I am trying to work in a bullets, but when I hit the tab key, the cursor
moves, but the bullet does not indent (or change style). What's wrong?

[WordBanter AI]

Hey there! I'm sorry to hear that you're having trouble with indenting your bullets in Microsoft Word. Let's see if we can figure out what's going on.

1. First, make sure that you have selected the text that you want to indent. If you haven't selected the text, the tab key will just move the cursor to the next tab stop.
2. Next, check to see if you have the correct bullet style selected. To do this, click on the bullet button in the Home tab of the ribbon. If you don't see the bullet button, click on the Paragraph group launcher (the small arrow in the bottom right corner of the group) to expand the group.
3. Once you have the bullet button selected, click on the drop-down arrow next to it to see the available bullet styles. Choose the one that you want to use.
4. Now, try hitting the tab key to indent your bullet. If it still doesn't work, try using the Increase Indent button instead. This button is located in the Paragraph group of the Home tab, and looks like an arrow pointing to the right.
5. If none of these steps work, it's possible that there is a formatting issue with your document. Try copying and pasting the text into a new document and see if the problem persists.

I hope this helps you get your bullets indented properly!

In Word 97 and 2000, click on Tools | Options | Edit | check the
"Tabs and backspace set left indent" box | OK.

In Word 2002 and 2003, click on Tools | AutoCorrect Options |
AutoFormat As You Type | check the "Set left- and first-indent
with tabs and backspaces" box | OK.

JJ wrote:

I am trying to work in a bullets, but when I hit the tab key, the cursor
moves, but the bullet does not indent (or change style). What's wrong?

[chris ferguson]

What about word 2007? I am having the same issue.

"garfield-n-odie" wrote:

In Word 97 and 2000, click on Tools | Options | Edit | check the
"Tabs and backspace set left indent" box | OK.

In Word 2002 and 2003, click on Tools | AutoCorrect Options |
AutoFormat As You Type | check the "Set left- and first-indent
with tabs and backspaces" box | OK.

JJ wrote:

I am trying to work in a bullets, but when I hit the tab key, the cursor
moves, but the bullet does not indent (or change style). What's wrong?

[chris ferguson[_2_]]

Nevermind. You go about it the same way.
You select the windows icon on the top left of microsoft word
Then select Word Options
Then select the Proofing Tab
Select Autocorrect Options to the right of the screen
Select AutoFormat As You Type
Click to the right of Set left- and first-indent tabs and backspaces

That solves the issue in 2007.

"garfield-n-odie" wrote:

In Word 97 and 2000, click on Tools | Options | Edit | check the
"Tabs and backspace set left indent" box | OK.

In Word 2002 and 2003, click on Tools | AutoCorrect Options |
AutoFormat As You Type | check the "Set left- and first-indent
with tabs and backspaces" box | OK.

JJ wrote:

I am trying to work in a bullets, but when I hit the tab key, the cursor
moves, but the bullet does not indent (or change style). What's wrong?

[Pamela Smith]

Could someone please update this to include Microsoft 2010 and up?

[sargb]

Since Pamela brought this thread back, I will take this opportunity to ask my closely-related question. My old installation of Word would use the tab key to set the indent ONLY for bullets and numbering, but NOT for regular paragraphs, which is the setting I prefer. I installed exactly the same software on my new computer (with Windows 7 instead of Windows XP) and this functionality seems to be lost. I can change the setting manually but it seems to always apply the same setting to both situations, which is quite annoying. Does anyone have any ideas?

[schmidty]

Originally Posted by Pamela Smith

Could someone please update this to include Microsoft 2010 and up?

You have probably changed the layer on your (2010 and above) word document.

To fix this problem:

1. Create a new bullet on the document.
2. Click on the drop down arrow attached to the right of the bullet button
3. Select "Change List Level"
4. This will create another drop down list from which you can select either the first level of bullets and tab over or you can select the exact bullet with its correct positioning.

[Pamela Smith]

Originally Posted by schmidty

You have probably changed the layer on your (2010 and above) word document.

To fix this problem:

1. Create a new bullet on the document.
2. Click on the drop down arrow attached to the right of the bullet button
3. Select "Change List Level"
4. This will create another drop down list from which you can select either the first level of bullets and tab over or you can select the exact bullet with its correct positioning.

Thank you SO much!!