How to use a picture as the bullets in a bulleted list in word

Lori Kaufman is a technology expert with 25 years of experience. She’s been a senior technical writer, worked as a programmer, and has even run her own multi-location business. Read more.

You can customize the bullets on bulleted lists in Word using different symbols and colors. However, what if you want to use your own picture as the bullets on your list? Replacing the standard bullets with pictures is easy and we’ll show you how.

NOTE: We used Word 2016 to illustrate this feature, but this procedure will work in Word 2013 as well.

Highlight the bulleted list for which you want to change the bullets to pictures. Click the down arrow on the “Bullets” button in the “Paragraph” section of the “Home” tab and select “Define New Bullet” from the drop-down menu.

On the “Define New Bullet” dialog box, click “Picture”.

The “Insert Pictures” dialog box displays. You can insert a picture “From a file” on your PC or local network, from a “Bing Image Search”, or from your “OneDrive” account. For this example, we’re going to insert a picture from a file on our PC, so we’ll click “From a file”.

On the “Insert Picture” dialog box, navigate to the folder on your PC (or local network drive) that contains the picture you want to insert. Select the file and click “Insert”.

The “Preview” shows your selected picture being used on a bulleted list.

NOTE: Not all pictures work well as bullets. A simple graphic with a transparent background works best because the picture will be reduced to a very small size.

This page should answer any of the questions you may have about creating different bulleted and numbered lists in Microsoft Word including any advanced lists. This page applies to Microsoft Word 2000, however, other versions of Microsoft Word should have similar steps.

The numbering and bullets button on the formatting toolbar on the top-left of the screen is illustrated above.

• How to create a bullet list in Microsoft Word.
• How to create a numbered list in Microsoft Word.
• How to create a numbered list with letters.
• How to create multiple paragraphs without creating a new bullet or number.
• How to create a bullet list with a numbered list.
• How to create a numbered list with a bulleted list.
• How to change the bullets used or change the appearance of the numbers.

How to create a bullet list in Microsoft Word

To create a bulleted list in Microsoft Word, follow the steps below.

The Microsoft Word keyboard shortcut key to create a bullet is Ctrl + Shift + L .

1. Position the cursor where you want to insert the bullet list.
2. On the Home tab in the Ribbon, click the bullet list button, as shown at the top of the page.
3. If successful, a bullet should appear. Type any text and press Enter to start the next bullet. To end the bullet list, press Enter twice.

Below is an example of a bullet list.

• One bullet
• Two bullet

How to create a numbered list in Microsoft Word

To create a numbered list in Microsoft Word, follow the steps below.

1. Position the cursor where you want to insert the number list.
2. On the Home tab in the Ribbon, click the number list button, as shown at the top of the page.
3. If successful, a number one should appear. Type any text and press Enter to start the next number in the numbered list. To end the numbered list, press Enter twice.

Above is an example of a numbered list.

How to create a numbered list with letters

To create a numbered list that also contains a letter list in Microsoft Word, follow the steps below.

1. Position the cursor where you want to insert the number list.
2. On the Home tab in the Ribbon, click the down arrow next to the number list button.

1. In drop-down window that appears, select one of the numbered list options with letters.
2. Type the text for the first lettered bullet item.
3. Press Enter to add additional lettered bullet items.

Below is an example of a numbered list using letters instead of numbers.

A. First bullet using letter
B. Second bullet using letter
C. Third bullet using letter

To create a numbered list that also contains a letter list in Microsoft Word, follow the steps below.

1. Position the cursor where you want to add a bulleted item using a letter.
2. Press Enter and then Tab .
3. Press Enter again to add additional lettered bullet items.

Below is an example of a numbered list with letters in it.

1. One numbered
2. Two numbered
   a. Two numbered again
   b. Two numbered again
3. Final numbered

How to create multiple paragraphs without creating a new bullet or number

In some situations, you may need to have multiple paragraphs in a numbered or bulleted list. To do this, follow the steps below.

