Thunder clapped, not from the sky but from the projector as your bullets staggered across the screen like tipsy em-dashes. I caught them, dragged them into formation, and whispered: behave—because chaos is cancelled and you’re getting your list life together.
✅ Executive snapshot
- Bold, consistent lists in any app by controlling spacing, styles, and paste hygiene; no more mystery indents.
- Markdown: stick to a predictable indent scheme and use a tested snippet; Teams, GitHub, and SharePoint will stop arguing.
- Word/Outlook: define a custom multilevel list tied to styles; bullets won’t wander off mid-meeting.
- Web/Confluence/SharePoint: add a list reset and a predictable scale via CSS classes; editors stop “helping.”
- Accessibility: semantic lists, short lines, and clear hierarchy; screen readers say thank you.
- Copy-paste discipline: Paste as plain text, reformat with your template, and your bullets will stop importing baggage.
🥊 The stand-up that went sideways
Picture it: Monday morning stand-up, caffeine holding the team together better than our bullet formatting. I hit Enter in Teams to add a sub-point and—boom—my bullet sprints left like it owes margin a debt. My work besty, Jai, shot me a look that said, “fight back.” So I opened the code block tool, typed out our thoughts, and suddenly the bullets stood to attention like they’d had a leadership retreat.
Actionable advice
- Use code or preformat mode in chat for in-flight structure:
- In Teams: use “Format” > Code, or indent with two spaces for sub-bullets.
- In Slack: add two spaces before child bullets. - Keep bullets short and parallel:
- Start each with a verb and keep similar length to avoid uneven wrap. - For live demos, draft bullets in a plain-text editor first, paste, then adjust:
- This removes invisible formatting Teams picks up from Word or web pages.
Validation: Narrative leads to Teams-specific advice; Markdown format clean.
🧭 Markdown that never drifts (Teams, GitHub, SharePoint)
It was 4:59 pm, five minutes to board pack deadline, and our Markdown list turned to spaghetti in SharePoint Preview. I threw in a “calm down” breath, rewrote the bullets with a strict indent scheme, and—hallelujah—the preview finally matched production.
🔧 A cross-platform Markdown snippet that just works
Use hyphens for bullets and two spaces to indent child lists. Avoid mixed bullets and mixed indent widths.
Example:
Rules that matter
- Prefer “-” bullets; some renderers treat “*” as emphasis if spacing is sloppy.
- Keep indentation consistent:
- Two spaces before child bullets works in Teams, GitHub, and most SharePoint Markdown renderers. - Leave a blank line before and after lists when embedding in other elements (quotes, code, tables).
- For numbered lists, add two spaces after the dot to avoid the accidental code block in some renderers:
- Example: `1. Do the thing`
Validation: Scene demonstrates misrendering; code and rules align to Teams/GitHub/SharePoint; Markdown valid.
🧱 Word and Outlook: tame the multilevel beast
I watched a colleague summon a numbered list in Outlook; level 2 suddenly decided to become Roman numerals, and level 3 vanished into an existential crisis. Fine. We’re not hand-wrangling lists anymore—we’re defining them.
🗂️ Define and lock a custom multilevel list (Word)
Narrative: Friday, end of sprint, my doc was dressed like a clown—each copy-paste changed bullet style. I nuked the randomness with a proper style set and it’s stayed elegant ever since.
Do this once per template, then reuse:
- Create the styles:
- Home > Styles > New Style
- Name: “List Bullet”, “List Bullet 2”, “List Bullet 3”
- Style type: Paragraph
- Based on: Normal (not another list style) - Link styles to a Multilevel List:
- Home > Multilevel List > Define New Multilevel List
- Level 1: Bullet “•”, Link level to style: List Bullet, Aligned at: 0.63 cm, Text indent: 1.27 cm
- Level 2: Bullet “–” (en dash), Link to: List Bullet 2, Aligned at: 1.27 cm, Text indent: 1.90 cm
- Level 3: Bullet “▪”, Link to: List Bullet 3, Aligned at: 1.90 cm, Text indent: 2.54 cm - Save in the template:
- File > Save As > Word Template (.dotx)
Fast use:
- Apply “List Bullet” style for level 1; Tab to go deeper; Shift+Tab to go up.
- If Outlook misbehaves, paste as “Keep Text Only” then apply styles.
Validation: Narrative leads to stable list styles; steps are Word-accurate; Markdown clean.
✉️ Outlook specifics that stop bullet wobble
I once pasted a pristine Word list into Outlook and watched it pick up random spacing from a colleague’s signature block. Felt personal. Here’s the fix.
- Compose in Plain Text for structure, then switch to HTML if needed.
- When pasting: use “Paste Special > Keep Text Only,” then format bullets with Outlook’s list tool.
- Avoid deep nesting in emails (accessibility and client rendering):
- Maximum two levels; beyond that, restructure content or use headings. - Disable Autocorrect for “Automatic bulleted lists” when you need manual control:
- File > Options > Mail > Editor Options > Proofing > AutoCorrect Options > AutoFormat As You Type.
Validation: Story maps to Outlook paste quirks; guidance is specific; Markdown valid.
🧪 Web and Confluence: consistent bullets with CSS reset
The intranet homepage had bullets practically hugging the viewport edge like koalas on a gum tree. Cute, but unusable. I added a tiny list reset and—snap—order restored.
🎯 The CSS that ends indent roulette
Add a baseline and scale for lists. Apply a class to constrain behaviour where the editor is “helpful.”
Practical moves
- Wrap content with a class (e.g., “prose”); never apply hard resets to the global “ul/ol” if your CMS uses components.
- In Confluence:
- Use the “Paragraph” style before starting lists.
- Avoid mixing indent buttons with keyboard tabs; choose one method.
- When pasting, use “Paste and Match Style” to ditch rogue margins. - In SharePoint Modern pages:
- Use a Text web part; set “Paragraph” and list using the editor buttons.
- If bullets appear tight or too wide, add a Section > Layout > One column and reduce padding via Theme or custom CSS in a SPFx web part (if allowed).
Validation: Scene to CSS reset to editor behaviours; code compiles; Markdown valid.
🧬 HTML email: lists that don’t fracture in Outlook
We’ve all seen it: beautiful email proof in the browser, then Outlook 2016 eats the bullets like it’s a taster menu. I built a content block that behaves in the wild.
🧩 Bullet block for HTML email
Minimal, cautious CSS, inline where possible.
Advice that saves hours
- Use inline styles for Margin/padding on UL/LI; Outlook ignores many embedded styles.
- Avoid custom bullet characters via images; they break on dark mode and high DPI.
- If you must