Decrease Indent Keystroke

[Amy]

I am using Microsoft Word 2003 and Microsoft Outlook 2003.

In MS Word: When using bulleted lists, I am able to use tab to increase the
indent and shift+tab to decrease the ident.

In MS Outlook: When using bulleted lists, I am able to use tab to increase
the indent. But when I try the shift+tab, I move to a previous field.

What is the keystroke to decrease the indent in MS Outlook 2003?

Thank you for your help.

 

[Herb Tyson [MVP]]

As far as I can tell, there is no default keystroke assignment for Decrease
Indent in Outlook 2003's message editor. However, if you're using Word as
your message editor, you might be able to assign one. If you were using
Outlook 2007, change "might be able" to "can":

http://word2007bible.herbtyson.com/2009/08/25/customizing-the-keyboard-in-outlook-2007/

If you're using Word as your Outlook 2003 message editor, the technique
described in that article *should* work for you, I believe. I don't have
Outlook 2003 anymore, so I can't verify.

--

Herb Tyson MS MVP
Author of the Word 2007 Bible
Blog: http://word2007bible.herbtyson.com
Web: http://www.herbtyson.com

 

[Pesach Shelnitz]

Hi,

There are built-in shortcut keys in Word for increasing and decreasing the
paragraph indent. They are Ctrl+M and Ctrl+Shift+M. They work in Word 2003
(and other versions) and in Outlook 2003 (and other versions) if you use Word
as your message editor. They work in all paragraphs, including bulleted
paragraphs.

 

[Amy]

You are right, I can use Ctrl+M and Ctrl+Shift+M to increase and decrease
indent.

However, (I am using MS Word 2003 as the editor and MS Outlook 2003 for
email), when I do this, the formatting of the bullets changes (the actual
bullet style selected changes) and I cannot back out to the first indent,
instead of it will back up all the way to the left edge of the paper.

It ends up looking something like this:

* First bullet
* Second bullet
0 Third bullet
0 Fourth bullet
# Fifth bullet
# Sixth bullet

(now hit Ctrl+Shift+M to decrease indent and this is what happens)

^ Seventh bullet (bullet style changed)

(now hit Ctrl+Shift+M again to decrease indent and this is what happens:

^ Eighth bullet (bullet style still changed and it did not back out to the
first indented bullet but instead all the way to the left side of th margin)

Thanks for help with this.

 

[Herb Tyson [MVP]]

Thanks, Pesach! I actually just now rediscovered that in the process of
trying to determine which keystrokes were unassigned by default, and came
here to correct what I posted.

I also discovered that some keystrokes that claim to be unassigned in
Outlook 2007 cannot be assigned. So, if someone wants to use the method I
described in the blog article I referenced, they'll need to engage in some
trial and error to determine what works and what doesn't.

--

Herb Tyson MS MVP
Author of the Word 2007 Bible
Blog: http://word2007bible.herbtyson.com
Web: http://www.herbtyson.com

 

[Herb Tyson [MVP]]

Amy, I just tried it here with Outlook 2007, and I'm not getting the results
you're getting. Backing up in bullet #6 has no effect on deeper bullets.
Ctrl+Shift+M works the same way the Unindent tool works in the ribbon. So,
perhaps that issue has been fixed in Outlook 2007.

--

Herb Tyson MS MVP
Author of the Word 2007 Bible
Blog: http://word2007bible.herbtyson.com
Web: http://www.herbtyson.com

 

[Amy]

Thanks for the responses. If I understand correctly, what I am asking is not
possible for the version of Microsoft product that I am using? Thank you for
clarifying.

 

[Herb Tyson [MVP]]

Well, I'm not certain of that. I don't know if you're seeing what you're
seeing because of a glitch in Outlook 2003 or if there's something about
your setup that's causing the problem.

Do both Word 2003 (used by itself) and Word 2003 (when used as a message
editor) have the identical odd response to Ctrl+Shift+M? Or, does it mess up
only when Word 2003 is being used in an Outlook message?

--

Herb Tyson MS MVP
Author of the Word 2007 Bible
Blog: http://word2007bible.herbtyson.com
Web: http://www.herbtyson.com

 

[Amy]

Good question, I did not think to explain that.

In MS Word 2003 directly, I can hit Tab or Shift+Tab to increase or decrease
indents.

In MS Outlook 2003, using MS Word 2003 as the editor, I get this problem.
Tab works but I could not figure out what the keystroke is for decrease
indents. So I tried the suggested Ctrl+M and Ctrl+Shift+M and that's when I
see the bullet styles and placements become incorrect.

Thanks for your help,
Amy

 

[Herb Tyson [MVP]]

Right. But, Ctrl+Shift+M should be working in Word 2003, as well. Does
Ctrl+Shift+M work correctly in Word 2003 when you're not working on an
email? Or does Ctrl+Shift+M yield different behavior from Shift+Tab in just
plain Word 2003 (i.e., when not being used as an email editor)?

--

Herb Tyson MS MVP
Author of the Word 2007 Bible
Blog: http://word2007bible.herbtyson.com
Web: http://www.herbtyson.com

 

[Amy]

Good point. I tried it directly in Word 2003 and I get the same problem when
using Ctrl+Shift+M and Ctrl+M. Using these two combination keystrokes
results different behavior than Shift and Shift+Tab, which work correctly in
Word 2003 directly.

I hope that helps.