I have a client who is a teacher and she uses Word to create her quizzes and tests for her students. She told me she figured there had to be an easy way to create a numbered True/False quiz.
Well she is correct. There are a couple of different methods you can employ to achieve what this teacher is looking for.
There is a faction that thinks you should use a three column table, with the first column containing the underline (using either an underscore character or a bottom border to a cell). The second column can contain the question number and a period. The third column can contain the question .
Of course, it is very easy to to format each component using this method, but the drawback is that setting up the table and keying everything into the proper cell can become a bit tedious.
Another method you can use is changing the way Word does the automatic numbering.
Follow the steps below to learn how:
- Key in all your questions without any numbers or underscores as a prefix.
- Select all questions.
- Click on the Home tab of your Ribbon.
- Click the down-arrow next to the Numbering tool in the Paragraph group.
- Word will display different patterns you can apply to your list of questions.
- Click Define New Number Format to display the dialog box.
- In the Number Format box, put your cursor before the number.
- Key in four or five underscores followed by a space. If all goes well, you will see your underscores, a space, the numeral 1, and a period.
- Click OK.
The customized numbering with the leading underscores, is applied to your questions that you selected above.
The plus is that if you add an questions in the middle, your question numbering will automatically be adjusted.
The minus is that you cannot have the underscore left-justified and the number right justified at the same time – not a biggie in most cases but it is there all the same.
There is another approach that you can employ as well.
Follow the steps below to learn how:
- On a blank line in your document, key in four or five underscores and click Tab.
- Click CTRL + F9 to insert a set of field braces.
- With the field braces, key in: listnum \L7.
- With your cursor still within your field braces, click F9. Your field should be collapsed and replaced with a number 1 and a period.
- Right after the period, click Tab.
- Adjust your tab settings for the paragraph so that the question number is positioned in the location of your choice and where the question will start.
- If you think your questions may run more than one single line, adjust the indent of your paragraphs so that it hangs to the same position as the second tab stop you set above.
- Select the entire paragraph.
- Click Alt + F3.
- The Create New Building Block dialog box will open.
- In the Name field, enter a name for the question pattern you have created.
- Click OK.
- Your new Building Block entry has now been created.
So now, when you want to create a new question, you simply key in the name you defined above and click F3.
Your question pattern will appear and you can now key in your question.
The numbering for your questions will be updated to consecutive numbers when you print your document.