Word & PowerPoint: Picture Bullets
Published on 1st June 2006
This month we are going to look at the fact that you can have anything you want as the bullets in a bulleted list. This can be done in PowerPoint and recent versions of Word.
You may be aware that you are not stuck with the simple black dots for bullet points in a list. By giving the command Format - Bullets and Numbering you can choose from a range of four other bullet styles such as stars, arrows or ticks.
However, if you find the Picture... button you can select any jpg, gif, bmp or other picture file you want.
Using Picture Bullets
In PowerPoint, give the command Format - Bullets and Numbering and click the Picture button.
In Word, give the command Format - Bullets and Numbering, click Customize and then click the Picture button.
Either way, you will then see a set of highly colourful dots, circles and other shapes to choose as your bullets. Some even have movement in them! These are marked with a yellow star, like the one on PowerPoint's Animation Effects button.
Simply click the one you want and click OK.
Using Your Own Images As Bullets
If you want to choose a picture you have created yourself or obtained from a friend, click Import...
Then you can search through your files to find the photo or graphic you want. Select the one you want and click Add. Your picture will then always be found in the set of pictures that can be used as bullets.
Using this technique you can have bullets that show a company logo, a product or even a picture of you! This last choice may be taking things a bit far.