How can I make a multiple level bulleted list in Confluence?
Asked by MiguelM:

I'm trying to use a multiple level bulleted list, but I cannot find the way to do this.

In older Confluence versions you could use this wiki syntax

```
* First bullet level
```

```
** Second bullet level
```

which rendered a bullet for the first level and a different bullet icon also indented for the second level.

In recent confluence versions, if you type that syntax, you get this;

* First bullet level

\*\* Second bullet level

The same problem happens with older mixed levels, like `##` or `#*`, etc.

I can't believe that this feature is not available any longer in Confluence editor. Is it really?


Answers:
author: cgreeves
body: Click 'Tab' next to the bullet you want to indent and it will go in one level.

comments: author: Sebastian Vaisov
body: Nope, it works with more than 1 level. Just tested.


author: cgreeves
body: Agreed I realized this the other day - I edited my note. Thanks!


author: Sebastian Vaisov
body: Thanks for your tip also, I wouldn't find that it's as simple as Tab :)


author: Nick Fisher
body: Just checked - this is now working using tab, which is great.

Of no consolation to the six months of single-indent documentation I've generated though! =)


author: Tom_West
body: At least in my 6.15.9, I cannot indent the first item in a list.

I would often like

\* Main point  
\* Secondary Point 1  
\[Picture here\]  
\* Secondary Point 2

but apparently I can't indent "Secondary Point 2" (i.e. it ignores tabs and the indent button), so I get

\* Main point  
\* Secondary Point 1  
\[Picture here\]  
\* Secondary Point 2


author: Jose Sarmiento
body: this worked for me, jut bullet point Everything on the same level and then press tab at the start of every line you want to indent, the style of the bullet point should change


author: Barry St.John
body: [@Jose Sarmiento](/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/4059803), what release of Confluence are you running?


author: Peter Morgan
body: "Click" Tab? Where is the \`Tab\` icon that I should point to and click? Eventually I realized you meant type or press the tab key, but in a browser based GUI that is super counter intuitive


author: nicolasrault
body: As explained in <https://confluence.atlassian.com/doc/confluence-wiki-markup-251003035.html#ConfluenceWikiMarkup-Lists>  
I confirm that **subsequent levels in lists doesn't work anymore...**

Indent button is just a visual workaround but doesn't fix the issue.. Any other way to force a subsequent level ?

(I use Confluence 5.9.2)


author: Viktoria Varzinova
body: Same problem, there is no way to achieve the nested bullet list in confluence cloud. Before I could do it with markup or using tabs, but none of this work in new version of confluence. Will it ever be added?


author: Thomas Schlegel
body: Hi Miguel,

use the indent button on the editor header.

Thomas

comments: author: MiguelM
body: Dear Thomas,

indenting a bullet doesn't change its style as it worked in previous versions or numbered lists where it changes from 1,2,3 to a,b,c and so on. It just indents it.

Thanks


author: Vivek Misra
body: Why there is no help on this topic from Atlasssian moderators.? This is most searched topic yet no help.


author: Nick Fisher
body: For me - bullets and numbered lists will not indent at all. They are tied to the first indention and do not respond to the indent button, or align properly with other indented text, making them rather limited.

* Funny
  * It
    * Works
      * In this
        * Comment
          * Section


author: SKalyanaraman
body: Yes, I am also facing the same issue. While documenting a 3rd or 4th sub level content, only the content indentation works. If I add a bulleted style, lo behold! It gets dragged to the left again.


author: Barry St.John
body: I found I could add a symbol. There is one that resembles the top level bullet, but it's slightly smaller. Making it bold helps some. The symbol can survive the indent. Not ideal but it's better than nothing.


author: Jon R
body: The lists are a complete mess and a massive regression.


author: Colin East
body: For Confluence Cloud, I found that if I go to a page I created that has used the table of contents macro that has three levels of nested bullets, for example, I copy the bullets and paste them into a page I am editing and the nest bullets are maintained.


author: Dave Collins
body: You don't need to tab...

\* Bulleted List

\*\* Indented bullet list.

comments: author: Heather Blue
body: Do you know how to make a continuous bulleted list with pictures in-between? In word, you can click the bullet list drop down and "change level" wherever you're at in the document, whether or not a bulleted list was already created, however I can't find anyway to do similarly in Confluence. Shit+Enter continues the bullet and allows things to go in between, but at that bullet level. I can't justify the content elsewhere, or it breaks the continuity of the list and starts over. Seems like bulleted lists are much more limited in Confluence? :/


author: Michael Rudich
body: **I got it!**   

\* text  
then:  
\* \<tab\> text   
moves bullet one level deeper in.


author: scott.w
body: Use a third party WYSIWYG editor to create the nested list, then copy and paste. Once levels are created you can add to them.

* Level One
  * Level Two
    * Level Three
      * Level Four
    * Level Three
  * Level Two
* Level One

comments: author: Jon Ewing
body: Scott, can you recommend a editor?


author: Swathi Tadi
body: * Level One
* Level One
  * Tab button is working here, but not in document
  * In Document, i did this by hitting bullets icon and tab button at a time.


author: Patrick Batungbacal
body: The trick is to start by creating your top level list and then add your sublists to each one subsequently.

1. Top level
   1. Second level
   2. Second level
      1. third level
      2. third level
   3. Second level
2. Top level
   1. Second level
   2. Second level
      1. third level
         1. fourth level
3. Top level
4. Top level  

After creating your top level list, go back to each item you want to work on, press enter to go to a new line, you will notice it creates another item in the same list level. Press 'tab' to push it and create a sublist. Works for nested levels as well.

comments: author: Barry St.John
body: [@Patrick Batungbacal](/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/4020418), that seems simple enough, but your example does show a numbered list and the topic is about a bulleted list. I don't know if that should make a difference as far as how indentation works, which is really the crux of the issue.

When I do this on a bulleted list the indentation does work as you say, but all of the bullets are the same symbol instead of different symbols to represent different levels. The behavior is the same in the body of the page as well as in comments.

But for numbered list this is good. It's an improvement, anyway. Before I could only indent only one level in, so thanks for the tip. What release are you on?

My last post on this topic was in December, 2019. I don't recall what release I was running then, but I upgraded in January to 7.2.1 (server). I never got around to seeing if anything had changed regarding bulleted lists until today.

As of today the most current release is 7.6.1. I was scheduled to upgrade in June but it got canceled due to other projects. The target is now September. Hopefully there will be some improvement.

And while a little off topic, I find I can indent a checkbox only one level. I'm not sure if that is at all related.

**Side note**: What's really strange is that if I create a page using a template that has a list of checkboxes and subsequently add/insert a checkbox to the existing list on the new page, it doesn't left justify in line with the existing checkboxes. It's left justified, just not quite in line with everything else. It's not that big a deal, but it does show that something's off.


Tags: list