Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. If you are using a later version (Word 2007 or later), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for later versions of Word, click here: Putting a Bullet in the Middle of a Sentence.

Putting a Bullet in the Middle of a Sentence

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated September 8, 2018)
This tip applies to Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003


4

For design purposes, there may be a time when you want to place a bullet in the middle of a sentence or between two words. You cannot accomplish this by using the Bullets and Numbering feature in Word. Instead, you must work directly with the actual bullet character.

To insert a bullet you can type it directly by holding down the Alt key and typing 0183 on the numeric keypad. If you prefer, you can follow these steps:

  1. Choose Symbol from the Insert menu. Word displays the Insert Symbol dialog box.
  2. Make sure that (normal text) is selected in the Font drop-down list. (See Figure 1.)
  3. Figure 1. The Symbol dialog box.

  4. In the table of symbols, select the bullet character.
  5. Click on Insert. The bullet is inserted in your document.
  6. Click on Close.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (1702) applies to Microsoft Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. You can find a version of this tip for the ribbon interface of Word (Word 2007 and later) here: Putting a Bullet in the Middle of a Sentence.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. ...

MORE FROM ALLEN

The Last Business Day

Many businesses need to know when the last business day of the month occurs. This tip discusses several ways you can ...

Discover More

Conditionally Formatting Non-Integers

The conditional formatting capabilities of Excel are very helpful when you want to call attention to different values ...

Discover More

Limiting Document Page Count

Do you need to have your document fit within a certain number of pages? This can be close to impossible to do within ...

Discover More

Do More in Less Time! Are you ready to harness the full power of Word 2013 to create professional documents? In this comprehensive guide you'll learn the skills and techniques for efficiently building the documents you need for your professional and your personal life. Check out Word 2013 In Depth today!

More WordTips (menu)

Changing AutoComplete Words

AutoComplete allows you to easily complete words you are typing in your document. If AutoComplete is presenting you with ...

Discover More

Changing Many Link Locations

Word makes it easy to establish links between documents. If you need to change the locations for a lot of links at once, ...

Discover More

Single-Character Fractions

Some fractions Word automatically converts to single characters, some it doesn't. Here's why that happens and what you ...

Discover More
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

View most recent newsletter.

Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] (all 7 characters, in the sequence shown) in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

What is 7 + 9?

2021-11-16 07:25:38

Jesu

Hi

I want to use <JD> as a bulletin. Rather than a single letter want to try with 2letters. is there a way to create as a bullet?


2019-08-07 03:49:24

Ken Endacott

In Word versions 2017 and higher you can insert a unicode character by typing in the character's 4 digit hex code then pressing Alt+X. For example 2D59 followed by ALT+X will display a hollow circle with a central dot. Conversely, by selecting a character and pressing ALT+X its unicode value is displayed.

There are about 140,000 unicode characters so finding the character that you want can be a problem. The web site
https://www.rapidtables.com/code/text/unicode-characters.html
displays them in tables of 256 at a time. There are other web sites that attempt to categorise them with limited success.


2019-08-06 17:08:20

Andrew Miller

What if I need two different kinds?

The hollow version has got to be in there somewhere, but it's like finding a needle in a haystack. The one I can find I have to put as superscript to get it in the position I want and then it's too small and then if I try to make it bigger it creates space that I don't want between the lines.

Please add where I find the hollow one.

Thank you!


2018-09-09 16:02:57

Joel Hornstein

Hi Allen,

Greatly your word tips newsletter. Especially appreciate your giving tips for earlier versions of word (I'm using 2003) for us Luddites who don't like ribbons.

Concerning your tip # 1702 (inserting a bullet), I can not insert a bullet of any type unless the num lock key is pressed. Not sure if that's true for all computer users. When I inserted a bullet using alt + 0183, the bullet was much smaller than the one you get if you insert a bullet using the insert and then symbol keys. F.Y.I., alt + 0149 also produces a bullet, one that is larger than alt + 0149, but smaller than the insert/symbol keys.


This Site

Got a version of Word that uses the menu interface (Word 97, Word 2000, Word 2002, or Word 2003)? This site is for you! If you use a later version of Word, visit our WordTips site focusing on the ribbon interface.

Videos
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)

View the most recent newsletter.