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ragamuffin92
Participating Frequently
May 11, 2026
Question

How can I disable automatic lists in Elements 2026?

  • May 11, 2026
  • 5 replies
  • 76 views

I have Elements 2026 for Mac, and in Preferences > Type, I don’t see an option to disable automatic lists (my only choices are for Smart Quotes, Placeholder Text, Asian Text Options, Missing Glyph Protection, Font Names in English, and Font Preview size). Please help!

      5 replies

      demirosman
      demirosman
      Participant
      May 12, 2026

      In Elements 2026 for Mac, automatic list formatting is not controlled under Preferences > Type — it is handled differently.

      Try this:

      Go to Edit menu → Preferences → General and look for auto-correction or text formatting options there.

      If not available, the quickest workaround is to start your line with a space before typing the hyphen or number — this prevents Elements from triggering automatic list detection.

      Alternatively, after the list format applies automatically, immediately press Cmd + Z to undo just the formatting while keeping your text intact.

      If none of these work, this may be a feature limitation in Elements 2026 compared to full Photoshop — worth submitting as a feature request directly to Adobe or discuss again.

      Wally Editing Service — With You from Concept to Completion Editing | Graphic Design | Web Design | SEO Writing | Free Tools 🌐 www.wallyeditingservice.com
        R
        ragamuffin92Author
        Participating Frequently
        May 13, 2026

        Thanks so much for the useful suggestions, ​@demirosman 

        Glenn 8675309
        Glenn 8675309
        Legend
        May 12, 2026

        I had no problems doing it.  I just manually numbered stuff.   

        Perhaps you need to reset your tools upon next launch:  it’s in your preference file under the General tab for the editor. 

          R
          ragamuffin92Author
          Participating Frequently
          May 12, 2026

          I reset the text tool and restarted the app, but PSE still adds their own numbers automatically  every time I hit return and start to type.

          BUT I did discover that if I type all the text first, and then go back to the top and type numbers where I want them, that seems to work. I just can’t believe that Adobe doesn’t give us the option to disable their auto-numbering feature, or whatever it’s called. Thank you again, ​@Glenn 8675309 for your input.

            Jeff Arola
            Community Expert
            Jeff ArolaCommunity Expert
            Community Expert
            May 12, 2026

            Since at present there is no preference or setting in Photoshop Elements 2026 to turn off auto-numbered/bulleted lists, the workaround, just like it was in Photoshop when the feature was first being implemented, was to put a space before typing the number, then backspace the number and type the next line.

             

             

             

              R
              ragamuffin92Author
              Participating Frequently
              May 12, 2026

              Huh! I’ll give it a shot, thanks for the tip, ​@Jeff Arola . They don’t call me “Wally Work-Around” for nothiog.

              Greg_S.
              Community Expert
              Greg_S.Community Expert
              Community Expert
              May 11, 2026

              I don’t know anything about Macs but I don’t think you are missing any options in Elements. 

              I assume you are talking about copy & pasting a text list into a type layer. Have you tried pasting into a plain text editor and then copy & pasting into Elements? 

                R
                ragamuffin92Author
                Participating Frequently
                May 12, 2026

                Thanks for responding. I was trying to type a numbered list as part od a PSD image I was working on, and since some of the sentences were long, I had to hit return at the edge so the text didn’t run off the page. But PSE placed a number at the beginning of the following lines. For example, I wanted to do this:

                1. The quick brown fox jumped over the

                lazy dog on Tuesday.

                1. On Wednesday, he chased a cat. [The indentation is not from me]

                But what I PSE gave me was:

                1. The quick brown fox jumped over the
                2. lazy dog on Tuesday.
                3. On Wednesday, he chased a cat

                I want to do the numbering myself, since the app has no idea what I’m attempting to do, so I’m looking for a way to disable the automatic numbering feature in the app, but I can’t find that option in settings.

                Glenn 8675309
                Glenn 8675309
                Legend
                May 11, 2026

                Automatic  lists of what exactly?  

                  R
                  ragamuffin92Author
                  Participating Frequently
                  May 12, 2026

                  Thanks for respond, Glenn 8675309. I was typing a numbered list in a PSD image using the type tool. The first sentence in list item 1 was too long to fit on a single line, but when I hit the return key to continue the sentence on the next line, PSE automatically inserted a *2.* at the beginning of that line, even though it was a continuation of the first sentence, not a new list item. And I couldn’t find a way to disable PSE’s auto numbering tool.

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