Convert asterisks to bullets?

November 5, 2008 8:07 PM

Word 2007. Table with cells with lots of text. Need to convert asterisks to bulleted lists. Example inside.

Need to convert this:

* One
* Two
* Three

To this

• one
• two
• three

I know Word will do that automatically as I type, but I need to do that on a preexisting text.

I also know that if I click on a bunch of lines that begin with an asterisk and hit the bulleted list icon, Word will correctly interpret the asterisk as the item indicator and convert it into a bullet. But this table has hundreds of small bulleted lists. I need something to do that automatically.

posted by limon to computers & internet (2 comments total)

Have you tried Edit/Replace? Put an asterisk in the "Find" box. Then, put your cursor in the "Replace" box (you may need to expand the window so that you see formatting options). Choose "Style" and then choose "List Bullet" or some similar style that meets your needs.

You may need to do one more find and replace to eliminate the asterisks (just replacing the asterisk and spaces with nothing or a space). I'm sure this can be done in a single move, but I'm always very cautious about trying to do too much with a "Replace all" command.
posted by lionelhutz5 at 8:33 PM on November 5, 2008

w00t -- thanks!
posted by limon at 8:55 PM on November 5, 2008