1. Position the cursor where you want to insert the number list.
2. Either click the number button or bullet button (as shown at the beginning of the document) or click Format and then Bullets and Numbering.
3. When you’re ready to insert a new line without creating a new bullet or number, press Shift + Enter .

Below is an example.

1. One numbered.
2. Two numbered.

More text without a number.

How to create a bullet list with a numbered list

To create a numbered list that also contains a letter list in Microsoft Word, follow the steps below.

1. Position the cursor where you want to insert the number list.
2. Either click the bullets button (as shown at the beginning of the document) or click Format and then “Bullets and Numbering. “
3. When ready to insert a numbered list in the bullets, press the bullets button or click Format and then “Bullets and Numbering. “
4. When you need to switch back to bullets, click the numbering button again or click Format and then “Bullets and Numbering. “

How to create a numbered list with a bulleted list

To create a numbered list that also contains a letter list in Microsoft Word, follow the steps below.

1. Position the cursor where you want to insert the number list.
2. Either click the number button (as shown at the beginning of the document) or click Format and then “Bullets and Numbering. “
3. When ready to insert a bullet list in the numbered list, press the numbering button or click Format and then “Bullets and Numbering. “
4. When you need to switch back to the numbered list, click the bullets button again or click Format and then “Bullets and Numbering. “

How to change the bullets used or change the appearance of the numbers

After creating the numbering list or the bullets list, if you need to change the appearance, click Format and then the “Bullets and Numbering. ” option. You can adjust the format through the new Bullets and Numbering window. Below, is an example of what this window may look like in Microsoft Word.

Lori Kaufman is a technology expert with 25 years of experience. She’s been a senior technical writer, worked as a programmer, and has even run her own multi-location business. Read more.

You can customize the bullets on bulleted lists in Word using different symbols and colors. However, what if you want to use your own picture as the bullets on your list? Replacing the standard bullets with pictures is easy and we’ll show you how.

NOTE: We used Word 2016 to illustrate this feature, but this procedure will work in Word 2013 as well.

Highlight the bulleted list for which you want to change the bullets to pictures. Click the down arrow on the “Bullets” button in the “Paragraph” section of the “Home” tab and select “Define New Bullet” from the drop-down menu.

On the “Define New Bullet” dialog box, click “Picture”.

The “Insert Pictures” dialog box displays. You can insert a picture “From a file” on your PC or local network, from a “Bing Image Search”, or from your “OneDrive” account. For this example, we’re going to insert a picture from a file on our PC, so we’ll click “From a file”.

On the “Insert Picture” dialog box, navigate to the folder on your PC (or local network drive) that contains the picture you want to insert. Select the file and click “Insert”.

The “Preview” shows your selected picture being used on a bulleted list.

NOTE: Not all pictures work well as bullets. A simple graphic with a transparent background works best because the picture will be reduced to a very small size.

Custom picture bullets or symbols can add visual interest to a list in Word. If someone sends you a document with a bullet style that you like, you can add the style to the Bullet Library to use again.

Note: You cannot create custom bullets in Word for the web. If you own the desktop version of Word, you can use it to do more with bullets. If not, you can try or buy the latest version of Office now.

The Bullet Library includes symbol and picture bullet styles. If you don’t see the style that you want in the library, you can define a new bullet style.

Click in the list to which you want to add picture bullets or symbols.

To change an entire list level in a multilevel list, click one bullet or number at that level in the list.

On the Home tab, in the Paragraph group, click the arrow next to Bullets, and then click Define New Bullet.

In Word for Windows:

Click Symbol or Picture, and then choose any symbol or picture that you want to use.

In Word 2013 and Word 2016, you can upload a picture file from your computer, search the Internet for a picture, or sign in to insert photos from another location, such as OneDrive or Flickr.

In Word 2007 and Word 2010, you can upload a picture from your computer (click Import), or search for an image, with the option to include content from Office Online.

In Word for Mac:

Click Bullet (for symbols) or Picture (to use a picture file stored on your computer).

Click Insert or OK to preview the new bullet in the Define New Bullet dialog box (Windows) or the Customize Bulleted List dialog box (Mac), and then click OK.

