Do you need to insert bullet points into your spreadsheet? This post is going to show you how to create bullet points in Google Sheets.

If your presentation contains a lot of large paragraphs, making some of them into bullet point lists will help break up long paragraphs. Using bullet points could make your lengthy sentences easier to read. Consider making bullet point lists if you have more than four list items within a sentence.

A bullet point or bullet, centered dot ∙ is a typographical symbol used to introduce and separate items in a list. Bullet points are usually marked by a variety of shapes, such as circular, square, diamond, or arrow.  They might also use numbers and letters. 

A centered dot ∙ is a commonly used symbol to represent a bullet point. It supports highlighting important information and communicating effectively with your audience.

In this post, you will learn the different methods you can use to insert bullet points in Google Sheets.

You can insert bullet points with Copy and Paste, a Keyboard Shortcut, the CHAR function, the UNICHAR function, a Custom Format, inside a Drawing Textbox, with Emojis, with the SUBSTITUTE function, with the REGEXREPLACE function, with an Apps Scripts.

Get your copy of the example workbook and follow along with this post to learn how to insert bullet points in Google Sheets.

Insert Bullet Points with Copy and Paste

There are a number of online websites that help you to copy and paste bullet points. You just simply copy your desired bullet points symbol and paste it into your Google Sheets.  Here you learn how to copy and paste the bullet points from the website symbolcopy.

Please follow the below steps to insert bullet points in Google Sheets with copy and paste

1. Open symbolcopy bullet page in your browser.
2. Just click the symbol centered dot (•) which is copied to your clipboard.

3. Go to your Google Sheet in which you want bullet points.
4. Select a cell.
5. Press F2 to edit the cell.
6. Press Ctrl + V to paste the copied symbol.
7. Type any text for your list item.

This is one of the most simple ways to make a bullet point in your worksheet.

You don’t even need to stick with traditional bullet point symbols, you can try other interesting options such as adding checkmarks to the sheet.

Insert Bullet Points with a Keyboard Shortcut

A keyboard shortcut is a sequence or key combinations on a computer keyboard that provide an alternative way to do something that you would normally do with a mouse.

You have the option to insert bullet points with a keyboard shortcut using the Alt key with a number combination.

Please follow the below steps to insert a bullet point symbol centered dot • with a keyboard shortcut in Google Sheets

1. Select a cell in which to add a bullet point.
2. Press F2 to edit the cell.
3. Press Alt + 7 to insert the bullet point symbol.
4. Type the text for your bullet list item.

6. Press Alt + Enter to insert a new line within a cell.
7. Press Alt + 7 to insert the bullet point symbol.
8. Type out the next item in the bullet point list.

💡 Tip: You can make bullet points in a single cell in Google Sheets by pressing Alt + Enter to begin a new line and then using the Alt + 7 shortcut to insert a bullet point.

You can refer to the below list of Alt numbers to insert the respective bullet point symbols other than the symbol.

Each of these symbols is a great option and will give your list a slightly different look.

⚠️ Warning: These shortcuts will only work using a keyboard with a dedicated number pad! Using the top number row won’t work.

Insert Bullet Points with the CHAR Function

In Google Sheets, the CHAR function takes the number as an input and returns the associated character. It can be used to specify complicated characters in a formula.

Please follow the below steps to insert a bullet point with the CHAR Function in Google Sheets.

= CHAR ( 8226 ) & " Your text here!"

Use the above formula to insert the bullet point symbol with your text.

Here the code 8226 is referring to the centered dot • symbol.

You can insert other bullet points too! Refer to the below table and use the respective code.

There are many more symbols that could be used as bullet points, so explore them all and find the ones you like best!

Insert Bullet Points with the UNICHAR Function

Like the CHAR function, you can use the UNICHAR function to insert bullet points in Google Sheets. UNICHAR function takes the number as an input and returns the associated character.

Please follow the below steps to insert a bullet point symbol with the UNICHAR Function in Google Sheets.

= UNICHAR ( 8226 ) & " Your text here!"

Use the above formula to add a bullet point. Here the code 8226 is referring the centered dot • symbol.

If you need to insert other bullet point symbols, you use the same codes as the CHAR function codes.

📝 Note: The CHAR and UNICHAR functions are the same in Google Sheets.

Insert Bullet Points with a Custom Format

Google Sheets has a lot of built-in formats and also gives the option for you to create your own formats. if you need something very specific.

You can use a custom format to insert bullet points in Google Sheets. Once you learn to use the custom format in Google Sheets, there are a lot of options available to you.

Please follow the below steps to use a bullet point with a Custom Format in Google Sheets.

1. Select the range of cells to which you want to apply the format.
2. Select Format in the main menu.
3. Choose the Number option.
4. Click Custom number format in the submenu to open the custom number formats dialog box.

5. Enter • @ into the Custom number format input.
6. Press the Apply button.

The • @ format will show a bullet point in front of any text or number value entered in the cell. No need to enter the bullet manually in each cell.

Now that you have applied the custom format to the range, you can type any text in the formatted cells. The cells always start with the bullet points symbol!

