(adapted from Shauna Kelly's page http://shaunakelly.com/word/concepts/bullets.html to reflect the Ribbon interface)
What this page is about
For those of you who have just joined us, this is a page in the series of Basic Concepts in Word. Use the menu at left to go to the different pages. Each Basic Concept page has three sections:
|
Tutorial
This page is about using bullets or dotpoints in your document. We're
working through a
sample document.
This page is about multi-level bullets, the kind where lower levels of bullets are indented. If you just need a simple bullet format, with no indenting, see How to control bullets in Ribbon Versions of Word on Shawna's site. The next piece of text we want to add to the document is this:
There are three kinds of lazy dogs:
Obviously the introductory line ("There are three kinds …") is in Body Text style. But how to do the bullets? For the moment, just type the text. Don't worry about the bullets. Don't worry about the fact that we want them indented from the left margin. So your document looks like the following (remember the ¶ sign on the screen shows where you pressed Enter to end a paragraph).
How not to add bullets to your text
How to add bullets to your listThe grown-up way to create bullets is to use a bulleted Style.One easy way to do that is to click on the Style box and select List Bullet. But first you need to tell Word to show you the List Bullet style in the list of styles. Step 1: Make sure you can see the List Bullet style
Step 2: Apply the List Bullet style
Step 3: Modify the List Bullet style
|
Reference
Next: Concept 6: Make changes, fix mistakes, edit your document as many times as you like or continue to read the Curiosity Shop. |
Curiosity Shop:How to create several "levels" of bulletsTo create several "levels" of bullets, each indented a little further from the left margin, the best way is to choose a style for each "level". An obvious choice of styles would be List Bullet, List Bullet 2, List Bullet 3 etc.Then, follow the instructions at How to create numbered headings or outline numbering in your Word Document. When the instructions there tell you to choose a Number Style,choose a Bullet from the drop-down list. Bullets don't have to be round blobsIn Word 2002, you can use a picture as a bullet. Even in earlier versions, you can choose a symbol other than a round blob.Follow the directions above to get to Step 3.3, the Customize Bulleted List dialog box. In that dialog, click Character, then choose a character for your bullet. Look for appropriate characters in the Symbols orWingdings fonts. Ticks, crosses and arrows make good bullets. Or create a checklist by using an empty square as the bullet. Brighten up a dreary day at work by making your bullets flash on and offIf you're having a bad day at work and you have Word 97 or above, you can make your bullets flash. Follow the directions above to get to the Customize Bulleted List dialog box. In that dialog, click Font, then choose the Text Effects tab. Choose the Blinking Background effect, or try one of the other effects. These effects have been removed in Ribbon versions of Word. See Animated Text Effects in Ribbon Versions of Word. No, there is no sensible use for this feature except to have a bit of fun. No, the bullets won't flash when printed on a piece of paper! |
Go to the next Basic Concept page