After you create a bulleted item, your new bullet style is available in your Document Bullets list.

If you receive a document with a bullet style that you want to reuse in your own documents, you can add it to your Bullet Library, where it will always be available for use in your documents.

Note: In Word for Mac, custom bullet styles are automatically added to the Bullet Library.

Open the document that contains the bullet that you want to add to your Bullet Library.

On the Home tab, in the Paragraph group, click the arrow next to Bullets, and then under Document Bullets, right-click the bullet style that you want to add to the Bullet Library and click Add to Library.

Note: You cannot remove custom bullet styles from the Bullet Library in Word for Mac. The following applies to Word for Windows only.

On the Home tab, in the Paragraph group, click the arrow next to Bullets, and then under Bullet Library, right-click the bullet style that you want to remove and click Remove.

Any bullets currently being used in a document are always available in the Bullet Library.

If you remove a bullet from the Bullet Library and it is still available in the Document Bullets area, you can easily add the bullet back to the Bullet Library for use in other documents.

Custom picture bullets or symbols can add visual interest to a list in Word. If someone sends you a document with a bullet style that you like, you can add the style to the Bullet Library to use again.

Note: You cannot create custom bullets in Word for the web. If you own the desktop version of Word, you can use it to do more with bullets. If not, you can try or buy the latest version of Office now.

The Bullet Library includes symbol and picture bullet styles. If you don’t see the style that you want in the library, you can define a new bullet style.

Click in the list to which you want to add picture bullets or symbols.

To change an entire list level in a multilevel list, click one bullet or number at that level in the list.

On the Home tab, in the Paragraph group, click the arrow next to Bullets, and then click Define New Bullet.

In Word for Windows:

Click Symbol or Picture, and then choose any symbol or picture that you want to use.

In Word 2013 and Word 2016, you can upload a picture file from your computer, search the Internet for a picture, or sign in to insert photos from another location, such as OneDrive or Flickr.

In Word 2007 and Word 2010, you can upload a picture from your computer (click Import), or search for an image, with the option to include content from Office Online.

In Word for Mac:

Click Bullet (for symbols) or Picture (to use a picture file stored on your computer).

Click Insert or OK to preview the new bullet in the Define New Bullet dialog box (Windows) or the Customize Bulleted List dialog box (Mac), and then click OK.

After you create a bulleted item, your new bullet style is available in your Document Bullets list.

If you receive a document with a bullet style that you want to reuse in your own documents, you can add it to your Bullet Library, where it will always be available for use in your documents.

Note: In Word for Mac, custom bullet styles are automatically added to the Bullet Library.

Open the document that contains the bullet that you want to add to your Bullet Library.

On the Home tab, in the Paragraph group, click the arrow next to Bullets, and then under Document Bullets, right-click the bullet style that you want to add to the Bullet Library and click Add to Library.

Note: You cannot remove custom bullet styles from the Bullet Library in Word for Mac. The following applies to Word for Windows only.

On the Home tab, in the Paragraph group, click the arrow next to Bullets, and then under Bullet Library, right-click the bullet style that you want to remove and click Remove.

Any bullets currently being used in a document are always available in the Bullet Library.

If you remove a bullet from the Bullet Library and it is still available in the Document Bullets area, you can easily add the bullet back to the Bullet Library for use in other documents.

Microsoft Word program is one of the best things that is developed in the Software industry. It is impossible to imagine all the content on the Internet without a helpful word processor like MS Word. Almost every student and working professional use it to get their work done. However, not everyone masters MS Word and get the most out of it unless you know all the secret ingredients in the soup. Today we will see how to use a picture as bullets in MS word instead of just choosing from the predefined bullet list.

Choosing custom pictures as bullets improves the overall quality of your document. It will give your personal touch to the work rather than being along with the crowd. However, it is advised to choose decent quality images as bullets and it is recommended to have transparent backgrounds for a professional look. So, if you have already chosen the picture you want to use as bullets in MS word, let’s get on with the tutorial.

