Turning Off Automatic Bulleted Lists

One of the automatic formatting features included with Word is automatic bulleted lists. When you enter some text that Word thinks should be a bulleted list, and then press Enter, Word formats the paragraph with a hanging indent and places a bullet at the beginning of it. In addition, Word assumes the next paragraph will be part of the same bulleted list.

For instance, if you type an asterisk, press the Space Bar or the Tab key, and then type your text, when you press Enter, Word formats the paragraph as a bulleted list. If you didn't want the paragraph to be a bulleted list, you can cancel the formatting done by Word by immediately pressing Ctrl+Z. If the automatic formatting bothers you a lot, you can follow these steps to turn it off in versions of Word prior to Word 2007:

1. Choose AutoCorrect from the Tools menu. (In Word 2003 you choose AutoCorrect Options from the Tools menu.) Word displays the AutoCorrect dialog box.
2. Make sure the AutoFormat As You Type tab is selected. (Click here to see a related figure.)
3. Clear the Automatic Bulleted Lists check box.
4. Click on OK.

If you are using Word 2007 then you should follow these steps:

1. Click the Office button, and then click Word Options. Word displays the Word Options dialog box.
2. Click Proofing at the left side of the dialog box, and then click AutoCorrect Options. Word displays the AutoCorrect dialog box.
3. Make sure the AutoFormat As You Type tab is displayed.
4. Clear the Automatic Bulleted Lists check box.
5. Click on OK to close the AutoCorrect dialog box.
6. Click on Cancel to close the Word Options dialog box.