Paragraph Indentation in numbered lists

[santoshParticipant]

I am finding that MS Word is not sticking to the rules when it comes to paragraph indentation in numbered lists. Here is the relevant sections of the XML files that this issue relates to:

document.xml

<w:p w:rsidR="00926490" w:rsidRDefault="00926490" w:rsidP="00926490">
  <w:pPr>
    <w:numPr>
      <w:ilvl w:val="0"/>
      <w:numId w:val="1"/>
    </w:numPr>
    <w:tabs>
      <w:tab w:val="left" w:pos="360"/>
    </w:tabs>
    <w:autoSpaceDE w:val="0"/>
    <w:autoSpaceDN w:val="0"/>
    <w:adjustRightInd w:val="0"/>
    <w:ind w:left="360" w:firstLine="0"/>
  </w:pPr>
  <w:r w:rsidRPr="00C041B4">
    <w:t>AICPA’s Comprehensive Course, (USA)</w:t>
  </w:r>
  <w:r>
    <w:t>.</w:t>
  </w:r>
</w:p>

numbering.xml

<w:abstractNum w:abstractNumId="8">
  <w:nsid w:val="49D401F6"/>
  <w:multiLevelType w:val="hybridMultilevel"/>
  <w:tmpl w:val="8F401F14"/>
  <w:lvl w:ilvl="0" w:tplc="04090001">
    <w:start w:val="1"/>
    <w:numFmt w:val="bullet"/>
    <w:lvlText w:val=""/>
    <w:lvlJc w:val="left"/>
    <w:pPr>
      <w:ind w:left="720" w:hanging="360"/>
    </w:pPr>
    <w:rPr>
      <w:rFonts w:ascii="Symbol" w:hAnsi="Symbol" w:hint="default"/>
    </w:rPr>
  </w:lvl>
</w:abstractNum>
<w:num w:numId="1">
  <w:abstractNumId w:val="8"/>
</w:num>

From the above I deduce that the final indentation should be:
<w:ind w:left="360" w:firstLine="0" w:hanging="360"/>

Now since hanging takes precedence over firstLine this works out to:
<w:ind w:left="360" w:hanging="360"/>

So effectively the indentation should cancel out (= 0). However I find that MS Word still indents the bullet point. See image comparing what should be rendered vs. what Word is doing.

Is my understanding of the spec incorrect?

[Eric WhiteKeymaster]

Hi Santosh,

This is a great question, and one that I don’t have an answer to off the top of my head.

I remember that when I wrote WmlToHtmlConverter, I spent a fair amount of time working on indentation for list items. I read the spec, of course, but there are also differences between strict and transitional. Further, there are interesting cases where there is a as direct formatting on a paragraph, and then the paragraph refers to a style that also has a , so the direct formatting takes precedence.

Frankly, in implementing that module, I simply looked at what Word was doing, and emulated that.

I am curious – have you looked at what WmlToHtmlConverter produces for your document? Does it indent the relevant paragraph per your understanding of the spec, or does it produce the same indentation as Word?

Best, Eric

[Author]

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