How to keep text infront of bullet point on new line

[jeffshso]

I feel like my issue is not at all complicated, but I for some reason cannot word a search query properly enough to find relevant information.

I have a bullet list where some bullets are long enough to generate a new line, and the current format is it puts the text under the bullet point like this:

* Test line......
text wrap here would be more to the left and the word "text" would be under the bullet point

however I want to format the text to break in front of the bullet point

* Test line....
  I want the text wrap line to show up like this instead

Is there a way to format bullet text like this without having to make a grid?

edit: using the markdown editor, the text is aligned the way I am describing, but when the post is actually made, both examples are formatted the same (what I want it to look like in LO Writer)

(formatting fixed by ajlittoz)

[EarnestAl]

What you are asking for is the default setting in LibreOffice if you click the unordered list icon or use a list style.

The question is, how have you created your bullet points?

[jeffshso]

I see the default formatting, thanks.

I originally made a document using Microsoft Word a few years back with the margins/text alignment stretched closer to the edges of a letter sized paper because I find the default format shows too much unnecessary white space.

The issue that I described is now pseudo solved thanks. However the main reason why I wanted to fix this formatting is because I wanted to reduce the amount of white space around the bullet point

Default format = too much white space from the left of the bullet to the edge of the page + a bit too much space between the right side of the bullet to the text (it looks like a tab indentation amount of space, but I want to minimize it down to around 2-3 spaces worth of space)

I can reduce the left side white space by dragging the bottom hourglass arrow closer to the left, but if I drag it too far, only the top line spacing gets closer to the bullet and the text wrapped second line has an unnatural indentation from the start of the first line.

Can you advise on how I can keep the default style formatting (top line and text wrapped line’s margins are the same) but I reduce as much left/right white space as possible?

[EarnestAl]

White space is under-rated, it improves readability significantly.

@jeffshso

I originally made a document using Microsoft Word a few years back

Save in native format, .odt, if working in LibreOffice, it saves corruption from multiple conversions.

Rather than playing with the sliders for tabs and indents, it is more precise to use the Format > Bullets and Numbering dialogue, select the Position tab.

In the above image we can see that the bullet is Aligned at: 0.64 cm (1/4"), then there is a Tab stop at: 1.27 cm (1/2"). The Tab stop is where the actual text starts. To get the following line to start at the same point then we need the Indent at : to be the same as the Tab stop, so 1.27 cm (1/2").

Now, select your entire list.
You want 2-3 spaces before the bullet so you would set Aligned at: to 0.32 cm (1/8"). You also want less space between the bullet and the start of the text so set the Tab stop at: 0.64 cm (1/4") and, of course, set the Indent at: to the same.

If you have any sub-levels you need to adjust them also, as well as for any other lists that you have in the document. This starts to sound like a lot of work; nobody likes repetitive work. This is why we use styles, do it once and it is applied to all the same styles.

1. Select your list.
2. Open the Sidebar and click on the Styles icon to open the styles pane. At the top click the fourth icon from the left with the tooltip List Styles.
3. Double-click Bullet • or as appropriate to apply the style to your list. Select any other bulletted lists and double-click Bullet • to apply the style to them
4. We can now alter the settings in the bullet style by right-clicking it and selecting Edit Style. Set the positions in the same way as before and all the lists should comply.
   Note: If some lists still have incorrect indents or stops, then select the paragraph(s) and press Ctrl+M to remove direct formatting.

More information in the Writer Guide, download from English documentation | LibreOffice Documentation - LibreOffice User Guides

[jeffshso]

Thanks for the help

[jeffshso]

I tried following the steps you mentioned using the Positioning tab under Bullets and Numbering, however when I set the Tab stop and indent at to be the same value 0.32, the second line does not “start” at the same position as the first line, it is 1 space away. (I compared by typing along line then starting both lines with the same letter and it is very apparent that they are not lined up)

[ajlittoz]

Attach your sample file for analysis. There are subtleties in these settings. You need practice to avoid pitfalls.

[jeffshso]

I figured it out, the file that I’m working on has private information that I can’t share, so I was creating a dummy file with the same scenario to share for analysis and believe it is because I had previously manually altered the hourglass arrows at the top ruler that was causing this mis-alignment (post positioning changes).

After setting the arrows back to default the issue is gone, sorry for the confusion

[ajlittoz]

List styles (Format>Bullets & Numbering gives access to a special “anonymous” list style) take ownership of the left indents of paragraphs (first line indent and “ordinary” left indent). Therefore if you change these indents in the paragraph, either via style or with the ruler, you create a conflict and Writer reaction is unspecified.

A general rule is to avoid setting some parameter through two (or more) different methods simultaneously. This is one frequently disregarded subtlety.

[EarnestAl]

I was trying to lead you towards using styles; there are too many traps in direct formatting as you discovered. I should have told you to remove direct formatting first but as I didn’t think that you were using styles it would have removed any italics, bold, etc as well.
Simply applying Bullet • list style removes the list direct formatting, even if the list has been styled and then indents and tab stops direct formatted, double-clicking the list style will revert the list to the style.

In the attached document try applying list styles to both lists by selecting the list and double-clicking a list style in the sidebar
TestBulletsEA.odt (29.5 KB)