how can I restore my old bulleted list formatting?

[Professor]

I'm having a problem in Word that is extremely frustrating. I suspect it has
been introduced in Windows XP (my current version -- ugh), because in
previous versions of Windows I never had this problem. In the past, when I
typed bulleted lists and indented for a new level, the bullet appearance
would change and both bullet and text would indent slightly. If I wanted to
back it up a little to the left, I could do that with "decrease indent." End
of story.

Now, I'm getting all sorts of bizarre inconsistencies with styles, indents,
even bullet sizes. When I tabbed, the bullet didn't indent (I did see a
response to someone else's plea about this, on this board, and followed the
suggestion to make it work -- but I don't see why this isn't the default).
Sometimes when I indent I get a full 3/4 of an inch indent, and "decrease
indent" doesn't fix it -- just shoves the whole line back to the left margin
as though it's at the same level as the line above it. Sometimes I get
totally random bullet styles; this time an empty circle, that time a black
box (and I don't mean that I get them consistently, the way I used to: level
1 black circle, level 2 empty circle, level 3 black box; I mean, sometimes
level 1 is a black box, sometimes level 2 is a black circle, etc.). And the
sizes change, too. Frankly, I do not have the time -- or the patience -- to
go back and change the style for each line.

What is the simplest, fastest way for me to restore my old standard to all
of my bulleted lists? Thank you.

 

[Candice]

Bullets and numbering do get a bit tricky from Office XP onwards (arguably...)

I find that the best way to do it is to create an outline style
numbered/bulleted list in the Bullets and Numbering dialog box (the third
tab).

Just customize one of the built in styles that are there. From Office XP,
you need to consider the position of the bullet/number character, and then
the tab and indent are two things instead of one as before, so put the same
value for both. You'll need to customize for each level though to make sure
the indents and bullets do what you want them to. You can combine numbers and
bullets however you want to.

Once it's set up, you should be able to just apply the outline style once
(but use the dialog box to choose which one). From there on you can use the
indenting as you used to without any hassles.

One of the more qualified people should be able to point you to a link for
extra help, or the more correct answer.

 

[Stefan Blom]

Set up numbering with styles as described at
http://www.shaunakelly.com/word/numbering/OutlineNumbering.html

--
Stefan Blom
Microsoft Word MVP


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