The Basics Of Styling And Formatting Text

Change Bullet Point Styles And Adjust Bullet Point Spacing

In the previous section I taught you How to create simple Bullet Points and sub-bullet points. In this section I am going to continue with bullet points and sub-bullet points by teaching you how to change their style (symbols) and spacing using the previous section's original/unbulleted Cake Preparation sample, which you can download from here or create yourself.

With a list of words now in front of you begin this first example by highlighting those words and then click on the BULLETS drop-down menu; the down-arrow button on the right-side of the BULLETS button itself. Doing so will then reveal a selection of symbols (images) from the Bullet Library. Symbols such as the Tick Mark, the Solid Dot, the Empty Circle, the Solid Square and so on (Fig 1.0) ready for you to select (click on) one (Fig 1.1).

Fig 1.0  Highlight the words from the Cake Preparation list and then click on the BULLETS drop-down menu

For this example just hover the mouse pointer over the symbols (images) for now. This will enable you to preview what each symbol looks like, in the list of words, without actually applying (setting) that symbol. So if you move the mouse pointer away from (off) the menu the previous bullet points, if any, in the list of words will retain their old/current symbols (imagery). The BULLETS drop-down menu only acts as a previewer in other words, as long as you don't click on a symbol.

If you do click on a symbol from the BULLETS drop-down menu, any highlighted words and their existing bullet points will have their symbols replaced by the new symbol you have just clicked on (selected); as shown below.

Fig 1.1  Hover the mouse pointer over a symbol (image) to preview what it will look like with your words

When you are happy with the look of a symbol simply select it (click on it) to make it the new symbol for any highlighted text (word list); as shown above.

Fig 1.1 above shows what happens when you hover the mouse pointer over a symbol within the BULLETS drop-down menu (Bullet Library) and also what happens when a symbol is selected - The highlighted text (word list) becomes bullet pointed (bulleted), with the Tick Mark symbol (image) in this case.

CHANGING  A  SUB-BULLET  STYLE

If you then want to change one of the, highlighted, bullet pointed words into a sub-bullet pointed word and therefore change its style, you have to follow these three steps. 1) Deselect the whole word list by clicking anywhere inside the white display area of the document window. 2) Highlight the word you want turning into a sub-bullet pointed word. And 3) Click on the INCREASE INDENT. An example of these three steps were exampled in the previous section (see the heading: AN EVEN QUICKER WAY).

In the example below I have already performed these three steps and you can see what has happened. Eggs (6) has been indented (sub-bullet pointed) but it has the default Empty Circle symbol applied to it. This does not look nice and would ideally look better with a Tick Mark symbol or at least a symbol that blends well with the other bullet points. Fortunately, this can easily be achieved by clicking on the BULLETS drop-down menu and selecting a different symbol from the Bullet Library - See Fig 1.3 below.

Fig 1.2  Highlight a bullet pointed word and then click on INCREASE INDENT to sub-bullet point it

Remember. A bullet point and sub-bullet point is just an image (symbol) at the end of the day. Furthermore, a bullet point and a sub-bullet point are the same thing; just like a folder and a sub-folder are both folders. The only difference is that a sub-bullet point is indented.

With this in mind and to clarify, because it can be confusing, in Fig 1.3 below I have given the Eggs (6) sub-bullet point the same Tick Mark symbol (the same bullet point) as all the other bullet points (Ingredients, Flour..., etc) so that they all match.

Fig 1.3  Click on a symbol (image) to apply it to the currently highlighted sub-bullet point

I did not need to give the Eggs (6) sub-bullet point the same Tick Mark symbol; I could of used the Solid Square symbol instead, but as I said above I wanted all the bullet points and sub-bullet points to have the same symbol (image/bullet point).

In the next example I will show you how to change the symbols for two sub-bullet points in one go. In Fig 1.4 below I have already made Eggs (6) a sub-bullet point by indenting it with the INCREASE INDENT button, hence why it now has the default Empty Circle symbol applied to it. I have then highlighted Flour (1 small packet) and am just about to turn it into a sub-bullet point, from a bullet point, by clicking on the INCREASE INDENT button.

Fig 1.4  Turn a bullet pointed word into a sub-bullet point word by clicking on the INCREASE INDENT button

When the two bullet pointed words (Eggs (6) and Flour...) have been turned into sub-bullet points (Fig 1.5) click any where inside the white display area of the word document window to unhighlight (deselect) the Flour... sub-bullet point. This is important because in the next step you will need to highlight both of the sub-bullet pointed words in order to change their symbols (images) via the Bullet Library using the BULLETS drop-down menu.

Fig 1.5  Click any where inside the white area of the window to unhighlight the last sub-bullet pointed word




Fig 1.6  Highlight the two sub-bullet pointed words and then click on the BULLETS drop-down menu

In Fig 1.6 above I have since highlighted the two sub-bullet pointed words (Eggs (6) and Flour...) in order to change their symbols (images) via the Bullet Library using the BULLETS drop-down menu - Clicking on the BULLETS drop-down menu (above) then allows me to change the imagery for those two highlighted sub-bullet pointed words, by clicking on the Tick Mark image in this case.

Fig 1.7  Select the symbol (image) you want to apply to the two highlighted sub-bullet pointed words

As you can see, above; the two highlighted sub-bullet pointed words, that had Empty Circle symbols applied to them by default (Fig 1.6 above), now have Tick Mark symbols applied to them.

To make the Spoons... and Rolling Pin... words sub-bullet points simply follow the above process again.

