Character style of list bullet text (2003)

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Terrence Jones - 11 Mar 2008 07:57 GMT

Hello All,

I know list bullets have been discussed to no end and I've read through the
MVP sites (Shauna Kelly etc) but still have this one remaining issue.

I would like my List Bullet style to take on the character style of the the
current paragraph. For example, if my Normal font is New Times but I happen
to be working in an Arial paragraph. When I enable the List Bullet style I
would like the character style settings to stay put in Arial.

This is particularly troublesome as I use Word as my editor in Outlook. My
Word docs use New Times 12pt, but Outlook I use Arial 10pt. When replying in
Outlook my format is set to "Normal + Arial, 10pt, Dark Blue". But when
applying my List Bullet style, I'm back to "Normal" (New Times, 12pt, Black).

This is so frustrating.

It seems like I need to apply a Character Style of "Default Paragraph Font"
to my List Bullet but there is no way that I can find to do this.

Any ideas?

Thanks

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Peter A - 11 Mar 2008 13:27 GMT

> Hello All,
>
[quoted text clipped - 20 lines]
>
> Thanks

Word's default seems to be exactly what you want, so perhaps I am not
understanding your problem. If I am typing a paragraph, press enter,
then click the bulleted list button, the bulleted list is always in the
same font as the previous paragraph.

Signature

Peter Aitken
Author, MS Word for Medical and Technical Writers
www.tech-word.com

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Stefan Blom - 11 Mar 2008 13:57 GMT

If you are really using a bulleted *paragraph* style to format the text,
the font formatting will be determined by the style.

In theory, you can create a list style that defines the bullet formatting
(without attaching it to a paragraph style); it would then adjust to the
font of the underlying paragraph style. But it will probably be safer
(especially if you are using an older version than Word 2007), to manually
format the font of text as desired, for example by applying a character
style.

Signature

Stefan Blom
Microsoft Word MVP

> Hello All,
>
[quoted text clipped - 27 lines]
>
> Thanks

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Terrence Jones - 11 Mar 2008 15:56 GMT

Thanks everyone for the input;

In my case I am using the List Bullet paragraph formatting. I am not using
"Bullets" button due to its unreliability. This is in Word 2003.

You mention that it is possible to to create a bullet format without an
associate paragraph format. This sounds like just what I'm needing.

A way to duplicate what I'm seeing is to change your font to something other
than Normal; type a couple of sentences and press Ctrl-Shift-L for list
bullet. Type again and the font will be back to the Normal font.

The hastle for me is in e-mail; when writing e-mail, the font and size are
different than Normal and the text color may be black for normal e-mail or
dark blue for a reply. It is inconvenient to change the formatting for each
of these when using bullets.

Any other ideas are appreciated.

> If you are really using a bulleted *paragraph* style to format the text,
> the font formatting will be determined by the style.
[quoted text clipped - 5 lines]
> format the font of text as desired, for example by applying a character
> style.

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Stefan Blom - 12 Mar 2008 14:50 GMT

When you apply the List Bullet style, all of its settings, including the
font, are applied to text. And, yes, unless you've modified the style, its
font will be the same as that of the Normal style.

As I wrote, you can apply a character style on top of the text, to control
the character formatting no matter which paragraph style is being used.

Alternatively, use a list style. Here's how to create one: In the Styles and
Formatting task pane, click New Style. In the dialog box, type a name for
the style. For "Style type," specify "List." Set the desired numbering
options.

You can apply the list style to text paragraphs via the Styles and
Formatting task pane, or via the Styles box on the Formatting toolbar.

Signature

Stefan Blom
Microsoft Word MVP

> Thanks everyone for the input;
>
[quoted text clipped - 28 lines]
>> format the font of text as desired, for example by applying a character
>> style.

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Terrence Jones - 13 Mar 2008 03:29 GMT

Stefan, thanks for the clarification. I find that using a List Style as you
suggest does the trick.

I had been trying to consistently use List Bullet paragraph styles as
generally suggested. I had been following Shauna Kelly's recommendations
here:
http://www.shaunakelly.com/word/bullets/controlbullets.html

It would be great to be able to specify some aspects of a paragraph style
(maybe spacing, indentation, etc), without affecting others such as font,
size, etc.

Regarding the Character Style, I see how this works and does indeed control
everything. However, consistently applying a character style within e-mail
is too cumbersome. E-mails, in my option should be quick and easy to format
and write.

Thanks for you help.

> When you apply the List Bullet style, all of its settings, including the
> font, are applied to text. And, yes, unless you've modified the style, its
> font will be the same as that of the Normal style.
>
> . . .

Reply to this Message

Stefan Blom - 13 Mar 2008 11:26 GMT

> Stefan, thanks for the clarification. I find that using a List Style as
> you
> suggest does the trick.

I'm glad it is working for you.

> I had been trying to consistently use List Bullet paragraph styles as
> generally suggested. I had been following Shauna Kelly's recommendations
[quoted text clipped - 12 lines]
> format
> and write.

Personally, I prefer emails in plain text format; that makes formatting
simple. (But, of course, getting numbering to work is useful in other
documents created with Word.)

Signature

Stefan Blom
Microsoft Word MVP

> Thanks for you help.
>
[quoted text clipped - 4 lines]
>>
>> . . .

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