How do I add bullet points to text in Illustrator?

[Sarah16]

Is there anyway to add Bullet Points to Text in Illustrator?

Other than using the trusty hyphen or drawing small circles.

Thanks

[Jesseham-jc1rvC]

Option-8 on the mac.  Not sure on the pc.  There's always the glyphs panel (type->glyphs)

[ClearAccess]

Thanks the Option 8 really helped. You saved me!

[jargonis26]

Alt-7 on PC places a bullet. No need for Alt-0149. This is only if you plan to place one bullet at a time manually. Otherwise you can use the Tabs feature ( Window >Type > Tabs ) and add a bullet in the "Leader" box.

[Cheryl Williams]

Thanks jargonis26. Was still trying the Alt+0149 until your answer. I can't even begin to tell you my amazement now finding the tabs panel. You are dabomb.com!

[Larry G. Schneider · Accepted solution]

You can have multiple fonts in any piece of text in AI. Use the Glyph panel from the Type menu. Click with the Type tool to create an insertion point and from the Glyph pane, choose a font that has what you want and double-click on the glyph. Then just cpy and paste into the appropriate position in you bulleted list.

[Aarmed-9aWGui]

look up "alt-codes" for windows, or it's Alt-0149

or you can copy paste it •

this is a windows command, not an illustrator command and works accross all programs

also some bunk fonts don't assign alt codes, so it may come out strange

[Harron_K_Appleman]

From points awarded, it would seem the OP uses Mac OS.

However, for Windows users who might be reading this, there is also a shorthand Alt+code for the bullet: Alt+7.

It doesn't work in all applications with all fonts, but it should work in Illustrator with most fonts. It should give you the same character as Alt+0149.

•  (This was entered using Alt+0149.)

•  (This was entered using Alt+7.)

...and just a reminder that, whether you use 0149 or 7, it must be entered via the numeric keypad.

[shunithD]

Harron K. Appleman wrote:

From points awarded, it would seem the OP uses Mac OS.

However, for Windows users who might be reading this, there is also a shorthand Alt+code for the bullet: Alt+7.

An absolute case in point as to why questions should never be marked as answered. If the OP had marked it answered, it's unlikely, i could be wrong, that you would have entered the thread and provided a Windows solution.

Cheers,

SD

PS: There goes my theory! On rechecking, i see that an earlier reply was marked as anwered! Oh well...

[Harron_K_Appleman]

I never pay attention to any of that stuff, SD.

I don't want to go too far OT here, but I'd gladly trade away this unanswered/answered and points nonsense for a well-maintained Illustrator FAQ and some mechanism that forces OPs to identify OS, OS version, and Illustrator version before they can start a thread.

[Jesseham-jc1rvC]

That and functional, useable search! </OT>

[JETalmage]

...I'd gladly trade away this unanswered/answered and points nonsense...

I agree completely. In fact, "trading" it for nothing would constitute an improvement.

As often as otherwise, the supposed "answer" is not best-practice—or worse. The whole "points" thing is just infantile.

JET

[Sarah16]

Wow,

Sorry to disappoint anyone.  I use Windows XP, Illustrator CS version 11.0.0, and for those interested, I'm in New Zealand (just in case time difference makes any difference here - eg response times).

I awarded the first person the points based on the way I did it.  Choosing fonts was also another very good option, instead 'lazy' me went with Type > Glyphs.

You may also have noticed that I've got less that 5 posts to my name, so just a newbie around here.

Having said all that, you guys are a fountain of knowledge, and I'm enjoying learning so much from this forum.

Again, sorry if I left out information.

Cheers,

Sarah

[Harron_K_Appleman]

Sorry to disappoint anyone.

You have nothing to be sorry about, Sarah. (Well... OK... You might have gotten some more platform-specific answers up front had you mentioned your OS in your original post, but your omission actually made this a good refresher topic for both Mac and Windows users.)

The thread ended up being an opportunity for some of us to vent about the structure and features of this forum. It's an ongoing thing... nothing to do with your question.

[M_Jay_Victor]

hell i forgot about alt 7 years ago, was a good read for me!!:)

[MikeGondek]

There are also 2 bullets in most of the opentype fonts. Sometimes I like the fat one better, but have to use baseline shift to vertically center that one. Too bad Illustrator on Windows cannot use Alt 8, it works on Adobe InDesign for Windows though.

[Glen Charles Rowell]

You can also copy and paste character if you like

・

[Mordy_Golding]

If you're trying to create a bulleted list with hanging indents, this article will help: http://rwillustrator.blogspot.com/2006/12/ask-mordy-hanging-indents.html

Mordy

[Jacob Bugge]

What kept you so long, Mordy?

You have missed a rather conspicuous  rift in the timespace continuum.

So have I, unfortunately.

[Mordy_Golding]

Jacob, I'm sure you're familiar with the famous John Lennon lyrics: "Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans"...

Or you could just say I slipped into a wormhole and somehow found my way back

Mordy

[inn0v4te]

I use the option mentioned in this article you posted as well along with another tweak... using the "leader" option of the "tabs" settings in the "paragraph style options"

I created a new "bullets" paragraph style,

Then in "Indents & spacing",

left indent to 9pt

first line indent: -9pt

space after: 3pt

Then in "tabs"

set a new tab with...

alignment: left

X: 20px

Leader: •

(paste a bullet or glyph bullet into the leader box)

I like this method because all I have to do for bullets is apply that style and hit tab. (note: be careful with the X value for the tab because larger numbers will cause the leader to repeat)  This is also only really good for non-nested bullet lists)

[cesaralopez]

inn0v4te This is a really nice solution. Thanks for the post, however, pasting a Glyph (I tested with a Zapf Dingbat character) did not work. The glyph character shows up blank. Are you able to successfully place such a glyph into the Leader box?

[Matt McFaul]

In addition to option 8 for the bullet point, you may well wish to have the bullet point 'hanging' freely to the left of your text block - especially if your bullet points run onto muiltiple lines.
In this case, open the paragraph dialog box and enter a value in the first field, say 18pt and then the 'opposite' value (-18pt) in the field below that.

Experiment with the exact value to get it to match the width of the bullet point but it will generally move all the text away from your bullet.

[TalalKRafi]

Thank God Illustrator does not support bullets otherwise we'd shoot Adobe in the knee for not allowing keyboard shortcuts to be assigned to scripts with them

[chanaart]

Use the Glyph panel. This will give you unlimited amount of symbols depending on the font style you are using.
Window>Type>Glyph. With the type tool active double click on the Glyph to insert it.