SUB-BULLET  POINT  LEVELS  OF  INDENTATION

At some point you might be wondering why the image used for indented words (sub-bullet points) always defaults to using the Empty Circle image and why a set amount of space is used for indentation. The answers to these questions are because Microsoft Word 2010 always applies a certain level of indentation to a particular image. Or put another way, it states that a certain level (of indentation) will have a certain symbol (image) associated with it.

For example. After bullet pointing all of the word list with the Tick Mark symbol (image); if you then click on the BULLETS drop-down menu you will notice an extra menu-item has appeared called CHANGE LIST LEVEL whereby clicking on it then displays the possible levels of indentation and imagery that can be applied to the currently highlighted word(s). In this example the wording Eggs (6). So if I click on LEVEL 3 from the CHANGE LIST LEVEL menu-item (Fig 1.8 below) the highlighted Eggs (6) will then use the Solid Square symbol (image) which has more indentation than LEVELS 2 (the Empty Circle symbol).

Fig 1.8  Click on the CHANGE LIST LEVEL menu-item and then select your LEVEL of indentation




Fig 1.9  Eggs (6) is now using LEVEL 3 - More indentation and a different image (the Solid Square symbol)

The same indentation can be achieved by clicking on the INCREASE INDENT button. You can even click on the DECREASE INDENT button to go back to a previous LEVEL of indentation and imagery.

CREATE  YOUR  OWN  BULLET  POINTS

If you want to create a bullet point of your own you can do so by clicking on the DEFINE NEW BULLET menu-item of the BULLETS drop-down menu - Highlight your wordings first, in this next example the whole word list, and then click on the DEFINE NEW BULLET menu-item. Doing so will then bring up the Define New Bullet window (Fig 1.11 below).

Fig 1.10  Highlight the whole word list and then click on the DEFINE NEW BULLET menu-item to continue




Fig 1.11  Click on the SYMBOL... button to continue

The Define New Bullet window allows you to define (create) a new bullet point using either a Symbol from the currently selected font (see below) or a Picture from a piece of clipart or photograph. By default all bullet point imagery comes from a Symbol that is inside the Wingdings font (typeface), so for this example I will show you how to create a bullet point using a symbol from that Wingdings font. Begin by clicking on the SYMBOL... button (above) in order to bring up the Symbol window (below).

When the Symbol window appears the Tick Mark symbol, or what ever bullet point symbol was last used by you, will be highlighted in blue. The Symbol window will also state that the current font used for bullet point symbols is the Wingdings font - It is inside the FONT drop-down menu, which can be used to select a different font if need be. Anyway, ignoring this information for now, what you need to do next is select (click on) the symbol you would like to use for your new bullet point. In this example I have gone for the big right-arrow symbol. Once you have selected a symbol click on the OK button to continue.

Fig 1.12  Select a symbol to use for your new bullet point and then click on the OK button to continue

When you click on the OK button (above) the Symbol window closes and you are returned to the Define New Bullet window, which then shows a preview of what your new bullet point symbol will look like if you decide to use it. So if you are happy with the look of it and want to use it simply click on the OK button to apply it to the highlighted word list (Fig 1.14 below).

Fig 1.13  Click on the OK button to apply the new bullet point symbol to your highlighted words




Fig 1.14  The new bullet point symbol has been applied to the highlighted word list

Any new bullet point symbol you create and use will be displayed in the Bullet Library, ready for use on another occasion. By creating/using different symbols and different font colours/styles you can make dull looking bullet points look quite good.

In this next example all I have done is used the Boxed Tick Mark symbol for my bullet points, and Boxed X for my sub-bullet points, and then changed their font colours and sizes - The bullet points (headings: Ingredients and Utensils) are in font size 20 with brown ink (font colour) and the sub-bullet points are in font size 18 with orange ink (font colour).

The font changes were achieved by first clicking on an item - word(s), bullet point(s) and sub-bullet point(s) - before then clicking on the FONT SIZE and FONT COLOR drop-down menus/buttons. Examples of changing font attributes are shown in the Change Font Text Styles section.

Fig 1.15  Simple font changes can transform your bullet points and their symbols

These first two sections about bullet points have shown you how to insert bullet points after you have written a list of words. In other words, a list of words was created and then you formatted that list of words by inserting bullet points. And this is the best way to write a document - Write the words first and then format them afterwards. This rule applies to font changes, inserting bullet points and formatting in general - Do the formatting afterwards, at the last minute.

An example of why to format afterwards would be a scenario whereby you have to type out 100 pages, to fit inside 100 pages. If you type out page one and then format it (i.e. change the font size from 11 to 20), type out page two and then format it (i.e. change the ink colour from black to red), type out page three and then format it (i.e. insert bullet points) and so on, what can happen in this scenario is that you end up with 200 pages instead of 100 pages due to a font that is too big for example.

In the worse case scenario you may have to start again, undo your formatting or try and fit content (perhaps by deleting words/paragraphs). A much better scenario is to type out the 100 pages unformatted (i.e. in font size 11) so that the words fit into 100 pages comfortably and then format (i.e. change the font size for all the words). This way even if you change the font size to 20 whereby you then end up with 200 pages, you can easily change the font size back to 11 or try out font size 16 for example. The point being, you test which font size works best before then going on to change the font colour and insert bullet points. In other words, formatting afterwards works out quicker in the long run.

Saying the above; sometimes there are occasions when you need to format a document as you go along. This is normally with regards to essay/article/c.v writing and the insertion of images whereby you need to be watching your spacing and page sizes as you are typing. So in the next section I will be creating a list of words whereby I apply the bullet points as I type each wording/listing. Don't worry if this isn't clear yet! All will become clear in the next section.