MS-Word / General Formatting

Making Lists

Word can organize and arrange text in three types of lists:

  • Bullets (like this list)
  • Numbering
  • Multilevel list

You can create a list from scratch or convert existing text into a list. To create a list from scratch, follow these steps:

  1. Click the Home tab and then move the cursor where you want to create a list.
  2. Click the Bullets, Numbering, or Multilevel List icon. Word creates your list (bulleted or numbered).
  3. Type your text and press Enter to create another blank item in your list.
  4. Repeat Step 3 for each additional bullet or numbered item you want to make.

If you have existing text, you can convert it into a list by following these steps:

  1. Click the Home tab and then select the text you want to convert into a list.
  2. Click the Bullets, Numbering, or Outline Numbering icon. Word converts your selected text into your chosen list where each paragraph appears as a separate item in the list.

Indenting list items

After you create a list, you may want to indent one list item underneath another one. To indent an item in a list, follow these steps:

  1. Move the cursor anywhere in the text in the list item you want to indent and then press the Home key to move the cursor to the front of the line.
  2. Press the Tab key to indent an item to the right (or press the Shift+Tab keystroke combination to indent an item to the left).
    When you indent a list, Word changes the number or bullet style to set the line apart from the rest of your list.

Converting list items back into text

If you have a list, you may want to convert one or more items back into ordinary text. To convert a list item into plain text, follow these steps:

  1. Click the Home tab and then select the list items you want to convert into plain text.
  2. Click the appropriate Bullets, Numbering, or Outline Numbering icon. If you want to convert a bullet list item into text, you would click the Bullets icon.

Customizing a list

When you create a bullet or numbered list, you can choose from a variety of different styles. To choose a numbering style, follow these steps:

  1. Click the downward-pointing arrow to the right of a list icon, such as the Bullet or Numbering icon. Make sure you don't click the Numbering icon itself.
    A pull-down menu appears listing all the different numbering styles available.

    Bullet or Numbering icon
  2. Click the numbering style you want. The next time you click the Numbering icon, Word will use the numbering style you chose.

The changes you make to the numbering or bullet style will only apply to your current document.

Renumbering numbered lists

Number lists can cause special problems when dividing or copying them because the numbering may get out of sequence, or you may want to start numbering from a number other than one. To change the starting number of a numbered list, follow these steps:

  1. Right-click the item that you want to renumber. If you want to renumber your entire list, right-click the first item at the top of the numbered list. A pop-up menu appears.
    Rightclicking a numbered list item to see options for renumbering your list.
  2. Choose one of the following:
    Restart at 1:
    Changes the numbering of the current list item to 1, the list item directly below to 2, and so on. (This option does not appear if you right-click the first item in a number list.)

    Continue Numbering:
    Changes the number of the current list item to one greater than the last numbered list item earlier in the document.

    Set Numbering Value:
    So you can change the current list item to a specific number such as 33 or 87.
    Choose a number for your list.
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