XL2000: Bullets Not Retained When You Paste Selection from Word

When you paste a selection from Microsoft Word that contains bullet formatting, the bullet formatting may not be retained.

Case 1: Text

If you paste bulleted text from Word into a cell on an Excel worksheet, the bullet is not retained.

Case 2: Text Box or AutoShape

If you paste a text box or AutoShape object, such as a rectangle, containing bulleted text, the bullet becomes "invisible." That is, you may see a blank line in place of the bullet.

Case 1: Text

Excel removes bullet formatting when you paste a selection.

Case 2: Text Box or AutoShape

Although Excel retains the bullet when you paste a text box or an AutoShape object containing bulleted text, you cannot see it. In its place you see a blank line, similar to the following:

   ------------------
   | [blank line]   |
   | First item     |
   | [blank line]   |
   | Second item    |
   | [blank line]   |
   | Third item     |
   ------------------
				

To work around this behavior, use the appropriate method for your situation.

Case 1: Text

To add a bullet to text in a cell, create the bullet by using its American National Standards Institute (ANSI) code. You can enter this character by copying the character from the Character Map program that is included with Windows, or by entering a keystroke combination. To enter a keystroke combination, hold down ALT and type a four-digit number on the numeric keypad. Note, you cannot type this number from the number keys at the top of the keyboard.

If you are using the Times New Roman font, the keystroke for the bullet character is ALT+0149. To create the bullet, click the cell, hold down ALT and type 0149 on the numeric keypad.

If you don't know the ANSI code for the bullet character or you want to use a different bullet character, you can determine the character code or insert the character by using the Character Map program. To do this, follow these steps.

NOTE: Because there are several versions of Microsoft Windows, the following steps may be different on your computer. If they are, see your product documentation to complete these steps.

1.	Click Start, point to Programs, point to Accessories, point to System Tools, and then click Character Map.
2.	In the Font list, select the font that you are using to format the text in Excel.
3.	In the table, click the bullet character. Note the keystroke combination that appears in the lower-right corner of the Character Map dialog box.
4.	At this point you can do one of the following: � Copy the character. To do this, click the symbol, click Select, and then click Copy. Switch to Excel and then click Paste on the Edit menu. -or- � Switch to Excel and type the keystroke.
5.	In Character Map, click Close.

NOTE: You can also apply a custom format in Microsoft Excel that uses the bullet symbol. For additional information about how to do this, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Case 2: Text Box or AutoShape

Method 1: Apply Font Formatting

If the bulleted text is in a text box, you will see a blank line rather than the bullet character. After you paste the selection, select this blank line and then apply the Symbol font to it. To do this, follow these steps:

1.	Select the blank line in the text box. To do this, click the blank line and then press SHIFT+END.
2.	In the Font list on the Formatting toolbar, click the Symbol font. The blank line will change to a bullet and merge with the line below it.
3.	Press SPACEBAR if you need to add a space between the bullet and the text.

Method 2: Paste the Selection as an Image

To paste the selection so that it preserves the bullet formatting, click Paste Special on the Edit menu, and select one of the image formats.

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed at the beginning of this article.