How to Add Bullet Points in Excel (4 ways)

Excel has no bullet button like Word. These four ways do the job.

1. Keyboard: Alt + 7

Double-click the cell, hold Alt and press 7 on the number pad. A • appears. Type your text after it. (Laptop without a number pad? Use way 2 or 3.)

2. Bullet a whole column with a format

1. Select the cells.
2. Ctrl+1 › Number › Custom.
3. In Type, enter • @ (copy the dot from this page).
4. OK.

Every entry now shows a bullet, but the cell still holds just your text — so sorting and lookups keep working. More: custom number formats.

3. Several bullets in one cell

Type • and the first item, press Alt+Enter for a new line inside the cell, add the next bullet. Turn on wrap text so all lines show.

4. Insert › Symbol

Insert › Symbol, choose font Wingdings for ticks, arrows and squares, or search for character code 2022 for the round bullet.

A formula that adds bullets

="• "&A2

Or with CHAR: =CHAR(149)&" "&A2 on Windows.

Need real paragraph bullets?

Insert › Text Box, type the list, right-click › Bullets. See insert a text box.