Building the sections of a policy

Numbered sections, subsections, paragraphs and items: add, list many at once, move, nest and delete.

For: Managers · About 7 minutes to read · Checked 14 Nov 2026

A policy is built from numbered parts, the way a legal document or a standard is. This page shows how to add, arrange and remove them.

Who can do this: Managers and administrators.

The four levels #

The four levels of a policy
Level	Called	Numbered	Needs a title?
1	Section	1, 2, 3	Yes
2	Subsection	1.1, 1.2	No
3	Paragraph	1.1.1, 1.1.2	No
4	Item	1.1.1.1	No (it can be just text)

The number is the part's place in the policy, worked out from the order. You never type a number. If you add a part or move one, the numbers after it change by themselves. A permanent link to a part keeps pointing at it. See How numbered parts and permanent links work.

Open the outline #

Open the policy, press Edit this policy, and look at Sections of the policy. (On a published policy, that button starts a new version for you. See Changing a policy that is already published.)

The outline table: each part has its number, its title and the start of its text, and buttons to Edit, move up, move down, move in, move out and Delete. — The outline of a policy. (Sample data. Select the picture to enlarge it.)

Add one part #

Two boxes side by side: Add a part, with a Where list and a Title; and Add several at once, with a list of titles. — Adding parts. (Sample data. Select the picture to enlarge it.)

In Add a part, use Where to choose A new section (top level) or Inside 2.1 … (any part that is not already at the fourth level).
Type the Title and press Add.

The new part goes at the end of its level. Move it if it should be elsewhere.

Add several at once #

Quickest for setting out a whole policy. One title per line; a leading - nests a line inside the line above it, -- nests it one level deeper.

Type this

Purpose
Responsibilities
- Managers
-- Registered manager
- Staff
Hand hygiene

You get this

1  Purpose
2  Responsibilities
2.1  Managers
2.1.1  Registered manager
2.2  Staff
3  Hand hygiene

Choose Where to add them inside an existing part instead of at the top.
At most 200 lines at a time. A line that would go below the fourth level is reported and skipped; the rest are added.
The text of each part is written afterwards (Writing the text of a part).

Move parts around #

Each row has four small buttons. Each has a text label for screen readers ("Move part 2.1 up").

The move buttons
Button	What it does
up	Swaps the part with the one before it at the same level. Its subparts go with it.
down	Swaps it with the one after it.
in	Makes it part of the one above it: it becomes that part's last subpart. Refused if there is nothing above it, or if it (with its subparts) would go below the fourth level.
out	Moves it up a level, to sit just after the part it was inside. Not possible for a top-level section.

Delete a part #

Press Delete on its row and confirm. Everything inside it is deleted too, and the numbers after it close up. This only affects the draft; a published version is never changed.

Markers in the outline #

Empty: the part has neither a title nor text. A policy with an empty part cannot be published.
New and Changed: shown when you are working on a new version, comparing with the one in force.
"Relates to": the requirement the part is tagged with.

Limits #

All the limits in Policy Core are listed together in Limits and rules. The ones that matter here:

Four levels, no more.
Up to 500 parts in a policy.
A title is up to 300 characters.

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