer 1

I solved this after all, I also noticed that someone else was unable to resolve this on a Microsoft forum, so if you read this, here is my solution:

1. Press properties for Heading 1
2. Press format, numbering
3. Chose No numbering. Exit the properties. All numbering will now disappear.
4. From the "start" pane, press multi-level-list, and then the format that looks like:

1. Heading 1

1.1. Heading 2

1.1.1. Heading 3

Answer 2

1. Place the cursor just to the right of the black box in any example of the affected heading.
2. Hit ← (left arrow) and the black box should turn gray.
3. Type Ctrl+Shift+S to bring up a style popup.
4. Click Reapply.

This has worked every time I've had this problem.

Answer 3

I tried all of the answers above, some worked, but... the black rectangle came back each time I reopened the document.

In short : I had to remove all the numberings (A) and recreate the multilevel list(B).

Here is how to do it:

A: Remove the numbering

1. Place the cursor on the first Heading 1.
2. Click on the button Numbering in Ribbon/Home/Paragraph to remove the number (1 on the picture).
3. Select the whole line where your Heading 1
4. Right-Click on Heading 1 in the Ribbon/Home/Style and select "update heading 1 to match selection" (2 on the picture)

Redo step 1 to 4 for all your headings (I had to go until Heading 6). Make sure by scrolling down in the navigation/heading panel, that all the number before your headings are removed.

B: recreate a multilevel list

1. Place the cursor just before the first heading 1
2. Click on Multilevel list in Ribbon/Home/Paragraph and choose the format you want (3 on the picture). [In a comment, fl0w also suggests to select "Define new multilevel list" and construct a multilevel list]

Answer 4

I spent around 5 hours trying to fix this problem and was close to pulling my hair out. I tried every fix suggested on the net (creating new multi lists and importing uncorrupted styles etc) and the problem kept returning.

The below seems to have worked for me and I hope it's a permanent solution.

1. Firstly I did the following as has been suggested by a number of users a) Put your cursor on the heading just right of the black box b) Use the left arrow key on your keyboard to move left until the black box turns grey c). Use the keyboard combination ctrl+shift+s, the dialog "Apply Styles" should appear d) In this box, click "reapply"

2. Once the black boxes had disappeared I saved the document as a word 1997-2003 document (document 2).

3. I resaved document 2 as a normal word document (2013 in my case) and selected the compatibility mode option when saving (document 3)

4. I resaved document 3 as a word document (2013) and deselected the compatibility mode option (document 4).

It seems to have worked and the black boxes have disappeared. I hope this is a permanent fix otherwise I will go back to working on document 2 (word 2003 version).

Answer 5

Some extra help for others with this problem (I still had this working in Word 2013 with an older "compatability mode" document.)

For me, the blacked out numbering was occuring only on "Heading 3". To fix:

1. Modify style properties for Heading 1 - select Numbering = None
2. Modify style properties for Heading 2 - select Numbering = None
3. Modify style properties for Heading 3 - select Numbering = None
4. Move cursor to text that is formatted as Heading 1
5. From the ribbon bar, [home]>Paragraph section, select Multi-Level-List. Make sure you choose the option as above with all the Heading names listed (you may see one with first 3 levels missing).

Answer 6

I have had issues with this as well.

Fix was to select the numbering that is blacked out and setting the font size to something other than blank (I assume that causes the problem). Simple update heading to match selection fixes the rest of the instances.

Good luck.

Answer 7

1. Place the cursor just to the right of the black box in any example of the affected heading.
2. Hit left arrow key and the black box should turn gray.
3. From your Styles box re-apply the style you want to use (Heading 1)
4. It should now show you the valid style (number visible).

When you close and open your document however this reverts to the previous style (black box). In order to prevent this, once the style is how you want it to be (number visible) do the following:

1. Right click the number (style).
2. Go to 'Styles'
3. Click on 'Update Heading 1 to match selection'

Now save and close/re-open the document and it should no longer revert.

Answer 8

The only way I've found that fixes this, permanently, is to scratch your current custom numbering format and to rebuild one from scratch.

Answer 9

It can be fix in the Outline style

Go to

Modify Style => Format => Text effects => Outline style

her the outline style should be 0 pt, which wasnt in my case

Answer 10

The problem is in your chosen numbering format. Just select Multilevel List for your numbering format instead of Numbering.

Home tab==>Paragraph==>Multilevel List

Then you can see your numbering format in Styles preview too. Hope it works ;)

Answer 11

You can resolve this issue by right clicking on Quick Style heading -> rename ... After renaming the problem disapear!

Answer 12

In Microsoft Word 2010 Leveled Numbering list turns to black box

I searched some forums and got the fix, please follow the below points

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"

Answer 13

I've been having this same problem with documents that get passed around with several people making edits and enteries. What has fixed it so far for me is that I have a template that is used for these documents with the numbering setup as styles. I just take the whole affected document and dump it into a blank template and select "Use denstination styles", and that normally fixes the problem.