Ordered list

An ordered list numbers its points: 1, 2, 3. Use it when the order matters, such as the steps of a procedure, or when people will refer to a point by its number (“see step 4”). Tesria keeps the numbers right as you add, remove and move points.

Insert it

Type the command at the start of an empty line, press Enter and type the first step. Press Enter for each next step, and Enter on an empty step to finish the list.

• Markdown: 1. and a space at the start of a line. Start with another number, such as 4., and the list counts from there.

• Toolbar: the Ordered list button (on a phone, in the Aa Style menu). With several paragraphs selected, it numbers each one.

• Keyboard: Ctrl+Shift+7 (⌘+Shift+7 on a Mac).

Lists are not in the + menu, because they have their own buttons on the toolbar.

Kinds of ordered list, and when to use each

Steps in order

1. Turn the printer off and unplug it.

2. Open the front cover and lift out the old toner cartridge.

3. Shake the new cartridge gently from side to side, then slide it in until it clicks.

4. Close the cover and turn the printer back on.

A procedure someone follows from top to bottom. Start each step with what to do, one action to a step.

Steps with steps inside them

1. Book the room for the launch review.

   1. Find a free afternoon in the team calendar.

   2. Book the room in the office app.

2. Send the agenda to everyone invited.

When a step has parts of its own. Press Tab in a step to move it under the one above; it is numbered from 1 again at its own level. Shift+Tab moves it back out.

Bullets inside a numbered step

1. Pack what you need:

   • Laptop and charger

   • ID badge

   • Parking permit

2. Leave by 8:30 to beat the traffic on the bridge.

Things within a step whose order does not matter. Press Tab to move a point in, then press the Bullet list button, or Ctrl+Shift+8, to make that level bullets.

A list that starts at another number

1. Unpack the monitor and stand.

2. Screw the stand onto the back of the monitor.

3. Connect the cable to your laptop.

4. Choose your display settings.

5. Put the packaging in the recycling room.

When a note, a picture or a table interrupts a procedure, the steps below it carry on from where they stopped: here, from 4. To start a list at another number, type that number, a period and a space at the start of an empty line, such as 4. and a space.

Changing and removing a list

• The numbers look after themselves. Add, remove or move a step and the rest renumber.

• To end a list, press Enter on an empty step.

• To turn it back into paragraphs, select the list and press the Ordered list button or Ctrl+Shift+7 again. The Bullet list button turns it into bullets.

Good practice

• Numbers only when the order matters. Otherwise a Bullet list reads more easily.

• One action to a step, starting with a verb: Open, Choose, Type.

• Say what should happen when a reader needs to know a step worked: The light turns green.

• For long procedures, give each step a heading, as this site does, so a step can hold pictures and notes of its own.

Related elements

• Bullet list for points in no particular order.

• Task list for things to do and tick off.

• Headings for steps that need more than a line.