Documentation / MathType

  • Demos
  • Visit our website
  • Downloads
  • Contact us
  • MathType

    • Wiris Quizzes

      • Learning Lemur

        • CalcMe

          • MathPlayer

            • Store FAQ

              • VPAT for the electronic documentation

                • MathFlow

                  • BF FAQ

                    • Miscellaneous

                      • Wiris Integrations

                        • Home
                        • MathType
                        • MathType Office Tools
                        • Support
                        • MathType Support Notices
                        • Support notices
                        • Support notices

                        Equation chapter/section numbers suddenly change

                        Reading time: 2min

                        Applicability

                        The information on this page applies to:
                        MathType for Windows
                        MathType for Mac

                        All supported versions of Word for Windows and Mac

                         

                         

                          

                        Issue

                        Your Word document includes numbered equations, the numbering format includes chapter and/or section numbers, and the document includes a Table of Contents. Something like this (TOC not shown)…

                        You've just generated the Table of Contents, and realize you've forgotten one equation. When you insert another numbered equation, you see all the other numbers change.

                        Reason

                        There are chapter/section breaks in one or more of the Heading styles. When you generated the TOC, this copied the entire heading, chapter/section break and all. So now there are duplicate breaks in your document, one for each break that appears in a heading. Thus, when you update the equation numbers and references, the numbering is updated based on the inclusion of these new extraneous equation breaks.

                        Solution

                        Under normal circumstances, MathType 7 won't insert a break inside of a heading. We won't deal with the unusual cases here, but if you follow the steps on this page and things still don't work out, write us at the link below, let us know your system configuration, and send us a sample document if you can. We'll try to help.

                        Inserting breaks manually

                        You usually won't need to insert the initial break into a document, but you'll have to insert subsequent breaks at the appropriate spots:

                        When you click one of these commands, MathType 7 will insert the break wherever the cursor is. If the cursor is inside any of the heading levels that will be included in the TOC, the break will be duplicated when you generate the TOC, and the equations will renumber as described on this page. To prevent this, just make sure not to insert the break while inside a heading:

                        It's OK to have the break anywhere in the document text except a heading. It can even be in the middle of a paragraph. As long as it's before the first numbered equation in the chapter/section, that's a good spot for it.

                        Moving a break inserted at the wrong place

                        Hopefully, you won't have too many of these, but other than the time involved, it's a simple matter to correct, as this animation shows:

                        1. Of course, the first thing you'll need to do is make the breaks visible. To do that, toggle the Show/Hide button: .
                        2. What you're looking for are breaks like the "Not OK" one in the screenshot above — breaks that are in headings. Click on each of them and drag them down to somewhere inside the paragraph following the heading.
                        3. Regenerate the TOC. If you're unsure how to do that, perhaps the easiest way is to click anywhere inside the TOC. This will cause two buttons to appear: Table of Contents and Update Table.

                        1. Click Update Table > Update entire table > OK.
                        2. The numbering should be correct now.

                        We hope this has been helpful. As always, please let us know if you have questions about this or if you have additional techniques that work. We'd love to hear from you.

                        Was this article helpful?

                        Yes
                        No
                        Give feedback about this article

                        Related Articles

                        • Equations are randomly re-sized in Word
                        • Equations not visible in Draft and Outline view
                        • Top and bottom of equations are cut off in Word
                        • Error message: Problem Converting OMML to MathML

                        Equation chapter/section numbers suddenly change

                        Applicability Issue Reason Solution Inserting breaks manually Moving a break inserted at the wrong place

                        Making people’s STEM work more meaningful

                        MathType

                        • MathType for Office Tools
                        • MathType for Mac
                        • MathType for Microsoft 365
                        • MathType for Google Workspace
                        • MathType for LMS
                        • MathType for XML Editors
                        • Arabic notation
                        • Our products accessibility
                        • MathType is online

                        WirisQuizzes

                        Learning Lemur

                        Solutions for Education

                        • Blackboard Learn
                        • Brightspace by D2L
                        • Canvas
                        • Google Classroom
                        • Moodle
                        • Schoology

                        Solutions for Publishing Houses

                        Solutions for Technical Writers

                        Solutions for Chemistry

                        Integrations

                        • HTML Editors
                        • MathType in WordPress

                        Pricing

                        Company

                        Careers

                        Blog

                        Contact Us

                        Buy Now

                        Plugin Downloads

                        © Wiris 2025

                        • Cookie Settings
                        • Cookie Policy
                        • Terms of Use
                        • Privacy Policy / GDPR
                        • Student Data Privacy
                        • Compliance
                        • Powered by Helpjuice
                        Expand