Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, 2024, and Word in Microsoft 365. 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: Converting List Types.

Converting List Types

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated May 10, 2025)
This tip applies to Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, 2024, and Word in Microsoft 365

In other issues of WordTips you learn how to insert lists into your documents. After you have created your lists, there may be times when you want to convert from one type of list to the other. To do so, follow these steps:

Select the items in the list you want to convert.
Display the Home tab of the ribbon.
If you want to convert a bulleted list to a numbered list, click the Numbering tool in the Paragraph group.
If you want to convert a numbered list to a bulleted list, click the Bullets tool in the Paragraph group.

It is important to realize that converting lists from numbers to bullets (or vice versa) only works if the original list—the one you select in step 1—was created using the Numbering or Bullets tool in the first place. If the list items were created using manual means by typing bullets or numbers, then when you click on a list type (steps 3 or 4), the list is created, but the manual bullets or numbers may remain.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (11569) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, 2024, and Word in Microsoft 365. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Word here: Converting List Types.

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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