Insert Bullet Points in Google Sheets (Easy 5 Min Guide)

Watch Video – 4 Ways to Insert Bullet Points In Google Sheets

In case you prefer reading over watching a video, below is a written tutorial.

Sometimes, you may want to insert bullet points in Google Sheets while you’re creating lists.

While there are a couple of ways to inserts Google Sheets bullet points inside cells, there is no direct way to do this.

In this tutorial, I am going to show you three different ways to add a bullet point in Google Sheet.

1. Using keyboard shortcuts
2. Using the CHAR formula
3. Copy Pasting existing bullet point symbol

The method you choose will depend on how you want to use the bullets in Google Sheets.

How to Do Bullet Points in Google Sheets

Here’s how to make bullet points in Google Sheets:

1. Select a cell in which you want to insert the bullet point.
2. Get into the edit mode (by pressing the F2 key, or by double-clicking on the cell).
3. Hold the ALT key and press the number 7 on the numeric keypad.

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Copy & Paste Existing Bullets From Web or Other Applications

One of the easiest and straightforward ways to insert bullets in Google Sheets is to copy and paste it from a website or other applications (such as Google Doc, MS Word, PowerPoint, etc.).

For example, below are a variety of bullets that you can simply copy and paste in cells in Google Sheets.

• ○ ► ✓

To do this, copy the bullet point from above, go to the cell where you want to insert it, place the cursor in the position where you want the bullet point and paste it.

Keyboard Shortcut to Insert Bullet Points In Google Sheets

Note that this method works only when you have a numeric keypad. In case you don’t, use any of the two methods covered later in this tutorial.

Here are the steps for how to put bullet points in Google Sheets using a keyboard shortcut:

1. Select a cell in which you want to insert the bullet point.
2. Get into the edit mode (by pressing the F2 key, or by double-clicking on the cell).
3. Hold the ALT key and press the number 7 on the numeric keypad.

The above steps would instantly insert a bullet point where you placed the cursor.

If you want to have multiple bullet points in the same cell but in different lines, you need to insert a line break and then use this shortcut to insert the bullet points.

To get a line break, place the cursor where you want the line break and then use the keyboard shortcut ALT + Enter (hold the ALT key and then press the Enter key). This will take you to a new line in the same cell. Now you can use the shortcut to insert the bullet point (ALT + 7)

For Google Sheets bullet points on Mac the keyboard shortcut for inserting bullet points is Option + 7.

How to Add Bullet Points in Google Sheets Using the CHAR Formula

You can also use a Google Sheet bullet points formula to insert a bullet point in Google Sheets.

Bullet Points have a specific Unicode number that you can use in the CHAR formula to get a bullet point as the result.

The following formula will give you a bullet point as a result:

=CHAR(8826)

The benefit of using a formula is that you can combine it with other text or formulas.

For example, suppose you have a list of grocery items and shown below and you want to convert it into a bulleted list.

While you can do this manually, using the CHAR function will be the more efficient way in this example.

The below formula will give you the same list with a bullet point before each item.

=CHAR(8226)&” “&A1

The above formula simple takes the cell reference of the cell that has the item and adds the bullet point (using the CHAR function) and a space character.

The final result is shown below:

One of the benefits of using a formula is that it makes the results dynamic. This means that if I change any of the grocery items in column A, the values in columns B would automatically update, while still giving me the bulleted list.

The drawback of this method is that you need to use an additional column to get the list.

In case you don’t want to keep the formula and want to get static list items with bullets, copy the resulting data in column B and paste it as value.

Here is a detailed guide on how to convert formulas to values in Google Sheets.

How to Add Bullet Points Using Custom Number Formatting

You can also use the custom number formatting to add Google Sheets bullet points. This process is easy and automatically adds bullet points to all the cells selected. Here’s how to bullet point in Google Sheets using custom number formatting:

1. Select the cells
2. Go to Format > Number.

3.  Click on Custom number format.

4. Copy the bullet point from an external source and paste it into the custom number format box.
5. Add “@” right next to it. This tells the Google Sheet to leave the rest of the values in the cells as is.

6. Hit Apply.

The cells you selected will have

Insert Bullet Points Using the Special Characters Tool

Unlike in Excel, there’s no symbol option in Google Sheets. However, you can find an almost similar function in Google docs.

1. Open Google docs
2. Go to Insert > Special characters

3. Choose a category using the drop-down menus in the pop up window. In our example, we chose geometrical shapes

4. Choose a special characters and add as many as you need by clicking on it
5. Close the insert special characters window and arrange your special characters into a list.

6. Copy them and go back to your spreadsheet where you can paste them as you wish.

The special characters will be copied into individual cells, so if you want them in one cell you can paste them in the formula bar.

Create a Custom Format to Add Bullet Points at the beginning

Google Sheets allow you to create custom formats where you can change the way your text looks within a cell.

You can also create a format where a bullet point is added to the beginning of the text in each cell where this format is applied.

Note that this technique only changes the way the text appears in the cell, but it does not change the text itself.

Below is an example where I have created a custom format with bullet points at the beginning of the cell content. Note that the value/text in the cell remains unchanged (and doesn’t include the bullet).

One of the benefits of using this technique is that you only need to apply the format to cells once and then as soon as you add any text to the cell, Google Sheets will automatically add the bullet point (as shown below).

Below are the steps to create a custom format that shows the bullet point:

1. Select the cells in which you want to add the bullet point.
2. With the cells selected, click the Format tab
3. Hover the cursor on the ‘Number’ option. It will show you more Number format options
4. Hover the cursor on the ‘More Formats’ option. It will further show you additional options.
5. Click on ‘Custom number formats’ option.
   

   

6. In the Custom Number Format dialog box, enter the following text: • @
   

   

7. Click on Apply

The above steps change the format of the cells so that by default these cells show a bullet point before the text. The @ here represents any text that you enter in the cell.

You can use the same technique to apply any other type of bullet as well – such as a checkmark (tick symbol) or an arrow.

Why is Alt + 7 not Working in Google Sheets?

Sometimes keyboard shortcuts with Alt may not work in Google Sheets. This is because the same shortcuts may have other functions in the browser you’re using. You should try turn on compatible key shortcuts.:

1. Go to Help > Keyboard shortcuts

2. At the bottom, enable compatible spreadsheet shortcuts.

This method may not necessarily work especially with Windows 10 onwards (If you’re using a macOS device, use Option + 7) instead. If it fails, then try using our other methods to add bullet points in Google Sheets.

Wrapping Up

Even though there isn’t any direct way to insert bullet points in Google Sheets, there are still ways you can work around this. In this article, we’ve given you step-by-step guide to some ways to add bullet points in Google Sheets.

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