Outlook Bug: Paste text then type space hyphen space incorrectly autoformats into bulleted list

Question

An Autoformat bug has appeared in Outlook in the last few weeks/last couple of months.

Outlook - Microsoft 365 for enterprise. Version 2004 (Build 12730.20236 Click-to-Run)

Autoformat as you type -> 'Automatic bulleted lists'

New email or reply.

In the email body - typing <space, hyphen, space> - bullet point is created correctly.

Typing any text followed by <space, hyphen, space> does not create a bullet point - which is correct.

However if you paste any text in first and then type <space, hyphen, space> - a bullet point created incorrectly.

This did not happen previously.

So this is a bug in the logic not understanding that after a paste, you are no longer at the start of a line so the Autoformat should not kick in - like it doesn't if you've typed any text instead.

I use spaces/hyphens after pasting text in all the time so I'm constantly removing the bulleted lists - and I don't want to turn off the 'Automatic bulleted lists' feature as I use that all the time too.

Minor bug but it's affecting me many many times a day so would appreciate it being fixed please!

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Previously posted here - https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/2b20a9a6-f75a-481e-99a0-744b9cbd549a/outlook-bug-paste-text-then-type-space-hyphen-space-incorrectly-autoformats-into-bulleted-list?forum=outlook
..but closed.

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Updates:

I noticed that your Outlook version is not up to date, to conduct further research on your issue, please upgrade your Outlook to the latest version and see if the issue has any difference.

Updated - now running:
Outlook - Microsoft 365 for enterprise. Version 2007 (Build 13029.20308 Click-to-Run)

...and still seeing the same behaviour.

Besides, if the issue still continues, there could be some add-ins in your Outlook client that cause this issue, so it is suggested to start your Outlook in safe mode (Press Win + R, type “outlook /safe”, press Enter.) and see if the issue continues.

Tried running in safe mode - same behaviour - so not plugin related.

So I'm still seeing the same issue - and on two separate laptops.

Can anyone else replicate the same behaviour?

Answer 1

Thanks for your update.

I really did a lot of tests in the latest version of Outlook desktop client (Outlook 365 Version 2007 13029.20308) and found some interestring things. I have two separate Outlook client(both are the same version), and after doing tests about autoformats, I got different result: one can work fine and the other has the same issue as you encountered. So, I'm afraid that this issue may not be related to the Outlook version. I also tried to modify their AutoCorrect Options via File > Options > Mail > Spellng and AutoCorrect > AutoCorrect Options to make their settings the same. However, the issue still exist.

I will keep on researching about your issue. Any updates I have, I will reply as soon as possible. Thanks for your understanding and support.

Update:
Sorry for the delay. I really did a lot of research during the past few days:
Tried to make their all Outlook settings in client the same, not work.
Tried to make their outlook template the same, not work.
I found that in Outlook 2016, this feature could work fine without any issues. So I also tried to make all the Outlook 365 settings the same with Outlook 2016, not work.

And those two test clients both have this issue again, after I updated them to the latest version.

Can you still remember the Outlook 365 version in which you can successfully use this feature? If so, please try to provide the version number to me so that I could try to search the update release and see if we could get more related information there.

To avoid this issue, I got a workaround. We could make Outlook paste with no format and then this feature can work fine. Please check the settings like below and see if it could helps.(File>Options>Mail>Edit Options>Advanced)

Besides, if this issue indeed cause lots of trouble to you, it is also suggested to use Outlook 2016 or revert to the older version in which this feature can work fine. Sorry for the inconvenience to you again. Grateful to your understanding.