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: Lining Up Numbered List Numbers.
Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated December 9, 2017)
This tip applies to Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003
You already know how to create a numbered list using the built-in tools provided by Word. If you create a numbered list that has more than nine items in it, you may notice that your numbers for each item do not line up properly. For instance, the numbers are not lined up on the decimal point, as you might expect. This condition is easy enough to fix; follow these steps:

Figure 1. The Numbered tab of the Bullets and Numbering dialog box.

Figure 2. The Customize Numbered List dialog box.
WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (1826) 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: Lining Up Numbered List Numbers.
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2017-12-09 19:15:48
Kat Crawford
Had no idea how to align the number lists. Thank you for this wonderful tip. I'm sharing your word.tips.net with other writers:)
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