Multi-level list without bullets in PowerPoint

Question

Hi,

I want to be able to define two different text styles in a placeholder so I thought I could use the standard bullet list, but I don't want any bullets.

If I switch the bullets off, then there is no "second level".

I thought about setting the bullet character to an invisible character like  "Narrow No-Break Space" (202F Unicode hex), which works ok.  The down side is that the invisible bullet could be deleted with a backspace, leaving the left margin all wrong.

The above picture shows what I want.  I want to be able to switch between level 1 and level 2 styles with Tab or Shift+Tab. 

Any ideas??

Cheers

Rich

Answer 1

Every text placeholder can have up to 9 levels of styles. But you can't efficiently display more than one level of prompt text. Anyone else except you will have no idea how to use it.

Don't try to create this all in one placeholder. Create a placeholder for each item of information.

For the presentation title, format the placeholder so the text aligns at the bottom of the placeholder. Then adding a second line to the title then moves the first line up instead of moving the second line down:

Answer 2

Rich, you will have to do a workaround by creating two placeholders.

I just posted this response a few hours ago to another question at Is there a way to insert a 2-line placeholder?

I am pasting the content I responded there:

1. Create a new presentation. Add a new slide, and apply the Title Only layout to this slide.
2. With this slide active, choose the View | Slide Master option. This will get you to Slide Master view with the Title Only layout active.
3. Select the Title Only layout in the left pane, and press Ctrl+D to duplicate.
4. It's a good idea to select the duplicated layout in the left pane -- and then to right click and choose the Rename option. Give a nice descriptive name to your new layout.
5. Now access the Slide Master tab of the Ribbon, click the Insert Placeholder button, and choose the Text placeholder option.
6. Drag and draw a placeholder suitable for one or two lines of text. Remove the bullet from the boilerplate text, and edit this boilerplace text as required.
7. Right click this placeholder and choose the Format Shape option. Select the Shape option in the sidebar of the resultant dialog box. Then set Vertical Alignment to Bottom. Close the dialog box.
8. Now add a second placeholder -- this can be a Text or Content placeholder. Don't remove bullets from this one. Place this second placeholder immediately below the first placeholder.
9. Exit Slide Master view and save your presentation.

Have a great day.

Geetesh Bajaj

Answer 3

Thanks for your reply Geetesh.  Unfortunately, I don't think 2 separate placeholders will work how I want it to, because if I do this, I would need a way to "glue" the two placeholders together so that when the text in the top placeholder wraps to a new line, the second placeholder below it will move down, staying "glued" to the bottom edge of the first placeholder.

You can almost achieve this by aligning the text in the top placeholder to be [vertically aligned to the bottom] but I also need the top edge of the top placeholder to be fixed vertically.

i.e, I want to be able to type variable number of rows of text in the larger font, and have the smaller text move down as the placeholder resizes. 

So, if there is no way to do my original question (and I haven't given up hope just yet).... is there a way to glue two placeholders together so that as the top placeholder expands with text, the bottom placeholder moves down?

Cheers

Rich