When revising a document, you frequently have to reorder sections of a long document or even change the entire structure of a document. This can be a time-consuming and confusing process. The article Using Outline View with Long Documents in Word 97 or 2000, explains that Word displays only the document's "skeleton" - or outline - so you can easily understand and improve its organization.
In outline view, a gray line under the heading means that the heading has text below it that is not displayed. When you select a heading in outline view, Word automatically selects all the text under that heading as well, even if the text is not currently displayed.
For example, you are in outline view with headings displayed through outline Level 3. When you select a specific Level 3 heading, all the text under that heading is selected. So when you move the heading, you are also moving all the text under it.
It's hard to believe, but by using outline view with the Word drag-and-drop feature, you can move whole sections of text around in seconds.
For example, you want to reorganize the order of your document, which uses built-in heading styles through Level 3. You switch to outline view and display the headings through Level 3 so that you can see their order more clearly. Next, simply select the headings you want to move, and then drag them to their new location.
In outline view, you can quickly see the hierarchy of the headings that are displayed. You might see a heading that should be demoted to a subheading. Or you might want to promote a subheading to a heading. On the Outlining toolbar, you can use the Promote or Demote buttons to change the heading level of the paragraph you are in.
For more information about outline view, type outline view overview in the Office Assistant or on the Answer Wizard tab in the Word Help window, and then click Search.
Navigate Through Long Documents with Word 97/2000 Document Map