How to Create Bulleted Lists in Microsoft Word

This tutorial shows two ways to create bulleted lists in Microsoft Word. We will also look at how to change list levels and how to change the size and color of bullets.

Quick Links:

How to Create Bulleted Lists — Basic Method 1
How to Create Bulleted Lists — Basic Method 2
How to Change Bulleted List Levels
How to Change the Size and Color of Bullets

Do you want to customize your bullets by using different symbols or your own images? See “How to Create Custom Bullets in Microsoft Word.”

This tutorial is available as a YouTube video showing all the steps in real time.

Watch more than 150 other writing-related software tutorials on my YouTube channel.

The images below are from Word for Microsoft 365. These steps will also work in Word 2021, Word 2019, Word 2016, Word 2013, and Word 2010. However, your interface may look slightly different in those older versions of the software.

How to Create Bulleted Lists in Microsoft Word — Basic Method 1

This is the basic method of creating a bulleted list in Word. This method requires you to type each item as you create the list. If you have already typed your list items, see the other basic method shown below.

Place your cursor where you want to start your bulleted list.
Select the Home tab in the ribbon.

Home tab in Word 365 — Figure 1. Home tab

Select the menu arrow next to the Bullets button.

Bullets menu arrow in Word 365 — Figure 2. Bullets menu arrow

Choose a bullet style from the Bullet Library.

Bullet Library in Word 365 — Figure 3. Bullet Library

The first bullet will appear in your document.

Example of first bullet in list — Figure 4. Example of the first bullet in the list

Type your first list item after the bullet and press the Enter key on your keyboard. The next bullet will appear.

Example of second bullet in the list — Figure 5. Example of the second bullet in the list

Continue typing your list items and pressing the Enter key until your list is complete.

After typing the final item, press the Enter key twice to remove your cursor from the list.

How to Create Bulleted Lists in Microsoft Word — Basic Method 2

This method is for existing text formatted as a list.

Select and right-click the text.
Select the menu arrow next to the Bullets button in the Mini toolbar. (Alternately, you can select the menu arrow next to the Bullets button in the Home tab, as shown in figure 2.)

Bullets menu arrow in the Mini toolbar in Word 365 — Figure 6. Bullets menu arrow in the Mini toolbar

Choose a bullet style from the Bullet Library (see figure 3).

Your selected items should become a bulleted list.

How to Change Bulleted List Levels in Microsoft Word

Word lets you create bulleted lists with up to nine nested levels. Here are two ways to change the level of list items:

How to Change Bulleted List Levels — Method 1

Important note: This method will not work for the first item in your list.

Select one or more list items.

Figure 8. Items selected in bulleted list

Press the Tab key on your keyboard. Each time you press the Tab key, the bullet will move to the right one level (in this case, from level one to level two).

Figure 9. Selected list items moved to level two

How to Change Bulleted List Levels — Method 2

This method will work for any item in your list, including the first item.

Select one or more list items (see figure 8).
Select the Home tab in the ribbon (see figure 1).
Select the menu arrow next to the Bullets button (see figure 2).
Select Change List Level from the drop-down menu.

Change List Level option in Word 365 — Figure 10. Change List Level option

Select a list level from the submenu.

List level menu in Word 365 — Figure 11. List level menu

Your list item(s) should move to the next level.

How to Change the Size and Color of Bullets in Microsoft Word

By default, the size and color of your bullets will be the same as your text. However, you can manually change the size and color of bullets by selecting them separately from the text.