How to Use a Picture as Bullets in MS Word

1. Open MS Word and highlight the bulleted list for which you want to use a picture as bullets.
2. Click the down arrow on the Bullets button in the Paragraph section of the Home tab and select Define New Bullet from the drop-down menu.
   
3. Now you will see the Define New Bullet dialog box, click Picture under the Bullet Character section.
   
4. You’ll have various sources to choose the picture from. For now, let’s choose an image from the local drive by clicking on “From a file.”
   
5. Navigate to the directory where you have the picture you want to insert. Select it and click on Insert.
   
6. You can see the preview of the image in the Define New Bullet dialog box before applying the changes.
   
7. Click OK to save the changes.

Finally, this is how the pictured bullets look like in your word document.

So, aren’t pictured bullets look great than the plain old regular bullets? I’d bet you won’t opt for regular bullets from here on.

You can customize the appearance of a list by defining your own numbered, bulleted, and multilevel lists. Once you customize them, you can save those settings as a style and use it again and again.

What would you like to do?

Define a new bullet

Do any of the following:

Change the bullet to a symbol

Select the text or bulleted list you want to change.

On the Home tab, in the Paragraph group, click the arrow next to Bulleted List , and then click Define New Bullet.

Click Symbol and then click the symbol you want to use.

Change a bullet to a picture

Select the text or bulleted list you want to change.

On the Home tab, in the Paragraph group, click the arrow next to Bulleted List , and then click Define New Bullet.

Click Picture and then browse for your picture from a file or Bing Image Search.

Review what the picture bullets will look like and click OK to add it or change the picture by repeating steps 3-5.

Change the bullet font

Select the text or bulleted list you want to change.

On the Home tab, in the Paragraph group, click the arrow next to Bulleted List , and then click Define New Bullet.

Click Font and then change the font properties to be used for the bullet. You can choose settings on the Font tab or Advanced tab:

Change the bullet font, style, size, color, underline style, underline color, and effects.

Change the bullet font character spacing and OpenType features.

Change the bullet alignment

Select the text or bulleted list you want to change.

On the Home tab, in the Paragraph group, click the arrow next to Bulleted List , and then click Define New Bullet.

Under alignment, choose Left, Centered, or Right.

Define a new number format

Select the text or numbered list you want to change.

On the Home tab, in the Paragraph group, click the arrow next to Numbered List , and then click Define New Number Format.

To change the style, click the down arrow next to Number style and choose numbers, letters, or another chronological format.

To change the font size, style, and color, click Font and choose a setting on the Font tab or Advanced tab:.

Change the bullet font, style, size, color, underline style, underline color, and effects.

Change the bullet font character spacing and OpenType features.

To append the numbering with a dash, parentheses, or another value, enter it in the Number format field.

To change the number alignment, choose Left, Centered, or Right under Alignment.

Define a new multilevel list

Select the text or numbered list you want to change.

On the Home tab, in the Paragraph group, click the arrow next to Multilevel List , and then click Define New Multilevel List.

Expand the Multilevel list dialog box by clicking More in the lower left corner.

Choose the list level to modify by selecting it in the list. 1 is selected by default.

Choose where you would like to apply your changes by clicking Whole list, This point forward, or Current paragraph.

To use an existing style in Word for each level in the list, choose a style under Link level to style.

Choose the number to show in the gallery. Level 1 is shown by default.

Give the multilevel list a name in the ListNum field list name. This name will appear wherever you see the Listnum field.

To append the numbered list with a dash, parentheses, or another value, enter it in the Number format field.

To change the font size, style, and color, click Font and choose a setting on the Font tab or Advanced tab:.

Change the bullet font, style, size, color, underline style, underline color, and effects.

Change the bullet font character spacing and OpenType features.

To change the style, click the down arrow next to Number style and choose numbers, letters, or another chronological format. Specify a level number to include this from.

Choose the number to start the list at. The default value is 1. To restart numbering after a specific level, select the Restart List After check box and choose a level in the list.

Select Legal Style Numbering to enforce a legal style on the multilevel list.

