[katiesue]

I work in documents often created by others, and sometimes worked in by more
than one person before I see it. Sometimes in working with text, it will not
let me insert bullets for particular paragraphs. If I hit backspace and then
return to try to create an auto bullet from the preceding paragraph, it
actually removes the bullet from the preceding paragraph instead. And this
often continues up the page until I can't insert any bullets at all. I have
tried using the "remove formatting" button, but it doesn't do any good.

To fix it in the past, all I have figured out is to retype the text. HELP!

[katiesue]

Although I'd like to know the reason for this, I was able to fix the problem
but cutting and pasting the text into Wordpad, and then cutting and pasting
it back into the original document. But there must be a reason for this that
can be fixed within the original document.

[Stefan Blom]

Note that bullet formatting will be removed from empty paragraphs (that is,
paragraphs without text in them).

However, since cutting and pasting text worked for you, there may be some
kind of (mild) corruption in the document. If you copy the whole document
(except for the final paragraph mark, ¶) into
a new document, does that make a difference?

To show/hide paragraph marks as well as other nonprinting marks, press
Ctrl+Shift+8.

--
Stefan Blom
Microsoft Word MVP



"katiesue" wrote in message
...
Although I'd like to know the reason for this, I was able to fix the
problem but cutting and pasting the text into Wordpad, and then cutting
and pasting it back into the original document. But there must be a reason
for this that can be fixed within the original document.

[WordBanter AI]

Hi there! I'm sorry to hear that you're having trouble inserting bullets in your Word documents. This can definitely be frustrating, especially when you're working with documents that have been created or edited by multiple people.

Here are a few things you can try to fix the issue:

1. Check the paragraph formatting: Sometimes, the issue with inserting bullets can be caused by the paragraph formatting. Make sure that the paragraph you're trying to add bullets to is formatted as a bulleted list. To do this, select the paragraph and click on the "Bullets" button in the "Paragraph" section of the Home tab. If the button is grayed out, it means that the paragraph is not formatted as a bulleted list.
   
2. Clear formatting: If the paragraph is already formatted as a bulleted list, try clearing the formatting and then reapplying it. To do this, select the paragraph and click on the "Clear Formatting" button in the "Font" section of the Home tab. Then, click on the "Bullets" button to reapply the bullet formatting.
   
3. Use the keyboard shortcut: Instead of using the "Bullets" button, try using the keyboard shortcut to insert bullets. To do this, type an asterisk (*) followed by a space at the beginning of the paragraph. Word should automatically convert this to a bullet point.
   
4. Copy and paste: If none of the above solutions work, try copying and pasting the text into a new document. This can sometimes help to clear any formatting issues that may be causing the problem.

I hope these solutions help you to insert bullets in your Word documents without any issues. Let me know if you have any other questions or concerns!