Finding Bullets and numbers (Word 2002 SP2)

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Hi
I’m trying to find paragraphs that are formatted as bullets or numbered lists (generically).

If I’ve formatted a list by clicking the toolbar bullet button it seems to apply a dynamic style that cannot be searched for as one of the inbuilt styles using Edit > Replace > More > Format > Style. Am I missing something?

Assuming it cannot, is there a segment of VBA that would allow me to effectively replace bullets with themselves less the bullet character? (I’m trying to feed a word document into a foreign system that chokes on bullets).

Thanks in advance

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You can test whether a paragraph is bulleted by checking its .Range.ListFormat.ListType property. This is wdListNoNumbering (=0) for a non-bulleted, non-numbered paragraph, non-zero if any kind of numbering or bullets has been applied, for example wdListBullet (=2) for simple bullets and wdListPictureBullet (=6) for picture bullets.

You can turn off all numbering and bullets in one fell swoop by running

ActiveDocument.RemoveNumbers

Or you can loop through the paragraphs and turn off bullets individually:

Dim par As Paragraph
For Each par in ActiveDocument.Paragraphs
Select Case par.Range.ListFormat.ListType
Case wdListBullet, wdListPictureBullet
par.Range.ListFormat.RemoveNumbers
Case Else
‘ do nothing
End Select
Next par
Set par = Nothing

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HansV

Thanks heaps – that should do the trick nicely. Once again I am in awe of the expertise.

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HansV

Thanks heaps – that should do the trick nicely. Once again I am in awe of the expertise.

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You can test whether a paragraph is bulleted by checking its .Range.ListFormat.ListType property. This is wdListNoNumbering (=0) for a non-bulleted, non-numbered paragraph, non-zero if any kind of numbering or bullets has been applied, for example wdListBullet (=2) for simple bullets and wdListPictureBullet (=6) for picture bullets.

You can turn off all numbering and bullets in one fell swoop by running

ActiveDocument.RemoveNumbers

Or you can loop through the paragraphs and turn off bullets individually:

Dim par As Paragraph
For Each par in ActiveDocument.Paragraphs
Select Case par.Range.ListFormat.ListType
Case wdListBullet, wdListPictureBullet
par.Range.ListFormat.RemoveNumbers
Case Else
‘ do nothing
End Select
Next par
Set par = Nothing

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Do you need the bullets and numbers to remain but act as if typed at the start of the paragraph rather than an automatic element? If this is the case then a macro like the following might be useful.

Sub NumberingAutoToHardcoded()
'converts autonumbers to hard coded
  Dim iResp As Integer
  iResp = MsgBox("This macro converts automatic paragraph numbers to hard coded." _
    & vbCr & "Click Yes to convert the entire document." & vbCr & _
    "Click No to convert only the selected paragraphs." & vbCr & _
    "Click Cancel to stop the macro.", _
    vbYesNoCancel, "Delete Hard Numbers")
  If iResp = vbYes Then
    ActiveDocument.ConvertNumbersToText (wdNumberAllNumbers)
  ElseIf iResp = vbNo Then
    Selection.Range.ListFormat.ConvertNumbersToText (wdNumberAllNumbers)
  End If
End Sub

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Do you need the bullets and numbers to remain but act as if typed at the start of the paragraph rather than an automatic element? If this is the case then a macro like the following might be useful.

Sub NumberingAutoToHardcoded()
'converts autonumbers to hard coded
  Dim iResp As Integer
  iResp = MsgBox("This macro converts automatic paragraph numbers to hard coded." _
    & vbCr & "Click Yes to convert the entire document." & vbCr & _
    "Click No to convert only the selected paragraphs." & vbCr & _
    "Click Cancel to stop the macro.", _
    vbYesNoCancel, "Delete Hard Numbers")
  If iResp = vbYes Then
    ActiveDocument.ConvertNumbersToText (wdNumberAllNumbers)
  ElseIf iResp = vbNo Then
    Selection.Range.ListFormat.ConvertNumbersToText (wdNumberAllNumbers)
  End If
End Sub

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Hi Andrew:
Just to correct something that might be a misapprehension, attaching bullets or numbering to a list does not apply a style, dynamic or otherwise. You can link bullets or numbering to a style & then search for that style using Find/Replace. But the results of your search will to be find that style, regardless of whether you’ve removed or kepts the bullets.

e.g. create style called “New” & apply it to a paragraph. Now attach a bulleted list template to it. You should now be able to put the cursor in another paragraph, click Bullets & Numbering, apply the particular bulleted scheme, & the style will also change to “New”. You can use Edit/Find to search for all occurences of the “New” style. However, if you remove the bullets from a paragraph, the “New” style will remain. I hope this clarifies, more than confuses.

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Hi Andrew:
Just to correct something that might be a misapprehension, attaching bullets or numbering to a list does not apply a style, dynamic or otherwise. You can link bullets or numbering to a style & then search for that style using Find/Replace. But the results of your search will to be find that style, regardless of whether you’ve removed or kepts the bullets.

e.g. create style called “New” & apply it to a paragraph. Now attach a bulleted list template to it. You should now be able to put the cursor in another paragraph, click Bullets & Numbering, apply the particular bulleted scheme, & the style will also change to “New”. You can use Edit/Find to search for all occurences of the “New” style. However, if you remove the bullets from a paragraph, the “New” style will remain. I hope this clarifies, more than confuses.

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