To change the number alignment, choose Left, Centered, or Right under Alignment

Specify a value for where to start the alignment and a value for the text indent.

To apply these values to the entire list, choose Set for All Levels.

Enter a value for what should follow each number, Tab character, Space, or Nothing. Check Add tab stop at and enter a value.

Define a new list style

Select the text or numbered list you want to change.

On the Home tab, in the Paragraph group, click the arrow next to Multilevel List , and then click Define New List Style.

Specify a name for your new list style.

Choose the number to start the list at. The default value is 1.

Choose a level in the list to apply your formatting.

Specify the font face, size, and color for the list style.

Change the down arrow to change the style of the numbered list or bulleted list.

Choose a symbol for the list.

Choose an image for the list.

Choose to move the indent to the left or the right.

Choose to apply these changes to Only in this document or New documents based on this template.

To change more formatting settings, click Format and choose Font, Numbering, Text effects, and so forth.

Turn off automatic numbering for lists

Use one of the following methods, as appropriate for the version of Word you’re using:

Word 2016, Word 2013, or Word 2010

Select File, and then from the left pane, select Options.

Click the Microsoft Office button, and then select Word Options.

In the Word Options dialog, in the left pane, select Proofing.

In the right pane, under AutoCorrect options, select AutoCorrect Options.

Select the AutoFormat As You Type tab.

Under Apply as you type, clear the Automatic numbered lists check box, and then select OK.

In my last tutorial, we looked at how to create bulleted lists in Microsoft Word. Today, we’re going to create custom bullets in Microsoft Word using built-in font symbols and using your own images. At the end, we will also remove custom bullets from the Bullets Library.

Quick Links:

This tutorial is also available as a YouTube video showing all the steps in real time.

Watch more than 100 other videos about Microsoft Word and Adobe Acrobat on my YouTube channel.

The images below are from Word for Microsoft 365. The steps are similar for Word 2019, Word 2016, Word 2013, and Word 2010. However, your interface may look slightly different in those older versions of the software.

How to Use Symbols to Create Custom Bullets

Important note: Symbols are part of font files, so the symbols available to you will depend on the fonts installed on your computer.

1. Select the Home tab in the ribbon.

Figure 1. Home tab

1. Select the Bullets menu arrow in the Paragraph group.

Figure 2. Bullets menu arrow

1. Select Define New Bullet from the drop-down menu.

Figure 3. Define New Bullet option

1. Select the Symbol button in the Define New Bullet dialog box.

Figure 4. Symbol button

1. Select the font containing the symbol you want to use from the Font menu in the Symbol dialog box.

For this example, I choose Webdings. Other good choices include the Wingdings, Wingdings 2, Wingdings 3, and Symbols fonts.

Figure 5. Font menu

1. Choose the character or symbol you want from the menu.

Figure 6. Symbol menu

1. Select the OK button to close the Symbol dialog box.

Figure 7. Symbol OK button

Optional Steps: Change the Color and Size of Bullets Made from Symbols

1. Select the Font button in the Define New Bullet dialog box.

Figure 8. Font button

1. Choose a new color and size from the Font dialog box.

Figure 9. Font color and size menus

1. Select the OK button to close the Font dialog box.

Figure 10. Font OK Button

1. Select the OK button to close the Define New Bullet dialog box.

Figure 11. Define New Bullet OK button

The first custom symbol bullet will appear in your document. Continue to create your bulleted list as you normally would.

Figure 12. Example of custom symbol buttons

How to Use Images to Create Custom Bullets

You can use your own images to create custom bullets in Word. However, simpler images work better than complex images because complex images may become unrecognizable when they are scaled down to become bullets.

1. Select the Home tab in the ribbon (see figure 1).
2. Select the Bullets menu arrow in the Paragraph group (see figure 2).
3. Select Define New Bullet from the drop-down menu (see figure 3).
4. Select the Picture button in the Define New Bullet dialog box.

Figure 13. Picture button

1. Select From a file in the Insert Picture dialog box.

Alternatively, you can choose Bing Image Search if you want to search for an image online or OneDrive if your image is stored in the cloud.