Insert Bullet Points Inside a Drawing Textbox

The Drawing tools help you to insert text boxes and shapes into your Google Sheets.

Once you add a text box object in the drawing tool, you can see the additional options to format the text and add bullet points in Google Sheets.

Please follow the below steps to insert a bullet point symbol inside a drawing text box in Google Sheets.

1. Select Insert in the main menu.
2. Choose the Drawing option to open the drawing editor.

3. Click the Text box icon in the drawing editor.
4. Click anywhere in the drawing editor to Insert the text box.

5. Type your text in the text box.
6. Click the … more button in the top right corner of the drawing ribbon.
7. Click the small down arrow to open the bulleted list.
8. Select any bulleted style from the pop-up menu.
9. Press the Save and close button.

In the above steps insert a text box with bullet points in your Google Sheets. You can drag and adjust the text box object anywhere in your Google Sheets.

Insert Bullet Points with Emojis

An emoji is a small icon, you can use it in your text, and insert emojis in Google Sheets by using the keyboard shortcut Win + Period.

Everyone like making lists instead of long sentences. You can use bullet points to organize your points or items neatly into a list.

Please follow the below steps to insert a bullet point symbol centered dot (•) with Emojis

1. Select any cell.
2. Press F2 to edit the cell.
3. Press the Win + . (windows key plus the period) to open the Emojis dialog box.

4. Select Symbol icon.
5. Select any of the bullet symbols.
6. Press the Close button.

This is an easy way to insert many symbols which can be used as bullet points!

💡 Tip: Use the Emoji’s for more colorful and stylish bullet options.

Insert Bullet Points with the SUBSTITUTE Function

You can use Google Sheets’s inbuilt SUBSTITUTE function to insert bullet points.

The SUBSTITUTE function can replace any substring within text your text. You can join the bullet point symbol with existing text while replacing the text to insert the bullet points.

Suppose you have a list of items inside a cell where each is on a separate line like the above image. You need to add a bullet point to each line. 

= SUBSTITUTE ( B3, CHAR ( 10 ), CHAR ( 10 ) & "• " )

Use the above formula to insert bullet points at each new line using the SUBSTITUTE function 

This will replace the new line break CHAR(10) with a bullet point.

Insert Bullet Points with the REGEXREPLACE Function

You can use the Google Sheets inbuilt REGEXREPLACE function to insert bullet points like the substitute function.

A regular expression can define a text search pattern using a series of characters.

This will allow you to find each new line and insert the bullet symbol at each line. 

= REGEXREPLACE ( B3, CHAR ( 10 ), CHAR ( 10 ) & "• " )

Use the above formula to add a bullet point symbol at each line with the REGEXREPLACE function.

This will replace the new line break CHAR(10) with a bullet point character.

Insert Bullet Points with Apps Scripts

Apps script is a tool that can help you to automate your tasks in Google Sheets. You can use app scripts to insert bullet points based on a user’s actions.

Follow these steps to open the app script code editor window.

1. Go to the Extensions menu.
2. Click on the Apps Script option.

/**
* This function will replace bullet points inside a cell in Google Sheets 
* @customfunction
**/

function bulletPoints() {
  //assigned active sheet to the variable ss
  var ss = SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSpreadsheet().getActiveSheet()

  //assigned selected Range to the variable selectedCell
  var selectedCell = ss.getActiveRange()
 
  //Add bullet points inside a cell replace new line break with bullet point and line break
    var tempText = selectedCell.getValue();
    tempText = tempText.replace(/\n/g, "\n"+ "•");
    selectedCell.setValue(tempText);
}

function onOpen() {
  // Create a menu
  SpreadsheetApp.getUi()
      .createMenu('Bullet Points')
      .addItem('Add Bullet Points', 'bulletPoints')
      .addToUi();
}

3. Copy and paste the above script into your Google Sheet code editor.
4. Click the Save button.
5. Please refresh your browser window.

The script will create a new Bullet Points menu in the Google Sheets ribbon after reloading.

This new menu will have a submenu item Add Bullet Points, which will run the above script to insert bullet points inside the selected cell.

You can use this script on any cell that contains line breaks and it will make a bullet point for each line. 

Follow these steps to run the app script.

1. Select the cell where you need to insert bullet points.
2. Click on the Bullet Points menu.
3. Select the Add Bullet Points option in the submenu.

The script will insert a bullet point at the start of each line break inside the selected cell.

Conclusions

Usually, you will want to create lists with bullet points to help identify and differentiate separate items in the list. Bullet points help you to quickly organize and emphasize information.

You can always Copy and Paste your bullet points from the web or use the Emoji keyboard when you need to manually insert the bullet points. Keyboard shortcuts are also a good option when manually adding bullets but you must use the number pad for these.

Google Sheets also has multiple inbuilt functions such as CHAR, UNICHAR, SUBSTITUTE, and REGEXREPLACE that can help to insert the bullet points for you.

A Custom format or the Drawing editor to insert the bullet points can also be an alternate option in Google Sheets depending on your needs.

Finally, you can use the Apps script to automatically insert bullet points inside a single cell at each instance of a line break.

Have you tried any other methods to insert bullet points in Google Sheets? Let me know in the comments below!