Outline Position Settings lost on closing outline

User specified outline position settings are lost for subsequent use in the same document on closing outline. On reopening, outline reverts to the default settings. This is particularly problematic because the default settings are irrational for all measurement units other than imperial - see issue 124897.


Replication

 1  Set units to centimetres, tabs to 1.0 cm in preferences.
 2  Turn on numbering. 
 3  Select outline. 
 4  Select 1.1.1.1.1.1. Click OK.
 5  Open bullets and numbering dialogue. 
 6  Set Level 1 values to 1.00, 0.00. 1.00.
 7  Set level 2 to 1.50, 0.50, 1.50.
 8  Type a few paragraphs at level 1 and 2
 9  Close outline numbering.
 10  Type a paragraph.
 11  Hit enter to start a new paragraph.
 12  Turn on numbering. 
 13  Select outline. 
 14  Select 1.1.1.1.1.1. Click OK.
 15  Open bullets and numbering dialogue. 
 16  Select Position. Level 1 have reverted to default values of 1.27, 0.64, 1.27; level 2 to 1.91, 1.27, 1.91.
 17  This leaves the user with the task of manually editing 30 settings in order to restore the previous values.


Remediation

Once numbering positions have been set in a document, they should be retained for the remainder of the document unless overridden by the user, in which case the revised values should be retained for subsequent text, unless and until overridden again.

When considering the priority of this enhancement, please note that most of the world is now metric, and that outlines are routinely used for very long and serious documents such as books, and legal briefs which may run to boxes of paper – literally thousands of pages.

It is presumed this bug applies to all forms of numbering.