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: Inserting a Bullet.

Inserting a Bullet

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated April 4, 2023)
This tip applies to Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021

It is not unusual to create bulleted lists within a document. What if you want to place a bullet within the middle of a sentence, however? There are two ways you can do this in Word. First, you can follow these steps:

Position the insertion point where you want the bullet to appear.
Choose Symbol from the Insert menu. Word displays the Symbol dialog box. (To display the dialog box, display the Insert tab of the ribbon, click Symbol (in the Symbols group), and then click More Symbols.) (See Figure 1.)

Figure 1. The Symbol dialog box.

Use the Font drop-down list to select the font you want to use for the bullet.
Double-click on the bullet character you want inserted.
Click on Close.

Another option for inserting a bullet is to hold down the Alt key as you type 0183 on the numeric keypad. This inserts a small round bullet at the insertion point. If you are a laptop user, you may not have the numeric keypad available. There are key combinations to press to create the equivalent of a PC numeric keypad. The following web page is a good place to start on researching some of these key combinations:

https://fsymbols.com/keyboard/windows/alt-codes/laptop/

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (12492) 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: Inserting a Bullet.

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...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Pasting Pictures into a Comment

Excel allows you to use a picture as a background on a cell comment. This tip looks at how you can paste pictures into a ...

Discover More

Embedding an Excel Worksheet

Word and Excel are both integral parts of Microsoft's Office suite of applications. As such, Word allows you to embed ...

Discover More

Creating Worksheets with a Macro

Using a macro to add worksheets to your workbook is easy. This tip provides two different methods you can use.

Discover More

Learning Made Easy! Quickly teach yourself how to format, publish, and share your content using Word 2021 or Microsoft 365. With Step by Step, you set the pace, building and practicing the skills you need, just when you need them! Check out Microsoft Word Step by Step today!

More WordTips (ribbon)

Pasted Text Converted to a List

When you paste information into a document right after the end of a bulleted or numbered list, Word may convert that ...

Discover More

Talking to Yourself

Need to keep notes about a document, but you don't want others to see those notes either on-screen or on-paper? Here's an ...

Discover More

Using the Object Browser

Efficiently navigating through a document, particularly as it gets longer, can be a perpetual challenge. One tool you can ...

Discover More

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.

Notify me about new comments ONLY FOR THIS TIP

Notify me about new comments ANYWHERE ON THIS SITE

Hide my email address

What is three more than 0?

2019-02-09 13:00:20

Allan

Alt+7 will also apply a bullet. You might like it better than Alt+0183.

2019-02-09 10:26:06

Lou B

My preferred keyboard bullet is ALT+0149. It's bigger than the ALT+0183.

This Site

Got a version of Word that uses the ribbon interface (Word 2007 or later)? This site is for you! If you use an earlier version of Word, visit our WordTips site focusing on the menu interface.