Excel Bullets & Numbering - Gone

Question

Excel Bullets & Numbering - Gone

Cheri Rubin 20

Today on my Excel spreadsheets, all functions around bullets and numbering are completely gone. I added them back to the ribbon manually, but they're greyed out and will only work on newly created text boxes. Guided by Copilot I've tried a number of other fixes, but nothing works. Worse, I can't even edit anything that's currently in a bulleted or numbered format - it's all frozen. Any help on this will be much appreciated!

Cheri Rubin 20 Reputation points

2025-05-09T13:44:34.64+00:00

OK. My comment was that I appreciate the suggestions, but I had already tried all those. The only add-on is Adobe Acrobat, and I'm unable to disable that. I've reset the ribbon. I've reinstalled Microsoft 365. Text boxes don't aren't useful; I need the data to be in cells. I'm unable to copy and paste any of the cells that have numbers or bullets or edit in any way.

Any further suggestions are much appreciated.
Cheri Rubin 20 Reputation points

2025-05-11T00:23:06.45+00:00

And now I'm remembering that what I did was copy a Word document that has bullets and numbering and pasted it into an Excel document. I did so I could add columns and rows, but I suppose I could have done that in Word with a table. Maybe this has never been a feature of Excel? Anyway, I was able to edit what I needed by converting the Excel document to a .pdf, and edit from there.
Margaret Hope 0 Reputation points

2025-05-27T19:23:43.8966667+00:00

I'm having exactly the same issue. I don't recall using 'add-ins' or changing any setting, the options was suddenly just not there.
I'm on a mac, which might affect some of the steps below; file -> doesn't have an Options prompt, so stymied right there.
Any advice would be most helpful.
Thank you

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Cheri Rubin 20 Reputation points

2025-05-09T13:44:34.64+00:00

OK. My comment was that I appreciate the suggestions, but I had already tried all those. The only add-on is Adobe Acrobat, and I'm unable to disable that. I've reset the ribbon. I've reinstalled Microsoft 365. Text boxes don't aren't useful; I need the data to be in cells. I'm unable to copy and paste any of the cells that have numbers or bullets or edit in any way.

Any further suggestions are much appreciated.
Cheri Rubin 20 Reputation points

2025-05-11T00:23:06.45+00:00

And now I'm remembering that what I did was copy a Word document that has bullets and numbering and pasted it into an Excel document. I did so I could add columns and rows, but I suppose I could have done that in Word with a table. Maybe this has never been a feature of Excel? Anyway, I was able to edit what I needed by converting the Excel document to a .pdf, and edit from there.
Margaret Hope 0 Reputation points

2025-05-27T19:23:43.8966667+00:00

I'm having exactly the same issue. I don't recall using 'add-ins' or changing any setting, the options was suddenly just not there.
I'm on a mac, which might affect some of the steps below; file -> doesn't have an Options prompt, so stymied right there.
Any advice would be most helpful.
Thank you

Answer 1

Anonymous

Hi Cheri Rubin,

Welcome to our forum!

Please take the following steps:

Check for Add-in Conflicts

Disable Add-ins: Some Excel add-ins can interfere with formatting functions.

Go to File > Options > Add-ins.
At the bottom, select COM Add-ins and click Go.
Uncheck all add-ins and restart Excel to see if the issue persists.
If resolved, re-enable add-ins one by one to identify the culprit.

Reset Excel’s Ribbon & Quick Access Toolbar

Go to File > Options > Customize Ribbon>Click Reset > Reset all customizations.
Also, go to Quick Access Toolbar and reset it.

Repair Office Installation

Quick Repair:

Go to Control Panel > Programs > Programs and Features.
Select Microsoft Office, click Change, then Quick Repair.

Online Repair (if Quick Repair fails):

Repeat the steps above but choose Online Repair.

Check for Excel Updates

Open Excel > File > Account > Update Options > Update Now.

Recreate the Problematic Text Boxes

Since new text boxes work, try:

Copying the text from the old text box.
Creating a new text box and pasting the content.
Reapplying bullets/numbering.

Check for File Corruption

Open the problematic file in Word or PowerPoint (if possible) to see if the issue persists.
Try saving the file in a different format (e.g., .xlsx to .xlsb or .xlsm).

Hope it helps.

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Cheri Rubin 20 Reputation points

2025-05-09T04:42:11.77+00:00

I just left a comment but I don't see it, do you?
kguntaka 6,645 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Volunteer Moderator

2025-05-09T07:38:39.2+00:00

Hi Cheri Rubin,
Please check if your comment was posted correctly. We haven't seen any additional comments. We're delighted to hear that your issue has been resolved by Hien-L. If you encounter any further challenges, please don't hesitate to get in touch with us, and we'll be more than happy to provide additional assistance.
Margaret Hope 0 Reputation points

2025-05-27T19:23:54.6433333+00:00

I'm having exactly the same issue. I don't recall using 'add-ins' or changing any setting, the options was suddenly just not there. I'm on a mac, which might affect some of the steps below; file -> doesn't have an Options prompt, so stymied right there. Any advice would be most helpful. Thank you
kguntaka 6,645 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Volunteer Moderator

2025-06-03T07:36:46.9566667+00:00

Hi Margaret Hope,
Ensure that your Excel for Mac is updated to the latest version to benefit from all available features. If the worksheet or workbook is protected, certain formatting options, including bullets and numbering, may be disabled. Check if protection is enabled under the Review tab.

Unlike Excel for Windows, Excel for Mac doesn't have a dedicated Bullets and Numbering button on the Ribbon. Instead, you can insert bullets manually or use text boxes.

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Excel Bullets & Numbering - Gone

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