Can I change the default bullet symbol? W2007

[Mr B]

Howdy,

Word 2007 has the little dot as the default bullet to use when you click the
button icon. I can change that via the dropdown to something else. I can't
seem to find a way to set one of those other icons as the default.

Is there any way to do this so every time I click the plain bullet button it
will use the icon I want to set as the default so I don't have to click the
down arrow and then select the one I want? Or even to use whatever I used
last?

 

[Stefan Blom]

In the template you are using, modify the built-in List Bullet style to have
the bullet symbol of your choice. Then use Ctrl+Shift+L to quickly apply the
style.

Here is the detailed description:

1. Open your template as a document (that is, via the Open dialog box, not
by double-clicking the template file or using the New dialog box). Whenever
you don't explicitly choose a template, you are in fact using the
normal.dotm template. To open that file, do the following: Search for the
file in Windows (press Windows key + F to start the search utility). Be sure
to search hidden files and folders. When you have located the file,
right-click it and click Open on the context menu.

2. To modify List Bullet: Press Ctrl+Alt+Shift+S; Word displays the Styles
pane. Click the Manage Styles button. On the Edit tab, locate List Bullet,
and click Modify. In the Modify Style dialog box, click Format, and then
click Numbering. On the Bullets tab, pick the desired bullet. When you are
done, click OK twice. Click Close to close the Manage Styles dialog.

3. If you want to modify the indentation, first apply List Bullet to text.
Then right-click and use the Adjust List Indents command. When you are done,
click OK. Finally, right-click again, choosing Styles | Update List Bullet
to Match Selection.

4. If you also want to change List Bullet in existing documents, repeat
steps 2--3 above.

 

[Peter T. Daniels]

In the template you are using, modify the built-in List Bullet style to have
the bullet symbol of your choice. Then use Ctrl+Shift+L to quickly apply the
style.

Here is the detailed description:

1. Open your template as a document (that is, via the Open dialog box, not
by double-clicking the template file or using the New dialog box). Whenever
you don't explicitly choose a template, you are in fact using the
normal.dotm template. To open that file, do the following: Search for the
file in Windows (press Windows key + F to start the search utility). Be sure
to search hidden files and folders. When you have located the file,
right-click it and click Open on the context menu.

Why not just use Open Template under Office Button > Open?

2. To modify List Bullet: Press Ctrl+Alt+Shift+S; Word displays the Styles
pane. Click the Manage Styles button. On the Edit tab, locate List Bullet,

Why not just right-click the style name on the Styles pane?

 

[Stefan Blom]

Why not just use Open Template under Office Button > Open?

That would be easier of course. In some versions, the Normal template
doesn't show up unless you first display hidden files and folders, but this
seems to be fixed in Word 2007.

Why not just right-click the style name on the Styles pane?

Not all styles are shown in the Styles pane, by default. Rather than first
showing the style in the Styles pane, it will be easier to directly go the
Manage Styles dialog.

 

[Peter T. Daniels]

Since Mr B has already used the List Bullet style, it must be among
his "In Use" or "In This Document" (what's the difference?) groupings.
And I don't see that a purpose would be served in making it hard to
get at like Comment Text or Footnote Text.

 

[Stefan Blom]

In Word 2007 you can (relatively) easily choose which styles you want to
display, which I have done, but I'm guessing that most users don't bother
with the display settings for styles. Therefore I usually suggest using the
Manage Styles dialog box, where all styles (even table styles and list
styles) can always be found.

Of course, many styles can be seen in the Styles pane after you have applied
them to text, but when editing a template you may not want to apply the
style first.

I do agree that the default settings in Word make it unnecessarily difficult
to see some styles.

--
Stefan Blom
Microsoft Word MVP



Since Mr B has already used the List Bullet style, it must be among
his "In Use" or "In This Document" (what's the difference?) groupings.
And I don't see that a purpose would be served in making it hard to
get at like Comment Text or Footnote Text.

 

[Mr B]

Ok so I opened up normal.dotm under C:\docs\ID\app data\ms\templates
Went into the styles thing and modify the LIST BULLET one. Went through and
chose the bullet I want. Clicked OK to go out and also checked the box that
says New documents based on this template.

However when I save that and then open a new document, it's still using the
standard "dot" instead of the one I picked. Did I miss something?

If I then go back into the Styles thing and view List Bullet, it shows with
the new bullet I chose but it's not being reflected in the document by
default when I click the Bullet button.

Thanks.

 

[Stefan Blom]

You will have to apply the style to text by pressing Ctrl+Shift+L.

 

[Mr B]

Is there any way to just change the built-in style to use the different
bullet by default so that it requires no additional key presses, button,
clicks, etc? I just want to click the standard List Button from the ribbon
and have it use the button that I want and not have to do any other steps...

 

[Stefan Blom]

It would be possible to intercept the command (FormatBulletDefault) that is
run when you click the Bullet button, but it wouldn't be perfect. Actually,
when I tested it, I found it to be buggy. Let me think about this for a day
or two and see if I can fix it...

--
Stefan Blom
Microsoft Word MVP

Is there any way to just change the built-in style to use the different
bullet by default so that it requires no additional key presses, button,
clicks, etc? I just want to click the standard List Button from the
ribbon
and have it use the button that I want and not have to do any other
steps...

 

[Mr B]

If it's going to involve macros and programming and things, don't worry about
it. Just figured that since you can change lots of other defaults, that maybe
this would be easy.

Thanks.

It would be possible to intercept the command (FormatBulletDefault) that is
run when you click the Bullet button, but it wouldn't be perfect. Actually,
when I tested it, I found it to be buggy. Let me think about this for a day
or two and see if I can fix it...

 

[Stefan Blom]

Well, a simple approach is the following:

Sub FormatBulletDefault()
'Created by Stefan Blom, Microsoft Word MVP

If Selection.Type = wdSelectionIP Then
MsgBox Prompt:="Select text before running this command", _
Title:="No text selected"
Exit Sub
End If

If Selection.Paragraphs(1).Style.NameLocal <> _
ActiveDocument.Styles(wdStyleListBullet).NameLocal Then
Selection.Paragraphs.Style = _
wdStyleListBullet
Else
Selection.Paragraphs.Style = _
wdStyleNormal

End If

End Sub

Add it to the Normal template or to an add-in; for assistance, see
http://www.gmayor.com/installing_macro.htm.

Note that this simple macro doesn't prevent anyone from explicitly applying
a different bullet format (for example by clicking the arrow on the Bullet
button); nor does it verify that List Bullet has the correct formatting
applied.

--
Stefan Blom
Microsoft Word MVP

If it's going to involve macros and programming and things, don't worry
about
it. Just figured that since you can change lots of other defaults, that
maybe
this would be easy.

Thanks.