Applying Formatting in Lists

Need a quick way to change the font characteristics of a bullet or number in a bulleted or numbered list without affecting the text in that list?

1. Ensure the end-of-paragraph marker is showing. If it's not showing, simply click the Show All tool on the Standard toolbar or, in Word 2007, press Shift+Ctrl+* (asterisk).
2. Select just the end-of-paragraph marker for the list item whose bullet or number you want to change.
3. Add or remove font formatting (e.g., size, color, etc.) as desired.

Any formatting that you apply to the end-of-paragraph marker using the above method will be applied to the bullet or number only; the text in the list item will remain unaffected. Additionally, when new bulleted or numbered items are created by pressing the Enter key at the end of the list item, the text in the new list item will have the same font characteristics as the previous text and the new bullet/number will have the same font characteristics as the previous bullet/number.

If you're not familiar with the end-of-paragraph marker, it's two vertical lines with a half circle at the top left of the left vertical line—it looks like a backwards capital P.

You can also apply formatting to the text within a bulleted/numbered list by:

1. Be sure the end-of-paragraph markers are displayed.
2. On the list item you want to change, select any portion of the text as long as your selection does not include the end-of-paragraph marker and at least one other character.
3. Apply any font formatting to that text.
4. Select the remainder of the text (but not the end-of-paragraph marker) then apply font characteristics to that text.

Using the above method, new list items created by pressing the Enter key at the end of the newly formatted list item will have the same font characteristics as the last character in that newly formatted list item.

If you just what to apply the same font characteristics to the bullets/numbers and text in a bulleted/numbered list, select the entire list item, with or without the end-of-paragraph marker.