Alignment of text within bullet points

[Karolína5C05]

Hello, I need help with aligning the bottom part of the text with the first one which has bullet point. I already clicked on the bullet point tool, however it did not automatically align, so what should I do? Thank you in advance. 

[James Gifford—NitroPress · Accepted solution]

There are two dimensions on the left hand size. The paragraph margin will determine where the second and continuing lines fall, and the text indent, usually a negative number, will position the bullet.

For instance, you might have a left margin of 2 picas. You will want the text indent to be -1 pica, or any value up to -2 picas. (You can't have an 'outdent' larger than the margin.)

Here's an example:

It is best to then set a tab at the same position as the left indent.

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[SJRiegel · Accepted solution]

I have found (in Indesign, at least), that setting a tab at the left indent is not necessary. The left indent itself functions as a tab stop. 

[James Gifford—NitroPress]

You are probably right, but I seem to have run into alignment and other issues if there's no tab there. I need to pay attention for a while and see if indeed there is any difference... but for the OP's answer, you're probably right - "No tab needed."

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[Robert at ID-Tasker]

When you use bullets as Para Style option - it will automatically align text correctly on the left side - there is no need to add any extra tabs. 

[Dave Creamer of IDEAS]

Assuming we are talking about the same thing, I wouldn't phrase it as "the left indent ... functions as a tab stop" but the tab stop is automatically set to the left indent which is why it "grays out". 

When you "push" the left indent in (from the text frame) and "pull" the first line out from the left indent, InDesign automatically sets the tab stop to the left indent. 

[James Gifford—NitroPress]

Actually, the whole thing is more complicated and non-obvious than all these comments, which is why I hedged my answer. I just had time to fiddle a bit and the interaction between the Paragraph Style menu, tabs and indents is kind of on the wonky side... which, again, is why I couldn't form a clear picture to give a simple answer.

If you just apply Bullets to a plain text style, it sets none of the indents (all at 0), but sets the "Tab position" at 3 picas. What you get is a 3-pica indent of the first line only, with the bullet and following lines at 0, and no visible tab anywhere. If you call up the Tab bar, the indents are flush left, there are no tab markers... but the text is indented anyway.

For a sensible layout, you have to set the indents in the menu or adjust them in the command bar or drag-and-update. At some point, a tab will often appear without being specifically inserted.

So, everyone's partially right and I was right to remember the whole feature is a little screwy... which is why the OP couldn't figure it out. While it's easy to learn and move on, this is yet another basic feature that could really use a cleaning and dusting.

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[Dave Creamer of IDEAS]

Tabs default to every 1/2 inch unless specified.