I'm working on a document where I have a number of bulleted lists (I don't want numbered lists for these items). Many items have sub lists where I've increased the left indent to denote it's subordinate to the item it's below. The problem is, when I copy and paste these bulleted lists, all the bullets are on the same level i.e. vertically aligned. I've tried 'Paste as environment' but it didn't help.
Two questions:
1) Is there a way to copy/paste these lists and keep the formatting?
2) Is there a better/recommended way of promoting/demoting bullets?
Losing formatting when pasting bulleted lists
Hi Andy,
As a rule, you should use outline lists whenever you want a combination of main plus subordinate items in a list. Note that items in outline lists do not have to be numbered. You can use any of the available bullets. The Outline List drop-down on the Atlantis toolbar includes such a ready-made unnumbered outline list. You can also create your own bulleted outline list and choose your own bullets from the “Outline” tab in the “Format | List…” dialog of Atlantis. You can then add it to the List Gallery.
This said, any formatting and indenting that you used should be kept if you copy/paste a manually bulleted list. You only need to make sure that you select all the paragraph marks from that list, including the last one. Also use Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V exclusively. Avoid “Paste as environment”. It will automatically remove the bulleting in most cases.
As explained, the recommended way of building indented (subordinate) bulleted list items is to include them in a single outline list. To promote a list item, simply place the caret at the beginning of the list item, immediately after its automatic list text. Then press the Tab key. To demote a list item, press the Backspace key instead.
Please have a look at the corresponding Help topic at http://www.atlantiswordprocessor.com/en ... motedemote
HTH.
Cheers,
Robert
As a rule, you should use outline lists whenever you want a combination of main plus subordinate items in a list. Note that items in outline lists do not have to be numbered. You can use any of the available bullets. The Outline List drop-down on the Atlantis toolbar includes such a ready-made unnumbered outline list. You can also create your own bulleted outline list and choose your own bullets from the “Outline” tab in the “Format | List…” dialog of Atlantis. You can then add it to the List Gallery.
This said, any formatting and indenting that you used should be kept if you copy/paste a manually bulleted list. You only need to make sure that you select all the paragraph marks from that list, including the last one. Also use Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V exclusively. Avoid “Paste as environment”. It will automatically remove the bulleting in most cases.
As explained, the recommended way of building indented (subordinate) bulleted list items is to include them in a single outline list. To promote a list item, simply place the caret at the beginning of the list item, immediately after its automatic list text. Then press the Tab key. To demote a list item, press the Backspace key instead.
Please have a look at the corresponding Help topic at http://www.atlantiswordprocessor.com/en ... motedemote
HTH.
Cheers,
Robert
Thanks Robert,
I just tried copying and pasting a whole section of bulleted list (with various indents) - think I got the paragraph marks too but when I pasted they were all aligned the same again. What am I missing there?
Seems a painful way to do it anyway as usually I just want to copy or cut a section in the middle of the list rather than the whole lot then delete the bits I don't want.
Guess I'll have to look into the outline lists.
I just tried copying and pasting a whole section of bulleted list (with various indents) - think I got the paragraph marks too but when I pasted they were all aligned the same again. What am I missing there?
Seems a painful way to do it anyway as usually I just want to copy or cut a section in the middle of the list rather than the whole lot then delete the bits I don't want.
Guess I'll have to look into the outline lists.
This should not be happening. Andy, could you please send a sample document with such a bulleted list that you cannot clone with copy/paste to support@AtlantisWordProcessor.com?
Andy,
Thanks for the file.
I can explain why things get pasted in this way. The "Paste" routine of Atlantis includes a heuristic algorithm that tries to find out if the pasted list items should be actually included in one of the existing (logical) lists in the active document. In your case, Atlantis believes that the pasted list items should be included in an existing bulleted list. Atlantis also tries to make the pasted items look as closely to the "host" list items as possible. This is why the original indentation is lost for some list items.
I admit that this algorithm could not produce perfect results in all cases. In some cases, it might be hard to perform such list merging fully automatically without user's intervention. But it is preferable to avoid differently formatted list items belonging to the same level of a list (as in your document). Different indentation of list items normally means list items of different levels.
Thanks for the file.
I can explain why things get pasted in this way. The "Paste" routine of Atlantis includes a heuristic algorithm that tries to find out if the pasted list items should be actually included in one of the existing (logical) lists in the active document. In your case, Atlantis believes that the pasted list items should be included in an existing bulleted list. Atlantis also tries to make the pasted items look as closely to the "host" list items as possible. This is why the original indentation is lost for some list items.
I admit that this algorithm could not produce perfect results in all cases. In some cases, it might be hard to perform such list merging fully automatically without user's intervention. But it is preferable to avoid differently formatted list items belonging to the same level of a list (as in your document). Different indentation of list items normally means list items of different levels.
Thanks for your explanation even though I have to admit I don't understand it. If I understand you correctly, it's acting as expected when it changes the indents in my bulleted list - correct?
To my way of thinking, it would be easiest and best if pasted text retained the same formatting it had when you copied it. That's the behaviour I (and most others, I imagine) would expect. If I then might occasionally have to make some adjustments in odd circumstances, that's a price I'd be very happy to pay.
Perhaps it would be possible to allow the user the option between the current clever algorithm and my preferred 'paste it as it is' dumb behaviour?
To my way of thinking, it would be easiest and best if pasted text retained the same formatting it had when you copied it. That's the behaviour I (and most others, I imagine) would expect. If I then might occasionally have to make some adjustments in odd circumstances, that's a price I'd be very happy to pay.
Perhaps it would be possible to allow the user the option between the current clever algorithm and my preferred 'paste it as it is' dumb behaviour?
I admit that such automatic corrections might produce "unexpected results" in some situations – the present algorithm is not perfect. But in quite many situations it does a good job. It cannot be entirely disabled. As well as Atlantis could not ask for user's confirmation every time it has to make such an automatic correction. Sorry, but I personally see no way how to improve things in your particular case. Sorry for the inconveniences, Andy.