Bulleted lists in InDesign: How to create and format

[@rayflanagan9970]

I've been trying to figure out how to colorize bullets to set them apart from the associated text for quite a while. Thank you for clarifying it and simplifying it. I now have it set as a style with a keyboard shortcut on it, to boot!

[@MichaelBullo]

A style with a keyboard shortcut you say? You'll be flying now. Thanks Ray.

[@the_TN]

I was having a heck of a headache with the odd bullet alignment issue and couldn't figure out how to fix it. Your explanation of how to solve it using indent adjustments did the trick...thank you for the quick fix!

[@MichaelBullo]

Thank you. I remember how frustrating that problem was before I found the solution. Cheers.

[@lerapin]

God! You've saved me with your alignment tips! Thank you, i was almost crying over my document

[@MichaelBullo]

Thank you. Yeah that alignment issue can be an odd one.

[@SupernovaSites]

I love your videos. Honestly, you are the best instructor ever.

[@MichaelBullo]

That's very kind of you to say. Thank you.

[@dominikajelonek8075]

that is exactly what I needed ! thank u so much for a great explanation ! cheers! Greetings from Poland:)

[@MichaelBullo]

Thank you Dominika and greetings from Australia. That's great to hear.

[@carrieharris1910]

Excellent teaching...Thank You!

[@MichaelBullo]

Thank you Carrie. Best of luck with those InDesign docs.

[@ravifleming]

Thank you!!! This is exactly what I looking for. Thank you Sir!!!

[@MichaelBullo]

Thank you Ravi. Happy to help.

[@laviniaburke3160]

Thank you for that! I would have struggled for ages!

[@MichaelBullo]

Cheers Lavinia. Appreciate it.

[@erinshea2678]

I have been trying to figure this out for about a half an hour THANK YOU

[@MichaelBullo]

Thanks Erin. Happy it helped.

[@erinshea2678]

Michael Bullo is there a way to keep the bullet points completely left aligned? Now I’m having the issue that the bullet points are indented away from the left side of the text box. I tried to put in a negative value in the “left indent” box from the option panel and it’s not allowing a negative. Is there a way to fix that?

[@MichaelBullo]

@@erinshea2678 Put in a positive number for the Left Indent. Next, put in a negative number for the First Line Indent. If you make the number for Left Indent and First Line Indent the same, except of course that the First Line Indent will be negative, then your bullet characters should be aligned nicely to the left edge of your text box. Also don't forget to make sure that there is nothing for the Tab Position.

[@brunosoares9021]

Perfect! Thank you!

[@MichaelBullo]

Thank you Bruno

[@laurelolsen838]

Thank you for your informative video. I'm having an issue with bulleted lists having an indentation issue when I'm trying to wrap my bulleted list around an image. The text for the bullets are extremely indented. Any advice you can provide would be so appreciated.

[@MichaelBullo]

Thank you Laurel. Have you played around with both the "Left Indent" and "First Line Indent" options? Perhaps you could explain in more detail exactly how the problem manifests. Another option would be to post this question on the Adobe InDesign forum as you can post screen shots. Feel free to include a link in these comments.

[@elenadobrea4146]

Thank you! It helps me a lot!

[@MichaelBullo]

Thank you. Great to hear.

[@denhamk]

watched it.. thank you so much! Answered all my questions! 👍🏽 except that I cannot get the bullets to come to the centre of the page where my list is placed (in other words, my list has been tabbed to a certain place in the centre of the page). When I select my list and press the bullets it's always placed against the left hand margin of the page and there is this humungous gap between the bullet and the text. Changing the indents only move the text and not the bullet point. pleaseeeeee help 😭😭😭😭 I'm using version inDesign CC2021 v.16.2.1

[@MichaelBullo]

Cheers mate. Happy to hear this helped. Don't tab your list to the centre of the page. Within the Bullets and Numbering options, just set a massive value for the Left Indent.

[@denhamk]

@@MichaelBullo yep that worked! Thanks a lot!!

[@MichaelBullo]

@@denhamk Excellent. Thank you.

[@elya_rose]

What can I do if the first word of the paragraph is in bold and the bullet also turns bold (I want it to stay at its normal size) ? Thank you.

[@MichaelBullo]

Character Style formatting overrides Paragraph Style formatting. Assuming that you are controlling the appearance of your bullet character using a Character Style, you can now get more specific with the formatting. In your example, go into the Basic Character Formats section of your Character Style and change the Font Style (which is blank by default) to Regular. I ran a test myself and confirmed that this should solve your problem.

[@timaaaahhhh]

How did you get that leading?? Haven't found a single bulleted list tutorial that discusses this. I need to get something similar to what you have. (taller spaces between bulleted items, shorter leading between a listed item with a line break)

[@MichaelBullo]

The line spacing is controlled using the Leading option found within the Character panel while the vertical spacing between the bullet entries is controlled using the Space Before and/or Space After options within the Paragraph panel. Does this help?

