All styles are defined in templates. The default, global template Normal.dot
contains a long list of styles, including five bulleted ones (List Bullet,
List Bullet 2, etc.). List Bullet has no left indent and a 0.25" hanging
indent. List Bullet 2 is indented 0.25" with a 0.25" hanging indent. Each
subsequent style is indented 0.25" more, and they all use the same bullet.
You can customize the bullet for any given style. You can also customize the
indents for any given style. But this must be done through the Format |
Bullets and Numbering dialog (not the Paragraph dialog); if you want to use
them in an outline, link all the styles to an outline-numbered list, as
described in
http://www.shaunakelly.com/word/numbering/OutlineNumbering.html
For more on bullets specifically, see
http://www.ShaunaKelly.com/word/bullets/controlbullets.html
When you modify a style (see
http://www.shaunakelly.com/word/styles/ModifyAStyle.html), you are modifying
it just for the document you're working in unless you check the "Save to
template" box. You can assign a keyboard shortcut to any style (the List
Bullet style just happens to have a built-in shortcut).
What you *can't* do is get any meaningful control over what happens when you
click the Bullets button on the Formatting toolbar. This will always add (to
the style currently in effect) the bullet format currently selected as the
default, and this will be whichever one was last used. Although the Bullets
button can be customized to apply a specific bulleted style, getting it to
work as a toggle (as the Bullets button does by default, applying and
removing bullets) is much more complicated.
Now, to answer your specific questions:
Styles are saved in both documents and templates. If you want to customize a
style and have that customization available to new documents, you must save
the customized style to the template (by checking the "Add to template"
box).
You can have as many templates as you want, with varied styles adapted for
the specific purpose of the template. For the basics of creating a template,
see
http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/Customization/CreateATemplatePart1.htm. You
can change the template attached to a document through the Tools | Templates
and Add-ins dialog. When you check the box for "Automatically update
document styles," styles of the same name in the document will be updated to
use the style definitions in the new template.
For an idea of how changing the template can affect styles, have a look at
the sets of templates that ship with Word. If you use the Fax Wizard, Memo
Wizard, Letter Wizard, etc., it will offer a choice of Elegant,
Contemporary, or Professional styles. Each of these is represented by a
template, so there are, for example, Elegant Fax, Contemporary Fax, and
Professional Fax templates. All three use a similar layout and the same
styles, but the styles are defined differently, so if you choose a different
template, you get a different effect.
Styles and templates offer much more control over formatting than direct
formatting in a document based on Normal.dot; if you want to use Word
efficiently and effectively, the time you spend learning to use styles and
templates will be well rewarded!
