PagePlus

Creating a bulleted or numbered list

You can turn a series of paragraphs into bulleted, numbered or multi-level lists. Bullets are especially useful when listing items of interest in no specific order of preference, numbered lists for presenting step-by-step procedures (by number or letter), and multi-level lists for more intelligent hierarchical lists with prefixed numbers, symbols, or a mix of both, all with supporting optional text (see Using multi-level lists).

Bulleted list	Numbered list	Multi-level list

PagePlus lets you create simple lists directly from the Text context toolbar or choose from a preset bullet, number or multi-level lists via dialog. If you want to go a step further you can create custom list styles by selecting your own symbols, numbers and letter formats. You then have the option of replacing an existing preset with your own preset based on your own custom list style.

Lists can be applied to normal text (as local formatting) or to text styles equally.

To create a simple bulleted or numbered list:

1. Select one or more paragraphs.
   – or -
   Click in a paragraph’s text.

2. Select  Bulleted List or   Numbered List from the Text context toolbar.

The list style used is the first preset shown in the Bullets & Numbering dialog described below.

To create a bulleted or numbered list (using presets):

1. Select one or more paragraphs.
   – or -
   Click in a paragraph’s text.

2. Select Bullets and Numbering… from the Format menu.
   – or -
   Right-click the paragraph and from the Text Format option, choose Bullets and Numbering….

3. From the Text Style dialog’s Bullets and Numbering menu option, choose Bullet, Number, or Multi-Level from the Style drop-down menu.

4. Select one of the preset formats shown by default.
   – or -
   For a custom list, click the Details button to display, then alter custom options.

• For bullets, pick a bullet character from the range of displayed symbols (or click Symbol then select a different symbol as bullet). You can set the Bullet indent, Tab stop and Text indent distances, and define other attributes, including size and color.

• For numbers, you can select a numbering Format, an optional Separator character, starting number, Number indent, Tab stop,Text indent distances, and number alignment along with other attributes, including font, size and color.

• For multi-level lists, select a level number from the Level list and choose the format, list type, start at, and character position details (indents, alignment, tabstops) for that level. Repeat the process for each subsequent level needed for the list. For more details, see Using multi-level lists.

5. Click OK to apply list formatting.

Each time you insert a following return, a new line will begin with the specified symbol or number. If you leave the new line empty and press return regular paragraph formatting is resumed.

• For number and multi-level lists, check Restart numbering to restart numbering from the current cursor position in the list; otherwise, leave the option unchecked.

• Turn off list formatting by clicking the Text context toolbar’s  or  buttons again.

Using multi-level lists

For multi-level lists, as opposed to bulleted and numbered lists, you can set a different character (symbol, text or number) to display at each level of your list. Levels are normally considered to be subordinate to each other, where Level 1 (first level), Level 2 (second), Level 3 (third), etc. are of decreasing importance in the list. For example, the following simple multi-level numbered passage of text is arranged at three levels.

The flexibility of PagePlus’s multi-level bullet and numbering system means that you have full control over what gets displayed at each level. For this
reason, no common numbering schema needs to exist between levels, i.e. the list could equally be prefixed with a different symbol, text prefix, or number combination at each level.

If you apply a multi-level preset to a range of text you’ll get a list with the preset’s Level 1 format applied by default. Unless you use text styles, you’ll have to change to levels 2, 3, 4, etc. to set the correct level for your list entry.

Changing list levels on selected paragraphs:

• Click the  Increase Level or  Decrease Level button on the Text context toolbar to increment or decrement the current level by one.
  – or -
  Use the Level scroll box shown on your Bullets and Lists preset page to set the level.

The multi-level presets offer some simple but commonly used schemas for paragraph list formatting. However, if you want to create your own lists or modify an existing list (your own or a preset), use the Details button in the Text Style dialog when Multi-Level style is selected.

