Beginner CS4 - bullets, hanging indents, second line probs

[Guest]

I've been wrestling with a simple problem and despite online instruction, can't get my bullets to line up correctly. I set up bullets with a left indent of .25", first line indent of -.25 in and a tab set at .125" to make the distance closer between bullets and text. But unless I use the default settings and eliminate my tab -- which creates a too big distance between bullet and text, the second line refuses to hang properly -- it's indenting more to the right than the first line.

I'm not a very experienced user, sorry to say, so thanks for any help.

[Daniel Flavin]

That extra tab combined with the hanging indent is tripping you up.

Try to get used to setting a bullet style from the Paragraph Styles panel.

[Guest]

I've tried this, but I get an error message: Invalid indent value. Indents cannot extend outside text frame. It's funny, I'm using as a template a file we did a year  ago where the bullets did what they were supposed to. I've just cut a few tables from it and changed the text.  Thanks if you can explain what I'm doing wrong (besides everything!).

[BobLevine]

The error message you got indicates that you tried to set the negative indent before the positive indent. Do it the other way around.

Bob

[rmbelson]

Bingo!  Thanks -- and here I was fussing for hours.  Should have come here sooner.

[BobLevine]

Anyone new to InDesign who's serious about learning it should buy Sandee Cohen's Visual Quick Start Guide: http://amzn.to/erzJBL

Best $20 you'll ever spend.

Bob