AutoFormat Fails to Assign List Bullet Style

• Microsoft Word for Windows, version 6.0

SYMPTOMS

Word's AutoFormat feature fails to assign the List Bullet style to partially selected paragraphs. The bullet attribute remains on the paragraph, but the style does not change.

WORKAROUND

Do not select partial paragraphs. If you want to AutoFormat the entire bulleted list, select the entire list, including all paragraph marks, before you choose the AutoFormat command. This will ensure the correct styles and formats are assigned. (If no text is selected, AutoFormat formats the entire document.)

MORE INFORMATION

The AutoFormat feature automatically assigns styles to formatted text. This ensures consistency of documents and allows the quick changing of styles through the Style Gallery.

When you create a bulleted list, your lines of bulleted text will still have the Normal style (or the previously attached style) attached to them. If you select these bulleted paragraphs and choose AutoFormat from the Format menu, the style for these paragraphs will change to List Bullet.

The advantage to formatting these paragraphs as List Bullet is that the List Bullet style is contained in most of the supplied templates. If a new template is attached to the document, the List Bullet style may change and all paragraphs assigned the List Bullet style will change accordingly.

REFERENCES

"Microsoft Word User's Guide," version 6.0, pages 167-169