I recently reviewed a dissertation for a professional doctorate before it was to be submitted. The author needed to comply with APA 7th edition. Writing a thesis or dissertation is a difficult process. However, the formatting issues noted below can be eliminated entirely by NOT using Microsoft Word (which was not designed for writing long formal documents) and using a tool such as Write.studio (which was designed for research writing of long documents). While this might look like a lot of issues, to be fair, the author had done a pretty good job. However, using a tool that is not built for long formal documents is always going to encounter the need for amendments. Format editing for a 200 page thesis will cost US$ 800 (Scribbr). This author could have paid good money to have these formatting issues rectified. He could have saved his money, time, and angst, by selecting a better tool. 

Formatting

When editing a document according to APA 7th edition, the following errors are evident in Microsoft Word:

1. Captions:
   1. The split line caption for tables and figures. Word cannot split the label and title, so the caption needs to be added manually.
   2. The Label is bold, whereas the image title is italic. This needs to be done manually.
   3. As a consequence, any 'List of Images or Tables' (LOI) needs to be compiled manually.
   4. The manually compiled LOI has a colon after the image label when there is no colon in text. We recommend a full stop rather than a colon. 
2. Images:
   1. Image notes are meant to be part of the image, not a separate paragraph after the image. Thus, alignment needs to be with the image on the left-hand side. 
   2. The Figure title (1 only) appears with blue text (H4) when it should be black. 
   3. Tables: some are missing the footer horizontal line (i.e., they are all not formatted consistently).
   4. Tables: some are set to 'Repeat header row' and some are not (e.g., the long table is missing this).
3. Headings:
   1. Microsoft Word will show a split line heading (e.g., Chapater One) as split in the Table of Contents (TOC) because it appears on two lines.
   2. Chapter with number as text (i.e., One) is not possible in Word, so this needs to be added manually, along with keeping number continuity in place if re-ordering.
   3. As a consequence, some titles are not formatted as a heading and are missing from the table of contents.
   4. Chapter and Appendix headings should be inline with any prefix and not start on a new line. 
4. Table of Contents (TOC):
   1. The TOC is showing outdented page numbering; not required.
   2. Front matter is typically not included in a TOC.
   3. Heading 1 on the TOC is bold; not required as H2 is indented.
   4. Appendices are missing the title text because the heading has been done manually.
5. Header shows page number as superscript and not in line with short 'running title' of the 'paper'.
6. The front matter pagination (for a book or thesis) needs to be managed by adding a section break and changing the header page number to roman numerals.
7. The default for 'First line indent' for all paragraphs needs to be added manually, or create a custom style.
8. Reference list contains hyperlinks (unacceptable for the print version of a thesis, dissertation, or print book).
9. Some in-text citations have the full stop missing or located on the left-hand side of the citation rather than the right-hand side.

Note: This is a blog list and not formatted to doube-line spacing. 

Structural Issues

There were a number of structural issues also noted and I offer them here as a warning for other researchers:

1. Cross-references in text are missing for all Figure captions.
2. Adding a colon to text and then following with a 4th level heading. A colon indicates a forthcoming list, not a heading.
3. Very long tables should be added as an Appendix; the reader needs to focus on the story not the mechanics.
4. List of terms should be added as a Glossary in the back matter not in the body.
5. The Introduction contained too much 'theory development' which should come after the literature review.
6. Consistency of headings
   1. Some headings have been repeated (e.g., 'Ethical Considerations'); this would be best avoided as it can confuse a reader.
   2. Poor choice of heading text ('Summary of Chapter One' does not need the chapter number added; the repeated heading of 'Summary' for each chapter is acceptable here).
7. Short paragraphs tend to lack argument as they are descriptive only; they should be avoided.
8. An acquired image had a spelling error. This means the image has to be manually recreated to fix the error. The original image needs to be cited as 'Amended'. 
9. Heading for Table of Contents should be 'Contents' (as a single word).

See Also

How to Import from Word: A step-by-step guide to importing content into Write.studio editor, by Support Desk