[@lindajayneclark767]

MATCH your same leading for the PARAGRAPH STYLE bullet to the leading in CHARACTER STYLE of your bullet

[@tanjinar_24]

Thank you!

[@MichaelBullo]

Thank you

[@zueriseebarbie]

thank you soooooo much!!! great tutorial!

[@MichaelBullo]

Cheers. Very kind of you to say.

[@delwynturnbull2490]

Hi :) HELP can you please tell me how to insert a column of consectuive numbers in an indesign document. When I use the insert number list it gives the format of 1. 001 2. however I only require 001 002 003 etc cheers Del :)

[@MichaelBullo]

Hi Del. If you are creating your list using a Paragraph Style, go to the Numbering Style section within the Bullets and Numbering tab. From the Format drop down menu, choose the option "001, 002, 003…". Hope this is what you were looking for.

[@lindajayneclark767]

Finally I got it!!! thx!

[@MichaelBullo]

Thanks Linda

[@christianamitropoulou454]

In my document appears bullets everywhere even in the gaps and it doesnt let me to delete them! Can you please help me?

[@MichaelBullo]

I'm making an educated guess here as to what your problem is. If my suggestion doesn't work, please post a more thorough description of your problem. I'm guessing that you have extra lines between your bullet points. This often happens when you press the Enter key twice to get some spacing between your bullet points. Delete these in-between lines. Select all of the text and control the vertical spacing between them by using "Space Before" or "Space After". These options can be found in the Paragraph Panel which is in the "Type & Tables" section of the Window menu. Hope it helps :)

[@christianamitropoulou454]

Michael Bullo Hi Michael, Thank you so much for your answer. I have already done this with the “type & tables” but yeah I wanted some space between the bullet points. So I will try to describe it the best I can. I wrote some senteces (the one below the other) and I want spacing from one to the other. When I add the bullets , they just appear everywhere , but I want to keep the spacing between the sentences and I dont want the bullets on these gaps, only on my senteces. I hope I didnt confuse you :)

[@MichaelBullo]

Hi Christiana. Unfortunately I am still unclear about what exactly your problem looks like. Is there any way you could post a screen shot somewhere? Cheers.

[@christianamitropoulou454]

@@MichaelBullo Ι dont think there is a way to attach a picture here :/ but dont worry I will sort it out! Thank you tho :)

[@MichaelBullo]

@@christianamitropoulou454 Yeah this is where it can get a little tricky to debug. I'd like to suggest that you post your question on the Adobe InDesign forum. You can paste screen shots and also attach files. There are plenty of people who really know their stuff who should be able to help you out. I'm often in the forums myself so I'll keep an eye out for your question. Good luck. community.adobe.com/t5/indesign/bd-p/indesign

[@amr95ahmed]

Thank you

[@MichaelBullo]

Cheers mate

[@lewinwild8155]

thank yooouu

[@MichaelBullo]

Thanks mate

[@manjup3496]

How to add Bullet or Number after " Some text" Exp: Answers: here i need Bullet (after Answers)

[@MichaelBullo]

Could you please expand your question. I don't quite follow. Are you trying to create a numbered list where the number is at the end of each line of text?

[@manjup3496]

@@MichaelBullo Thank you for replay. I want to place bullet. That should be after some word's. If I click bullet option it comes to each point at each 1st line beginning. But I need 1st bullet after 1st word in 1st point, 1st line. Example(I consider this "-" minus sign as a bullet) There are 3 points, each points start with a bullet. Answer : - Honda (First point) - Toyota (Send point) - GMS (Third point) When I click bullet option in indesign am getting bullet like below. Example. - Answer: HONDA (that bullet came before Answee but i need that bullet between Answer & Honda.

[@MichaelBullo]

@@manjup3496 OK. Now I understand. What you are attempting seems quite complicated to achieve. Is there any chance you could alter the layout to look like the following (this is very easy to achieve)... Answer: - Honda (First point) - Toyota (Send point) - GMS (Third point) There are fancy ways to alter bulleted lists in InDesign but the KZbin comments section is not the place to demonstrate it. Might I suggest you post your question in the Adobe InDesign forum. People can post images of solutions which would make the process much easier. Feel free to add a link here to the forum post. community.adobe.com/t5/indesign/bd-p/indesign You could also consider putting this content in a table. You could put "Answer:" in the first column and the answers in the second column.

[@manjup3496]

@@MichaelBullo Thank you for your suggestion & thank you for your support 👌👍

[@MichaelBullo]

@@manjup3496 Thanks mate. Best of luck. Let us know how you get on.

[@del_84]

You sound Australian. Why are you using inches?

[@MichaelBullo]

I am Australian. Shhh, don't tell the Design Police :) You make a good point. I generally use Millimetres except with some international clients.