Troubleshoot bulleted and numbered lists

When you click a bullet or number in a list, all the items on that level of the list are selected. The bullet or number clicked is highlighted in dark gray, while the rest of the bullets or numbers in the list at that level are highlighted in light gray.

A bullet or number on the same level that is not highlighted is not a part of the list, even if it otherwise looks as though it is. Changes you make to the bullets or numbering in the rest of the list at that level will not affect the bullet or number that is not highlighted.

To make the bullet or number a part of the list, do the following:

• Place the insertion point into the text beside the bullet or number that is not highlighted, and then click Bullets or Numbering on the Formatting toolbar. The bullet or number should now be highlighted.
• Select the entire list, click Bullets or Numbering , and then click Bullets or Numbering again.

• Bullets appear as clock faces Unless you've selected a different font for the bullet, Microsoft Word uses the bullet character from the Symbol font. If the Symbol font is damaged or unavailable, Word substitutes the Wingdings font. In this font, the corresponding ASCII character is a clock face. Try reinstalling the Symbol font, or use the Bullets and Numbering command on the Format menu to select a different bullet character from the Wingdings font.

• Bullets appear as empty boxes When you create a bulleted list using the Marlett font, instead of inserting a single bullet, Word either inserts at least one box or inserts a bullet and a box character. To use a bullet character from the Marlett typeface, click Symbol (Insert menu), select the symbol you want, and then click Insert. You may need to adjust the text indentations. You can also use a different font to insert a bullet.

To add text beneath a bulleted or numbered item in a list without adding a bullet or number, place the insertion point at the end of the list item and press SHIFT+ENTER. The new line indents and aligns with the text in the previous line. Add text, and then press SHIFT+ENTER again to create another indented line, or press ENTER to create another numbered or bulleted line.

You can have bold bullets or numbers and plain text, or vice versa. To change the formatting of the bullets or numbers, click a bullet or number in the list, and then click a button the Formatting toolbar to make changes.

When you add bullets to or remove them from lines of text that contain custom tab stops and tab characters, Microsoft Word removes the tab characters and retains the tab stops.

Do one of the following:

• Click where you want the tab character to appear, and press the TAB key to reinsert the tab character.
• Avoid adding or removing bullets from items that contain custom tab stops and tab characters.

Note  Creating a custom tab is a two-step process. First you set the tab stop, and then you press the TAB key to insert the tab character.

When you do any of the following, Microsoft Word removes existing indents from paragraph text:

• Add bullets to indented and numbered paragraphs.
• Add numbering to indented and bulleted paragraphs.
• Remove bullets from indented and bulleted paragraphs.
• Remove numbering from indented and numbered paragraphs.

After you apply the bullet or numbering format, you must insert the indents into the paragraph.

The list formats that appear on the Bulleted and Numbered tabs when you click Bullets and Numbering on the Format menu are based on built-in List Bullet and List Number styles. If you create a custom style based on these built-in styles, you might lose the custom formatting when you copy styles between documents or when you restart Microsoft Word.

• Modify the custom numbering style in the new document If you copy a custom numbering style from one document to another document, the numbers might disappear. In the new document, you can modify the custom style to include list numbers.

• Create a custom bullet or numbering style that is not based on built-in list styles You may find your custom changes missing after you close the document and restart Word. To keep the formatting changes you make, you should create a new style that is not based on one of the built-in or base styles. In the Styles and Formatting task pane, click New Style. In the Name box, type a unique name, and then click (no style) in the Based on box.

• Create a new template that contains the custom bullet or numbering style To save a custom bulleted list or numbered list format for reuse, you can modify the List Bullet or List Number style to use the bulleted list or numbered list format you want. Open the template you use to create your documents, modify the style in the new template, and then save the template. New documents you base on the template will have the updated list style. Apply the style to paragraphs you want bulleted or numbered. Learn about modifying styles.

Make sure you've formatted the headings with the built-in heading styles. If the headings in your document are formatted with custom styles, you must link each custom style with an outline numbering level.

What you see is the field code.

• To switch between displaying field codes and field results, click the field, and press SHIFT+F9. The field instructions are enclosed in the field characters ({ }); for example, { LISTNUM }. Make sure that you don't delete or move the quotation marks or other field instructions.
• To show or hide field codes for all fields in the document, press ALT+F9.

If you insert a LISTNUM field into a document and then apply a heading style to a paragraph before the LISTNUM field, the result of the LISTNUM field will be demoted by one numbering level below the heading level you applied. To change the numbering level, right-click the LISTNUM field and then click Increase Indent or Decrease Indent on the shortcut menu.