How To Create A Multilevel List In Word

You can customize the appearance of a list by defining your own numbered, bulleted, and multilevel lists. Once you customize them, you can save those settings as a style and use it again and again.

What would you like to do?

Define a new bullet format
Define a new number format
Define a new multilevel list
Define a new list style
Turn off automatic numbering for lists
Related information

Define a new bullet

Do any of the following:

Change the bullet to a symbol

Select the text or bulleted list you want to change.
On the Home tab, in the Paragraph group, click the arrow next to Bulleted List , and then click Define New Bullet.
Click Symbol and then click the symbol you want to use.
Click OK.

Change a bullet to a picture

Select the text or bulleted list you want to change.
On the Home tab, in the Paragraph group, click the arrow next to Bulleted List , and then click Define New Bullet.
Click Picture and then browse for your picture from a file or Bing Image Search.
Click Insert.
Review what the picture bullets will look like and click OK to add it or change the picture by repeating steps 3-5.

Change the bullet font

Select the text or bulleted list you want to change.
On the Home tab, in the Paragraph group, click the arrow next to Bulleted List , and then click Define New Bullet.
Click Font and then change the font properties to be used for the bullet. You can choose settings on the Font tab or Advanced tab:

Tab	Description
Font tab	Change the bullet font, style, size, color, underline style, underline color, and effects.
Advanced tab	Change the bullet font character spacing and OpenType features.

Change the bullet alignment

Select the text or bulleted list you want to change.
On the Home tab, in the Paragraph group, click the arrow next to Bulleted List , and then click Define New Bullet.
Under alignment, choose Left, Centered, or Right.
Click OK.

Define a new number format

Select the text or numbered list you want to change.
On the Home tab, in the Paragraph group, click the arrow next to Numbered List , and then click Define New Number Format.
To change the style, click the down arrow next to Number style and choose numbers, letters, or another chronological format.

To change the font size, style, and color, click Font and choose a setting on the Font tab or Advanced tab:.

Tab	Description
Font tab	Change the bullet font, style, size, color, underline style, underline color, and effects.
Advanced tab	Change the bullet font character spacing and OpenType features.

To append the numbering with a dash, parentheses, or another value, enter it in the Number format field.
To change the number alignment, choose Left, Centered, or Right under Alignment.
Click OK.

Define a new multilevel list

Select the text or numbered list you want to change.
On the Home tab, in the Paragraph group, click the arrow next to Multilevel List , and then click Define New Multilevel List.
Expand the Multilevel list dialog box by clicking More in the lower left corner.
Choose the list level to modify by selecting it in the list. 1 is selected by default.
Choose where you would like to apply your changes by clicking Whole list, This point forward, or Current paragraph.
To use an existing style in Word for each level in the list, choose a style under Link level to style.
Choose the number to show in the gallery. Level 1 is shown by default.
Give the multilevel list a name in the ListNum field list name. This name will appear wherever you see the Listnum field.
To append the numbered list with a dash, parentheses, or another value, enter it in the Number format field.

To change the font size, style, and color, click Font and choose a setting on the Font tab or Advanced tab:.

Tab	Description
Font tab	Change the bullet font, style, size, color, underline style, underline color, and effects.
Advanced tab	Change the bullet font character spacing and OpenType features.

To change the style, click the down arrow next to Number style and choose numbers, letters, or another chronological format. Specify a level number to include this from.
Choose the number to start the list at. The default value is 1. To restart numbering after a specific level, select the Restart List After check box and choose a level in the list.
Select Legal Style Numbering to enforce a legal style on the multilevel list.
To change the number alignment, choose Left, Centered, or Right under Alignment
Specify a value for where to start the alignment and a value for the text indent.
To apply these values to the entire list, choose Set for All Levels.
Enter a value for what should follow each number, Tab character, Space, or Nothing. Check Add tab stop at and enter a value.
Click OK.

Define a new list style

Select the text or numbered list you want to change.
On the Home tab, in the Paragraph group, click the arrow next to Multilevel List , and then click Define New List Style.
Specify a name for your new list style.
Choose the number to start the list at. The default value is 1.
Choose a level in the list to apply your formatting.
Specify the font face, size, and color for the list style.
Change the down arrow to change the style of the numbered list or bulleted list.
Choose a symbol for the list.
Choose an image for the list.
Choose to move the indent to the left or the right.
Choose to apply these changes to Only in this document or New documents based on this template.
To change more formatting settings, click Format and choose Font, Numbering, Text effects, and so forth.
Click OK.

Turn off automatic numbering for lists

Use one of the following methods, as appropriate for the version of Word you're using:

Word 2016, Word 2013, or Word 2010
- Select File, and then from the left pane, select Options.
Word 2007
- Click the Microsoft Office button, and then select Word Options.
In the Word Options dialog, in the left pane, select Proofing.
In the right pane, under AutoCorrect options, select AutoCorrect Options.
Select the AutoFormat As You Type tab.
Under Apply as you type, clear the Automatic numbered lists check box, and then select OK.