Many Office programs will detect when you start a numbered or bulleted list and helpfully automate it, so that when you press Enter, new list items are automatically indented and bulleted or numbered. If this behavior isn’t actually all that helpful for you, and you’d rather control your own list-making without Office’s help, you can turn to your autocorrect options.

Check out the instructions below for steps to change the autocorrect list behavior, and thus disable automatic bullets and numbering, in Office 2013 programs.

In Outlook 2013/2016:

1. From the File tab, click Options.
2. Select Mail and click the Spelling and Autocorrect button.
3. In the Proofing section, click AutoCorrect Options.
4. Click the AutoFormat As You Type tab.
5. In the Apply as you type section, un-check Automatic bulleted lists and Automatic numbered lists.
6. Click OK on each dialog box to return to your mailbox.

In PowerPoint 2013/2016:

1. From the File tab, click Options.
2. Select Proofing and click AutoCorrect Options.
3. Click the AutoFormat As You Type tab.
4. Un-check the box for Automatic bulleted and numbered lists.
5. Click OK on each dialog box to return to your presentation.

In Word 2013/2016:

1. From the File tab, click Options.
2. Select Proofing and click AutoCorrect Options.
3. Click the AutoFormat As You Type tab.
4. In the Apply as you type section, un-check Automatic bulleted lists and Automatic numbered lists.
5. Click OK on each dialog box to return to your document.

In OneNote 2013/2016:

1. From the File tab, click Options.
2. Select Advanced.
3. In the Editing section, un-check the boxes for Apply numbering to lists automatically and Apply bullets to lists automatically.