Hello, my name is Erin.
We recently created custom list numbers in Microsoft Word for the PC.
Today, we are going to create custom list numbers in Word for Mac.
Custom list numbers can combine letters, words, and punctuation.
We will also customize the style, such as the font, size, alignment, and color.
Plus, stay tuned for the Pro Tip at the end which explains how to remove extra space
between the list number and the list item.
Note that this tutorial refers to "list numbers"
because Word organizes all ordered list options in the Numbering Library.
However, all the steps shown here also apply to lists organized by letters.
Today I’ll be using Word for Microsoft 365 for Mac.
These steps will be similar for the standalone versions of the software
back to Word 2016 for Mac.
Please note that this tutorial assumes that you have already created your numbered list.
We will walk through the basics of creating a numbered list in Word for Mac
in a separate tutorial.
To begin creating custom list numbers,
select an existing number in the list level you want to customize.
The entire level should then be selected.
Next, select the Home tab in the ribbon, if you’re not already there.
And then select the Numbering menu arrow.
From there select Define New Number Format in the drop-down menu.
When the Customize Numbered List dialog box appears,
you can select a new style from the Number style menu, if necessary.
Next, add letters, words, or punctuation before or after the number in the gray shading
in the "Enter formatting for number" text box.
Be very careful not to delete or alter the number in the gray shading.
If you delete or alter that number, the automatic list numbering will stop functioning.
If you would like to further customize your list numbers, select the Font button.
And then select a new font,
font style,
font size,
font color,
underlining style,
and underlining color.
When you’re finished, select the OK button.
You can also select the Number Position menu and then choose Left, Centered, or Right.
Finally, select the OK button.
The list level you selected earlier should change to your custom formatting.
Repeat the previous steps for existing list levels, as necessary.
If you select the Numbering menu arrow,
you can see that your new list number format has been automatically added to the Numbering Library
and it will be available in other documents.
If you want to remove a format from the Numbering Library,
Control-click or right-click it and then select Remove from the shortcut menu.
By default, Word inserts a tab between the list numbers and list items.
Sometimes this tab produces unwanted space when paired with custom list numbers.
However, we can fix the problem by replacing the tab with a regular space.
Before we begin, if you would like to see your formatting marks as shown here,
select the Show/Hide button in the Home tab.
To begin removing the extra space, select a number in the list level with the extra space.
Then, Control-click or right-click the selected list numbers
and then select Bullets and Numbering from the shortcut menu.
When the Bullets and Numbering dialog box appears, select the Outline Numbered tab.
And then select the single number outline style from the Outline Numbered screen.
Alternatively, you can select your customized style if it’s already shown here.
Next, select the Customize button.
In most cases you will have to reenter your custom style by adding the letters, words, or punctuation
before or after the number in the gray shading in the "Enter formatting for number" text box.
As mentioned earlier, be very careful not to delete or alter the number in the gray shading.
If necessary, you can also select the Font button to further change the appearance.
Now, select the expansion arrow at the bottom of the dialog box.
And then select the "Follow number with" menu and choose Space.
Finally, select the OK button.
The tab spaces should be replaced with regular spaces in your numbered list.
If you turned on Show/Hide earlier, you can now reselect it to hide your formatting marks.
And as always, remember to save your file to save your changes.
I have a growing collection of tutorials about Word for Mac including
“How to Turn On & Turn Off Automatic List Numbering in Word for Mac.”
And, “How to Adjust the Space between Words in Word for Mac.”
Please see the complete list in the playlist titled “How to Use Word for Mac”
which is linked in the description box below.
All the steps we just performed are listed with images on erinwrightwriting.com,
along with all my other writing-related software tutorials to help you succeed at work
and in the classroom.
Feel free to leave me a comment if there’s a specific topic
that you would like me to talk about in the future.
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And give this video a thumbs-up if you found it helpful.
Thank you so much for watching!
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