This article is for people who use a screen reader program such as Windows Narrator, JAWS, or NVDA with Microsoft 365 products. This article is part of the Microsoft 365 screen reader support content set where you can find more accessibility information on our apps. For general help, visit Microsoft Support.
Use Outlook with your keyboard and a screen reader to quickly create bulleted and numbered lists in various styles. We have tested it with Narrator, JAWS, and NVDA, but it might work with other screen readers as long as they follow common accessibility standards and techniques.
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New Microsoft 365 features are released gradually to Microsoft 365 subscribers, so your app might not have these features yet. To learn how you can get new features faster, join the Office Insider program.
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To learn more about screen readers, go to How screen readers work with Microsoft 365.
In this topic
Create a bulleted or numbered list
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While writing an Outlook message, press Alt+H, Z, B and then do one of the following:
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To open the bullet style menu, press U, L.
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To open the number style menu, press N.
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Use the Right and Left arrow keys to find the bullet or number style you want to use, for example, "Solid circle," and then press Enter. The first item in the list is created and the focus moves to it.
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Type the list item text.
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To add another list item, press Enter.
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To finish the list, press Enter twice. The focus moves to an empty line below the list. With Narrator, you hear: "New line." With JAWS, you only hear "Enter."
Create a nested list
You can create a list within a list, such as nested bullets in a bulleted list or outline-style numbering in a numbered list.
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From an existing list, navigate to the item that should come before the nested list, and press Enter to create a new list item after it.
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With the cursor at the start of the line for the new item, press the Tab key. Outlook automatically increases the indent for that item and makes it part of a nested list.
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Type the text of the first nested list item.
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To add another nested list item, press Enter.
The bullet or numbering style for the nested list item is based on the style of its parent item. You can change these styles to any available bullet or numbering style.
Change the indentation of a list
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Select the entire list.
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Do one of the following:
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To increase indent, or move the list farther away from the margin, press Alt+H, Z, B, A, I.
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To decrease indent, or move the list closer to the margin, press Alt+H, Z, B, A, O.
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Change the bullet or number style
If you want to change the style of existing bullets or numbers, you can choose any style from the bullet or numbering library.
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Select the entire list.
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Do one of the following:
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To open the bullet style menu, press Alt+H, Z, B, U, L.
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To open the numbering style menu, press Alt+H, Z, B, N.
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Use the Right and Left arrow keys to find the bullet or numbering style you want to change to, for example, "Hollow circle," and then press Enter. The style of all first level list items changes to match.
: If your list contains nested lists, their style is not affected by this. You need to place the cursor inside the nested list to change its style separately.
See also
Use a screen reader to align text and paragraphs in Outlook
Use a screen reader to format text in your email in Outlook
Keyboard shortcuts for Outlook
Basic tasks using a screen reader with email in Outlook
Set up your device to work with accessibility in Microsoft 365
Use Outlook on the web with your keyboard and a screen reader to quickly create bulleted and numbered lists when composing a message with Mail. We have tested it with Narrator in Microsoft Edge, but it might work with other screen readers and web browsers as long as they follow common accessibility standards and techniques.
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New Microsoft 365 features are released gradually to Microsoft 365 subscribers, so your app might not have these features yet. To learn how you can get new features faster, join the Office Insider program.
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To learn more about screen readers, go to How screen readers work with Microsoft 365.
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This topic assumes that the Reading pane is off.
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When you use Outlook on the web, we recommend that you use Microsoft Edge as your web browser. Because Outlook on the web runs in your web browser, the keyboard shortcuts are different from those in the desktop program. For example, you’ll use Ctrl+F6 instead of F6 for jumping in and out of the commands. Also, common shortcuts like F1 (Help) and Ctrl+O (Open) apply to the web browser – not Outlook on the web.
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We're currently updating Outlook.office.com (Outlook on the Web). Some people are already using the new Outlook, and for others the classic version will be the default experience until we complete the update. For more information, go to Get help with the new Outlook on the web. Since the instructions in this topic apply to the new experience, we recommend that you switch from the classic experience to the new Outlook. To switch to the new Outlook, press Ctrl+F6 until you hear "Command, Try the new Outlook," and then press Enter. If you hear "Command toolbar" instead of "Command, Try the new Outlook," you're already using the new Outlook.
In this topic
Create a bulleted or numbered list
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While writing an Outlook message, at the start of a new line, do one of the following:
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To start a bulleted list, type an asterisk (*), and then press Spacebar. A filled circle bullet list item is automatically created.
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To start a numbered list, type 1. (the number 1 followed by a period), and then press Spacebar. A numbered list item is automatically created.
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Type the list item text.
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To add another list item, press Enter, and then type its text.
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To finish the list, press Enter twice. The focus moves to an empty line below the list.
Create a nested list
You can create a list within a list, such as nested bullets in a bulleted list or outline-style numbering in a numbered list.
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From an existing list, navigate to the item that should come before the nested list, and press Enter to create a new list item after it.
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With the cursor at the start of the line for the new item, press the Tab key. Outlook automatically increases the indent for that item and makes it part of a nested list.
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Type the text of the first nested list item.
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To add another nested list item, press Enter, and then type its text.
Change the indentation of a list
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Select the entire list.
: To select a piece of text, hold down Shift and press the arrow keys to move the cursor.
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Do one of the following:
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To increase indent, or move the list farther away from the margin, press the Tab key.
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To decrease indent, or move the list closer to the margin, press Shift+Tab.
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See also
Use a screen reader to create bulleted or numbered lists in Outlook for Mac
Use a screen reader to align text and paragraphs in Outlook
Use a screen reader to format text in your email in Outlook
Keyboard shortcuts for Outlook
Technical support for customers with disabilities
Microsoft wants to provide the best possible experience for all our customers. If you have a disability or questions related to accessibility, please contact the Microsoft Disability Answer Desk for technical assistance. The Disability Answer Desk support team is trained in using many popular assistive technologies and can offer assistance in English, Spanish, French, and American Sign Language. Please go to the Microsoft Disability Answer Desk site to find out the contact details for your region.
If you are a government, commercial, or enterprise user, please contact the enterprise Disability Answer Desk.
