diff --git a/PROMS/VEPROMS.CSLA.Library/Extension/ItemExt.cs b/PROMS/VEPROMS.CSLA.Library/Extension/ItemExt.cs
index 4b07c81a..4002f6e6 100644
--- a/PROMS/VEPROMS.CSLA.Library/Extension/ItemExt.cs
+++ b/PROMS/VEPROMS.CSLA.Library/Extension/ItemExt.cs
@@ -3841,8 +3841,9 @@ namespace VEPROMS.CSLA.Library
 						// use LinkedTab and don't do the AlphabeticalNumbering below.  LinkedTab had alpha chars
 						useLinked = true;
 					}
-				else
-					ordinal = 0;
+				// commented out the following two lines to fix bug B2017-031, where sequental substeps where printing with an '@' instead of a number or letter in linked enhanced backgrounds
+				//else
+				//	ordinal = 0;
 			}
 			string alpha = useLinked?LinkedTab.Trim():AlphabeticalNumbering(ordinal);