Removing a Bulleted or Numbered List

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated March 14, 2020)
This tip applies to Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and Word in Microsoft 365

There may be times when you want to remove the list formatting you previously applied to some of your text. For instance, you may have a numbered list that you want to reformat as regular text. Word provides an easy way for you to remove list formatting:

Select the list items you want to no longer be a part of the list. It doesn't matter if it is a numbered or bulleted list.
If the list is a numbered list, click on the Numbering tool located on the Home tab of the Ribbon, in the Paragraph group. Word displays a drop-down list.
Choose None from the Numbering Library group. Word removes the numbering format from the selected text.
If the list is a bulleted list, click on the Bullets tool located on the Home tab of the Ribbon, in the Paragraph group. Word displays a drop-down list.
Choose None from the Bullet Library group. Word removes the bullet format from the selected text.

If you remove the bullets or numbering from only a portion of the list, the remainder of the list maintains the list formatting. If required, Word adjusts the numbering on any remaining part of a numbered list.

Note that this method only works if the original list was an automatic Word numbered or bulleted list. If the list was created manually, then you will have to remove each of the numbers or bullets manually since they were added manually.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (5918) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and Word in Microsoft 365.

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. Learn more about Allen...

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What is 1 + 1?

2021-11-25 12:17:47

Matthew W. I. Dunn

Thanks for the info . . . but, this did not work for me.

I have a bullet in each table of a series of tables on a page. I wanted to remove just the bullet from each. Following these instructions did not do anything: The bullets still persisted.

The only way I could get it to work was by using the "Bullets and Numbering" button, which I had had displayed in my Quick Access Toolbar. Then, I went: BULLETS TAB > NONE > OKAY.

(see Figure 1 below)
(see Figure 2 below)

Figure 1. yes

Figure 2. no

2021-01-29 09:48:23

Andrew

This method can often be made to work even if the original list created manually. I have had good luck removing the manual numbers/bullets (usually numbers) by first applying Word's automatic numbers/bullets, which will convert the manual ones to automatic ones, and then using the method in this tip to remove them. It all depends on if and how well Word recognizes and converts the manual numbering. Your mileage may vary.

Andy.

2021-01-28 16:12:57

clive walford

removing bullets did not work

2020-12-15 20:17:19

Matthew Dunn

. . . and, the EASY way to do this would be?

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