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Old 11-23-2015, 03:36 PM
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Unhappy Backspace Deletes Bullet Points

I have a problem that a lot of people have been having for a long time, but for which I've never been able to find a solution.



Ordinarily, on Microsoft Word, if you're working with a bulleted list, hitting the tab key will indent the current bullet forward one level, and hitting the backspace key while the cursor is at the front of the bullet will de-indent the current bullet backward one level.

Sometimes, for reasons I do not understand, this feature will turn off, and hitting backspace will instead delete the bullet point. Once it does turn off, even closing the document and re-opening will not correct the problem, nor will the obvious fix of making sure the "Set left and first indent with tabs and backspaces" Autocorrect option is turned on.

The closest thing to a "fix" is to start using shift + tab instead of backspace, but that's inconvenient if you've been using backspace for your entire typing career, and of course, logically speaking if this is a setting you can turn off, it should possible to turn it back on.

Any and all help would be greatly appreciated.
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Old 11-24-2015, 07:03 AM
JimP JimP is offline Backspace Deletes Bullet Points Windows 10 Backspace Deletes Bullet Points Office 2013
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This is probably more than you want but:

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Originally Posted by HochDeutsch View Post
Ordinarily, on Microsoft Word, if you're working with a bulleted list, hitting the tab key will indent the current bullet forward one level, and hitting the backspace key while the cursor is at the front of the bullet will de-indent the current bullet backward one level.
One fix is to use "styles" to define your bullet settings then you don't have to worry about indenting and/or backspacing to remove indents. Matter of fact, using "styles" for the complete document would be recommended:

Understanding Styles in Microsoft Word
Tips for Understanding Styles in Word | ShaunaKelly.com
Why use Microsoft Word’s built-in heading styles? | ShaunaKelly.com

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but that's inconvenient if you've been using backspace for your entire typing career
Sometimes, learning the tricks of the trade can be for the better...Hope this helps.
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Old 11-24-2015, 10:56 AM
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One fix is to use "styles" to define your bullet settings then you don't have to worry about indenting and/or backspacing to remove indents.
I do like that better than just switching to shift + tab, since I've been meaning to get into styles for some time.

But I still feel like it must be possible to just toggle this setting. I can't believe that computers would become so inefficient as to not have an off-on button for a setting that, based on the view counts in the topics I linked to, thousands of users have come to rely upon.

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Sometimes, learning the tricks of the trade can be for the better...
Granted. And it may be that that is what I have to do, and it may be that I would be better off for doing so. But I would at least like to confirm that before I proceed, if not for me than for the sake of posterity.

If it's true that there is no way to turn this setting back on, I at least want to be told as much.
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Old 11-24-2015, 11:12 AM
JimP JimP is offline Backspace Deletes Bullet Points Windows 10 Backspace Deletes Bullet Points Office 2013
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Originally Posted by HochDeutsch View Post
Granted. And it may be that that is what I have to do, and it may be that I would be better off for doing so. But I would at least like to confirm that before I proceed, if not for me than for the sake of posterity.

If it's true that there is no way to turn this setting back on, I at least want to be told as much.
Understood. I have not come across this particular issue (probably because I use styles exclusively) so I do not have an immediate solution but, I will continue to research the issue. Hopefully, another user may be able to help you out before then.

//UPDATE// I just went back and reviewed your referenced links from your initial post and found the posts within those links to be a few years old. With the latest comments of those responding to those post being from MSWord MVPs (subject matter experts...IMO) and indicating the use of the backspace key being unreliable in MSWord, I would be inclined to believe that as gospel. Therefore, I would suggest the use of styles as mentioned in my above post.
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Old 11-24-2015, 12:38 PM
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What is the setting for "Set left and first indent with tabs and backspaces"? The behavior with backspacing changes depending on whether that option is selected or not.
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Old 11-24-2015, 01:25 PM
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Understood. I have not come across this particular issue (probably because I use styles exclusively) so I do not have an immediate solution but, I will continue to research the issue. Hopefully, another user may be able to help you out before then.
Thank you, and thank you for all your help with this.

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Originally Posted by Stefan Blom View Post
What is the setting for "Set left and first indent with tabs and backspaces"? The behavior with backspacing changes depending on whether that option is selected or not.
It is checked as "on". But I have tried switching it to "off", and then back "on" again. Neither worked.

Quote:
Originally Posted by JimP View Post
//UPDATE// I just went back and reviewed your referenced links from your initial post and found the posts within those links to be a few years old. With the latest comments of those responding to those post being from MSWord MVPs (subject matter experts...IMO) and indicating the use of the backspace key being unreliable in MSWord, I would be inclined to believe that as gospel.
Yes, I saw that too, and I was worried that that might mean there was no way to toggle the setting back on. But the MVPs' responses were vague as to whether it was impossible to turn the setting back on or just not worth it (because the setting would tend to become shut off again erratically), which is why I came here to look for further assistance.

Since users seem to have this problem very frequently, I thought it might be good to try to settle the question definitively with some more recent responses (since, as you said, some of those posts are quite old), so that when future users go searching for a fix they will see once and for all that there is none.

It's unfortunate, but it's still good to know rather than to waste time looking for a solution that does not exist.

Again, thank you for your help with this.
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