The Auto-Formatting Interruption
When you are typing in Microsoft Word, you might occasionally start a line with an asterisk (*), a hyphen (-), or a number followed by a full stop (1.). As soon as you press the spacebar, Word automatically assumes you are trying to create a list, abruptly shifting your text to the right, inserting a bullet point or numbered list format, and altering your paragraph spacing. If you are just trying to use a hyphen for a sub-heading or write a specific mathematical notation, this aggressive auto-formatting is incredibly frustrating to constantly undo.
How to Disable Automatic Bulleted and Numbered Lists
You can turn off Word’s automatic list detection entirely by modifying the AutoFormat settings.
1. Open Microsoft Word.
2. Click on the File tab in the top-left corner.
3. Click Options at the bottom of the left-hand menu.
4. In the Word Options window, select Proofing from the left sidebar.
5. Click the AutoCorrect Options… button on the right side.
6. A new dialogue box will open. Click on the AutoFormat As You Type tab at the top.
7. Look in the “Apply as you type” section.
8. Untick the checkboxes labelled Automatic bulleted lists and Automatic numbered lists.
9. Click OK to close the AutoCorrect window, and then click OK again to save the Word Options.
Creating Lists Manually
From now on, Word will simply treat asterisks and hyphens as normal text characters, exactly as you type them. When you actually want to create a formatted list, you can do so manually. Simply highlight the text you want to format, navigate to the Home tab on the ribbon, and click the Bulleted List or Numbered List icons in the Paragraph section.