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ashimg23377171
Inspiring
October 12, 2017
Answered

Issues with indentation in Bullets and Numbering

  • October 12, 2017
  • 5 replies
  • 26474 views

Hello

I've been facing issues with indentation of bullets. The foll is an example. The text on the second line of the bullet does not align with the first line.

I've been able to get it to work sometimes by ensuring that the 'left indent' and 'first line indent' negate each other... but im clearly missing sthg... for that approach doesn't work always, as in this case where the second line is aligning almost with this first line... however, the bullet has been bumped to the left margin... and trying to change the 'tab position' just doesn't help.

Any guidance on the right workflow for this would be appreciated.

Regards

    This topic has been closed for replies.
    Correct answer Barb Binder

    Oh hello!

    winterm is correct when he says your tab should be equal to the left indent. Here's a little more info:

    1. Use the left indent to set up the left side of the entire bullet paragraph.
    2. Use a negative right indent first line indent to pull the bullet back out towards the margin—partway or all the way
    3. Use the left indent value for your tab position (or leave it blank and it will default to the left indent value)

    So if the left indent is 18 pt, set the tab to 18 pts or leave it blank:

    (I prefer to measure in points. In your case both should be 0.3125")

    5 replies

    LyrJet
    LyrJet
    Participant
    November 9, 2021

    I was having issues with this as well. I would get my alignment for my nested numbered list set perfectly, but then when I moved into double digit numbers, it got wonky. The solution ended up being a combination of the responses here plus selecting "Alignment: Right." Finally, I'm all set!

    N
    Nike T
    Participant
    August 27, 2018

    Followed winterm​'s advice and looked for the culprit elsewhere. Turned out it was a rectangle shape with wrapping around the boundary box that I'd placed next to the text box. Once I moved it away from the text box a little bit, the alignment was fixed. Thanks! Was driving me nuts and I've got a deadline.

    Barb Binder
    Community Expert
    Barb BinderCommunity ExpertCorrect answer
    Community Expert
    October 12, 2017

    Oh hello!

    winterm is correct when he says your tab should be equal to the left indent. Here's a little more info:

    1. Use the left indent to set up the left side of the entire bullet paragraph.
    2. Use a negative right indent first line indent to pull the bullet back out towards the margin—partway or all the way
    3. Use the left indent value for your tab position (or leave it blank and it will default to the left indent value)

    So if the left indent is 18 pt, set the tab to 18 pts or leave it blank:

    (I prefer to measure in points. In your case both should be 0.3125")

    ~Barb at Rocky Mountain Training
      ashimg23377171
      ashimg23377171Author
      Inspiring
      October 13, 2017

      Thanks v much, everyone for weighing in.

      I got it to work.

        J
        Community Expert
        Jeffrey_SmithCommunity Expert
        Community Expert
        October 12, 2017

        Your settings should look like this:

        S
        SJRiegel
        Legend
        October 12, 2017

        Or you can leave the Tab Position blank. The first line indent (In InDesign) also functions as a tab stop, so it's not needed unless you want your tab to fall to the left of the indent. 

          winterm
          winterm
          Legend
          October 12, 2017

          Your Tab Position should be equal to Left Indent. That's it.

          ashimg23377171
          ashimg23377171Author
          Inspiring
          October 12, 2017

          Thank you, but im afraid that doesn't work.

          S
          SJRiegel
          Legend
          October 12, 2017

          That’s the way Bullets and Numbering in InDesign works. If it doesn’t for you, look for the culprit somewhere else. I’d begin with applying standard bullets to a clean unformatted text, and see how it behave. If your styles are really ok, maybe there’s a minor file corruption and it’s worth to try trashing your prefs (yes, I hate offering this ).


          If it's file corruption (specific to this one file), trashing prefs is not the answer, but saving the file as IDML might help.

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