Introduction

By the end of this lesson, you should be able to:

• Create bulleted and numbered lists

Using bullets and numbering

Everyone makes lists. Word lets you make two types: bulleted and numbered lists.

A bullet is a dot or other symbol used to highlight items in a list. Use bullets to list items that do not have to be in any particular order.

Numbers (or letters) are used when information must be in a certain order.

If you don't care about the style of bullets or numbering used, you can turn on Bullets and Numbering by clicking on the appropriate button on the Formatting toolbar.

Creating lists

To create a bulleted list:

• Click the button on the Formatting toolbar.
• Enter the first item on your list and press Enter.
• The next line will begin automatically with a new bullet.
• Enter the next item on your list and press Enter.
• When your list is complete, press Enter twice to turn off bulleting.

To create a numbered list:

1. Click the button on the Formatting toolbar.
2. Enter the first item on your list and press Enter.
3. The next line will begin automatically with the next number.
4. Enter the next item on your list and press Enter.
5. When your list is complete, press Enter twice to turn off numbering.

Helpful tips

• While pressing Enter once inserts a new bullet when the feature is turned on, pressing Enter twice turns the feature off.
• You can remove a bullet by placing the insertion point to the right of the bullet and pressing Backspace (you will not be able to place your insertion point to the left of the bullet).
• If you want to change an unordered list to an ordered list (or ordered to unordered), select the entire list and click the appropriate button.
• To create a line break between items in a bulleted or numbered list, place your cursor where you want the line break and press Ctrl+Enter.

You can also format text using the alignment and indent buttons on the Formatting toolbar.

The Bullets And Numbering dialog box

You can change the type of bullets and numbers Word uses.

• Select the text you want to turn into a list.
• Choose FormatBullets and Numbering dialog box.
• Depending on how you want your list to appear, click the Bulleted tab or Numbered tab.
• Select what kind of bullets or numbers you want, and click OK.

Add or change the bullets or numbers of an existing list by highlighting your list and then selecting a new style from the Bullets and Numbering dialog box.

Did you know?

One of Word's inconveniences is the way it handles bulleted and numbered lists. Sometimes no matter what you do, a list will not display the way you want it to.

When this happens, simply start over.

• Select the entire list.
• Using the Bullets and Numbering dialog box, select a new type of bullets or numbers.
• Click OK.

After doing this, you can usually change your selection back to the type of bullets or numbers you want.