Hi Heather
How are you adding the bullets? Are you using the Bullets button on the
toolbar? Or Format > Bullets and Numbering?
Unfortunately, these commands have a mind of their own, and it's difficult
to predict what they're likely to do, as you've discovered.
If creating tables like this is something you do regularly, may I suggest
that you proceed as follows?
Create a blank document, as usual. Add a table and make it Arial, as usual.
Put a bulleted paragraph in the table, select the paragraph and use Format >
Font to make it Arial, too. Make any other changes you need to the text (eg
change the size or colour of the font).
Now, put the cursor in a line of text in your table that does *not* have a
bullet. Find the Styles box on the Formatting toolbar. It probably says
"Normal". Click in the box and type TableText.
Do the same for a bulleted paragraph. Click within a bulleted paragraph.
Click in the Styles box and type TableBullet.
You now have two styles in your document called TableText and TableBullet.
If you have Word 2000 or earlier, do Format > Styles and you'll see them
listed there. If you have Word 2002 or above, do Format > Styles and
Formatting, and you'll see them listed in the Styles and Formatting pane.
To add these styles to your normal.dot template, click in a TableText
paragraph. Do Format > Styles > Modify (or, Format > Styles and Formatting,
right-click the name and choose Modify). Tick the Add to Template box and
then OK.
Click in a TableBullet paragraph and do the same.
If you want to be really cool, you can create a button on the toolbar to
apply your styles. To do that, Tools > Customize. On the Commands tab, in
the Categories box, choose Styles. In the Commands box, find your TableText
style, and drag it to a toolbar. Do the same for TableBullet. Now, whenver
you want your text to be in TableText style, or TableBullet style, just
click your button.
Since these changes were made in normal.dot, you might like to save
normal.dot now. To do that, hold down Shift, then click File > Save All.
Finally, you might like to investigate creating a table, using your new
styles, and saving the table as a whole as an AutoText. You can then put a
whole formatted table into a document in just a few mouse clicks. Word help
has info on AutoText.
Hope this helps.
Shauna Kelly. Microsoft MVP.
http://www.shaunakelly.com/word