Introduction
You can lock and unlock numbers as a way of controlling the extent of a renumber.
How to lock/unlock a number
- Place cursor in the number that you want to lock/unlock and either:
- Use keyboard short-cut Alt + l,
- Right-click and select ‘Lock/Unlock Number’ from the context menu, or
- From the upper tool bar, select ‘Tools > Lock/Unlock Number
- The system will lock/unlock the selected num element
Hints and tips
- Locking is particularly useful for the first numbered provision within textual amendments (quoted structures) which often starts with a number which isn’t the starting number of a sequence
- You can tell if a number has been locked as there will be a dotted line surrounding the number
- Examples of when locking numbers will be useful;
- when you are quoting previously amended legislation where a non-sequential number format needs to be maintained
- if the auto-assign number rule inserts or renumbers a numbered provision with the wrong number (this would only be applicable for edge cases as most auto-assign rules have been incorporated)
- You must be within a num element to be able to turn on/off number lock
- If a number has been locked, the renumber function will ignore it and move onto the next provision in the sequence. Any provisions following a locked number will be renumbered based on the locked number e.g. if the locked number was 3A, the next unlocked sibling provision will be 3B and so on. If you don’t want the next provision to follow the format of the preceding locked num, you will need to lock the next provision’s number as well.
- See Annex 11 – Locking numbers for more information on how numbering locking works.