Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021. If you are using an earlier version (Word 2003 or earlier), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for earlier versions of Word, click here: Removing a List.

Removing a List

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated September 11, 2021)
This tip applies to Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021

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.
Make sure the Home tab of the ribbon is displayed.
If the list is a numbered list, click on the Numbering tool in the Paragraph group.
If the list is a bulleted list, click on the Bullets tool in the Paragraph group.

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.

Word does provide another way you can remove a list: All you need to do is select the paragraphs you want to affect and then press Ctrl+Q. This shortcut returns the paragraph formatting to whatever is defined by the underlying style applied to the paragraphs.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (743) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Word here: Removing a List.

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 five more than 6?

2021-09-13 11:14:48

Frank Woets

Dear Allen,

Thanks for this tip, and all the other tips as well! I recently found it is good practise to use a list style for listing (bullets or numbers) items. I assume that if you use this method, setting the Style back to Normal, the items are no longer a list (but a series of paragraphs).

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