The dialog box will close automatically after you make your selection.

Figure 14. Insert Picture dialog box

1. Navigate to and select the image in the second Insert Picture dialog box.
2. Select the Insert button.

Figure 15. Insert button

Your image will appear in the Preview section of the Define New Bullet dialog box.

1. Select the OK button to close the Define New Bullet dialog box (see figure 11).

The first custom image bullet will appear in your document. Continue to create your bulleted list as you normally would.

How to Remove Custom Bullets from the Bullet Library

After creating a custom bullet with a symbol or image, it will appear in your Bullet Library. You can remove unneeded bullets from the Bullet Library, as necessary.

1. Select the Home tab in the ribbon (see figure 1).
2. Select the Bullets menu arrow in the Paragraph group (see figure 2).
3. Right-click the unneeded bullet in the Bullet Library and select Remove from the menu.

Figure 16. Remove bullet option

After you close and reopen Word, the bullet should also be removed from the Recently Used Bullets section.

Microsoft Word hides tons of customization options under its simple interface, and you often have to dig a bit to use it at its full potential. For example, normally you just see a few bullet styles for creating a bullet list, but did you know that you can access thousands of styles or even create interactive checkboxes to customize your bullet list? Furthermore, you are also able to add custom pictures from your local storage to make your bullet list even more attractive.

You can use your company’s logo, a custom pointer or even your own photo as bullets. Whatever your intentions are, if you are looking to customize your bullet lists with custom pictures, then we are here to help. Today we will show you two methods to add pictures as bullets.

1. Define a New Bullet

You can use Word’s “Define New Bullet” option to add a new bullet in your bullet library. The newly created bullet will be added in your list of bullets that can be accessed anytime using the same bullet list drop-down menu. Here is how to add it.

Click on the upside down arrow next to the bullet list button to open “Bullet Library.” Here you will see all the bullet styles that are in your library. Below it you will find the option of “Define New Bullet…” Click on it.

A new dialog will open up. Here click on “Picture,” and you will see lots of colorful bullets which you can use for free.

However, you are looking to add a custom picture, so you will need to click on the “Import…” button in the same dialog, and choose any picture from your local storage to add as a bullet.

You can choose more than one pictures if you want, and all of them will be added in the picture gallery. Now just select the one you want to use and click on “OK” to “Preview” it in the “Define New Bullet” dialog. Once you are comfortable with your choice, click on “OK” again to apply the bullet to your document.

You can start adding text next to the bullet and press “Enter” to move to the next line, and the same bullet will be applied.

The custom bullet you just added will also be added to your Bullet library which you can access anytime you want.

2. Resize a Picture

If the above method seems a bit complicated or you want to quickly add a picture as a bullet, then the following method will help. If you manage to resize any picture in Word to the size of a bullet, then it will be automatically treated as a bullet. Let’s see how we can do that.

Note: Although this method is faster, it will not add the used picture to your bullet library. Once you are done with the document, you will not be able to find that custom bullet in Word. This method is only good when you are not planning to use the same custom bullet again.

Take any picture in your document, or upload a picture in your document using the “Picture” option inside the “Insert” tab. Now, click on the picture to enable the resize option, grab the picture from any of the four corners, and drag it diagonally to the other side to size it down.

Try to reduce its size to as close to a bullet as possible, but don’t worry; you don’t need to be exact about the size, as Word will automatically resize it to a bullet size when you press “Enter.”

Once resized, click next to the picture to add text, and press “Enter” when you are done to automatically create a bullet list.

Conclusion

Both of the methods mentioned above can be handy in different situations. If you want a custom bullet that you would like to use in the future as well, then the first method will be a good choice. However, if you just want to quickly add a picture as a bullet, then the second method will work great. Let us know in the comments if you know any other cool Word bullet list tricks.

Karrar is drenched in technology and always fiddles with new tech opportunities. He has a bad habit of calling technology “Killer”, and doesn’t feel bad about spending too much time in front of the PC. If he is not writing about technology, you will find him spending quality time with his little family.

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