Problem with master / subdocuments, styles, and numbering

Word separates subdocuments by adding continuous section breaks. This should allow you to format each section differently.

According to Ques' Special Edition Using Word 2002:

Opening a subdocument can affect styles, depending on how a subdocument is opened. If you open a subdocument from within a master document, the subdocument uses all the styles stored in the master document's template. If you open the subdocument separately and make changes or apply a different template, your subdocument reflects those changes as long as you're editing it outside the master document. However, if you save it, open the master document, and reopen the subdocument, you'll find that the master document's styles now take precedence wherever they conflict.

If you create a new style within the subdocument and later open that subdocument from within the master document, your new style is listed in the master documet as well. However, if the style is based on a style that looks different in the master and subdocuments, text formatted with the new style may also look different depending on whether you're working on it in the master document or in a separate subdocument. editing window.

For example:

Imagine that you're working in a subdocument that appears in its own editing window. You create a style named Book Text and base it on the Normal style (which is, by default, Times New Roman 12). You add the extra formatting you want Book Text to include: a first-line 1/2" indent and 8 points after each paragraph.

You now close the subdocument and open the master document that contains the subdocument. When you do so, the Book Text style appears in your list of styles. Text formatted in the Book Text style still has a 1/2" indent and 8 points after each paragraph. However, what if your master document used a different version of the Normal style, calling for text to be displayed in 11 point Georgia ( instead of Times New Roman). Because your Book Text is based on the Normal style, it would display your style in 11 point Georgia.

In other words, the elements you add to a style remain intact regardless of whether you display the text from within a master document or as a separate subdocument. However, where elements are based on another style,  Word looks for that style in different places depending on how you are displaying the text. If you are displaying it as part of the master document, Word uses the underlying styles from the master document. If you are displaying it as a subdocument, in its own editing window, Word uses the underlying styles from the subdocument.

With all this said, it seems you will have to use a numbering style from the master document, then restart the numbering in each section of the subdocuments.

Master/sub documents are difficult and are usually learned by trial, and can vary from one document to another. If you need more help, let me know and I'll try to give you more examples.