Creating a multi-level list from selected paragraphs:

1. Select Bullets and Numbering… from the Format menu.

2. With the Style drop-down menu set to Multi-Level, select the list preset called None, and click the Details button.

3. From the dialog, you can use the Format field to build up a list format for the currently selected Level. Pick the Level then the List type, which could be bulleted, numeric, roman numeric, or alphabetic.

4. Choose a Start at value from which the currently set level’s sequence will begin.

5. Adjust the character position details including indents (Number at and Text indent), first tab position (Tabstop at), and list Align for that level.

6. Repeat the process for each subsequent level needed for the list. You can edit the Format structure for each new level if needed.

• Reference another level in your Format field by selection from the Insert drop-down list, optionally choosing a font and its attributes via the Font… button.

To modify an existing preset, select it from the list and click the Details button. Change the list settings as described above and select the OK button.

When you create any type of list, whether bulleted, numbered or multi-level, the list’s settings can be recalled by reselecting any part of the list and choosing Bullets & Numbering… from the Format menu. If a preset was used, PagePlus remembers this and shows the presets page; if the list was a custom list (and not saved as a preset) the Details page is shown. It’s possible to save the custom list as a preset at any time.

To save list as new preset:

1. Click anywhere on a custom list, then select Bullets and Numbering… from the Format menu to display the Details page.

2. Click the Preset button, then pick a preset that you want to overwrite.

3. A dialog prompts you to overwrite the preset, i.e. “Store current list in preset n?“. Select Yes to overwrite the existing preset.

Assigning bullets, numbers, and levels to styles

The lists discussed so far are usually applied as local formatting to a single style, typically “Normal” or “Body”. To prove this, you’ll see the list structure disappear if you apply Clear Formatting (from the Text Styles tab or Text context toolbar’s Styles drop-down menu) on the selected list.

If you’re working on long documents, you may be using pre-assigned text styles (Heading 1, Heading 2, indent, etc.) to format your document rather than using the above local formatting. You can use such text styles along with list styles to number headings or paragraphs automatically without the need to repetitively format headings or paragraphs as lists. As an example, headings and paragraphs in technical and legal documents are typically prefixed by numbers for easy reference. The advantage of using a style-driven approach is that you can let the numbering take care of itself while you concentrate on applying styling to your document.

If you plan to create your own multi-level paragraph styles, make use of the Style for Increase Level option when creating text styles. This sets the paragraph style that will be automatically applied to text if Increase Level is applied from the context toolbar; another advantage is that if you apply a multi-level style to text, the associated next level’s style will be made available in the Text Styles tab.

PagePlus lets you easily associate any bulleted, numbered or multi-level list style (either preset or custom list) to an existing text style.

To assign a list style to a text style:

1. Right-click on a chosen style in the Text Styles tab, and select Modify <style>….

2. Navigate to, then select the Bullets and Numbering option in the left-hand tree menu.

3. Choose a list Style, selecting Bullet, Number or Multi-Level from the drop-down menu.

4. Either pick a preset from the list or define your own list structure by clicking the Details button. For the latter, select from a range of settings to create your own bullet, number, or multi-level list format. For multi-level list presets, you can also set the Level for the current style.

5. Click the OK button, then the Close button (if using text styles palette).

You can use this method to apply automatic multi-level numbering to built-in heading styles such as Heading 1, Heading 2, and Heading 3, e.g.

Each heading style is linked to a Level, i.e. Heading 1 style to Level 1, Heading 2 to Level 2, etc. Headings 2 and 3 adopt the previous style’s numbering. To make multi-level lists a little clearer, consider a preset containing different formats at three different levels, i.e.

Text Style	Uses Level	with Format	To produce..
Heading 1
Heading 2
Heading 3

For a selected heading style, you choose the equivalent level, then build up the format for that level in the Text Style dialog (Format>Bullets and Numbering…). Note that the numbering of one level (e.g., I) can be reused at a lower level (e.g., Level 2) to build up numbering formats from multiple levels, e.g. Section I/A, where I is from Level 1 and A is from Level 2.

Creating a bulleted or numbered list