How to Use Bullets, Numbered Lists, and Tabs in Word

Lists and columns of text are everywhere in real documents: steps to follow, things to bring, a weekly schedule, a price list. If you build them by typing 1. yourself or pressing the spacebar until things line up, they break the moment you add an item or change the font.

In this tutorial you will fix the Tutoring Club's weekly schedule and sign-in steps. You will turn hand-typed lines into real lists that number themselves, add sub-points, and line up the schedule with tab stops so it stays straight no matter what you change.

Make bulleted and numbered lists

Select the lines you want in a list (or click on an empty line to start a new one) and click Home› then Paragraph› then Bullets or Home› then Paragraph› then Numbering. Each paragraph becomes one list item. Press Enter at the end of an item to start the next one.

To end a list, press Enter twice: the second Enter on an empty item turns the list off. To remove the bullet or number from one item only, click at the start of it and press Backspace. To turn a whole list back into normal paragraphs, select it and click the same button again.

Automatic lists. Word also starts a list when you type 1. or - (or *) at the start of a line and press Space. This is part of AutoFormat As You Type. If you didn't want a list, press Ctrl+Z right away: Word keeps what you typed and drops the list. You can also click the small AutoCorrect Options button (a lightning bolt) that appears next to the item and choose to undo it, or to stop creating lists automatically.

Add sub-points with list levels

A list can have levels: a main point with smaller points under it. Click at the very start of an item (before its text) and press Tab to move it one level down. Press Shift+Tab to move it back up. Word changes the indent and the bullet or number style for each level.

The buttons do the same thing: Home› then Paragraph› then Increase Indent moves the selected items down a level and Decrease Indent moves them up. You can also pick a level directly with the arrow next to Bullets or Numbering and then Change List Level.

Keep it shallow. Two levels read clearly; three or more usually means the list should be split into separate lists under their own headings.

Restart or continue numbering

A real numbered list renumbers itself: add, delete or drag an item and the numbers update. A list typed by hand doesn't, which is exactly how sign-in sheets end up with two step 2s.

Sometimes Word guesses wrong. A new list may carry on from an earlier one (starting at 5), or one list may restart at 1 halfway through. Right-click the number where it goes wrong and choose:

• Restart at 1 to begin a new list from 1.
• Continue Numbering to carry on from the list above.
• Set Numbering Value to start at any number you choose, such as 10.

Right after you click Numbering, a small AutoCorrect Options button may also offer Restart Numbering or Continue Numbering. Either way works.

Change bullets and list indents

Click the arrow next to Bullets to open the Bullet Library: dots, squares, check marks, arrows and more. Hover to preview, click to apply. The arrow next to Numbering works the same way for styles such as 1., 1), A. and i..

For a bullet that isn't in the library, choose Home› then Paragraph› then Bullets› then Define New Bullet. Click Symbol to pick any character from a font, or Picture to use a small image. Keep bullets simple and the same throughout the document: one style per level is plenty.

Indents. If the list sits too far right, or the text after the number wraps oddly, change the indent instead of adding spaces:

• With the ruler (View› then Show› then Ruler): select the list and drag the markers on the ruler. The upper triangle moves the bullet or number; the lower triangle moves the text.
• With a dialog: right-click any item and choose Adjust List Indents. Set the number position and the text indent exactly, and choose what follows the number: a tab, a space or nothing.

Why tabs, not spaces

Spaces look like a quick way to line up columns, but every letter in a normal font has a different width. Words that line up on your screen drift apart when you change the font, the size, or when someone opens the file on another computer. A tab stop is a fixed position on the line. Press Tab and the text jumps to the next stop, exactly, every time.

Without any tab stops of your own, Word uses default tab stops every half inch. That's why pressing Tab sometimes jumps too little or too far. Setting your own tab stops fixes this: then you need exactly one tab between columns.

Turn on Home› then Paragraph› then Show/Hide ¶ (Ctrl+Shift+8) whenever you work with tabs. Each tab appears as an arrow (→) and each space as a dot, so you can see at once whether a line was built with tabs or spaces.

Set tab stops on the ruler

Tab stops belong to paragraphs, so always select first. To set them by eye:

1. Turn on the ruler with View› then Show› then Ruler.
2. Select all the lines of the schedule.
3. Click the tab selector, the small box at the left end of the ruler, until it shows the type you want (left, center, right or decimal).
4. Click the bottom edge of the ruler where you want the stop. A small tab marker appears.
5. Repeat for each column, then put one Tab between the items on each line.

To move a stop, select the same lines and drag its marker along the ruler; the column moves with it. To clear a stop, drag its marker down off the ruler and let go.

If you need many rows and columns, or text that wraps inside a column, a table is usually the better tool. Tables are in Tutorial 6. Tabs are best for short, one-line rows like a schedule, a menu or a list of contacts.

Use the Tabs dialog and leader dots

For exact positions, or for leader dots (the row of dots between an item and its price or time), use the Tabs dialog. Select the lines, click the dialog box launcher in the corner of Home› then Paragraph, and click Tabs at the bottom left. You can also double-click any tab marker on the ruler.

1. In Tab stop position, type where the stop goes, such as 6.5", the right margin of a Letter page with 1-inch margins.
2. Under Alignment, choose Right.
3. Under Leader, choose option 2 (dots).
4. Click Set, then OK.
5. On each line, type the item, press Tab, and type the time or price. Word fills the gap with dots.

The same dialog clears stops: pick one in the list and click Clear, or click Clear All to remove every stop from the selected paragraphs. Default tab stops at the top sets the spacing Word uses where you haven't set your own.

Common mistakes

Practice