Multi-Level Numbered List

PastaShock · December 29, 2025 at 2:06 AM

Another newbie question. I'm trying to create a multi-level numbered list, and I'm thinking something has changed from Affinity Publisher 2 and Affinity Studio 3.

I'm watching this video and trying to use it to set up a 2-level bulleted list:

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According to the video, I should be able to hit a tab and automatically get the number to indent and my paragraph style should show the list level as 2 now instead of 1. But it doesn't do that. The level is still one. And if I manually change the level to 2, and then start changing the settings, then every item I have that style applied to changes to the level 2 settings.

Am I even making sense here? I'm not sure if I am describing it right.

My ultimate goal is to create a numbered list with 2 level. The second level should use letters instead of numbers. The only way I can get that to work right now is by defining two separate paragraph styles and applying the styles to the specific lines based on whether they're indented or not. The video makes it look like I should be able to define one paragraph style and multiple list levels in that one style and I can just move to level 2 by hitting tab. But that's not what I am getting.

dominik · December 29, 2025 at 2:44 AM

Hello PastaShock ,

I just did a quick try in Affinity Studio and Affinity Publisher V2. I followed the video's example at about 5 minutes.

I can confirm that there is a different behaviour between AS and APub 2. In APub 2 hitting the TAB key changes the list level. In AS it does not.

I think this is worth a feedback via the in app help (top right).

d.

PastaShock · December 29, 2025 at 3:52 AM

Thank you for confirming. Feedback sent.

Oufti · December 29, 2025 at 11:51 AM

Quote from dominik

I can confirm that there is a different behaviour between AS and APub 2. In APub 2 hitting the TAB key changes the list level. In AS it does not.

Actually, what has changed is the default setting: with both versions, there is a check box in Preferences > Auto-correct that lets you use the Tab key either to insert a tabulation or to automatically change the indent level.

Alfred · December 29, 2025 at 12:03 PM

Quote from Oufti

Actually, what has changed is the default setting: with both versions, there is a check box in Preferences > Auto-correct that lets you use the Tab key either to insert a tabulation or to automatically change the indent level.

Changing the default setting must have been a deliberate choice. I suspect that many users would find it helpful to have a list of such changes and the reasoning behind them.

dominik · December 29, 2025 at 2:28 PM

Quote from Oufti

Actually, what has changed is the default setting: with both versions, there is a check box in Preferences > Auto-correct that lets you use the Tab key either to insert a tabulation or to automatically change the indent level.

Thank you Oufti ,

that is an interesting hint. Since I never use auto-correct I was not aware of this setting. I can confirm that it works as expected once the option is turned on.

d.

PastaShock · March 3, 2026 at 6:03 AM

I'm playing a lot more with bulleted lists now, and I think what's in Affinity 3 is just broken.

I'm watching this video to learn to do Bulleted and Numbered lists and I can duplicate about 80% of what she's doing. But even then, it's not that hard to break the formatting of a list when you tweak it.

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walt.farrell · March 3, 2026 at 12:57 PM

Quote from PastaShock

I'm watching this video to learn to do Bulleted and Numbered lists and I can duplicate about 80% of what she's doing. But even then, it's not that hard to break the formatting of a list when you tweak it.

Do you have any specific examples?

PastaShock · March 3, 2026 at 2:20 PM

I move the ruler, update the style, and then resize the window, and it all goes to sh**, and I need to redo it all.

And last night, I could not get the bullets to sit flush with the left of the text box no matter what I did. When I duplicated the same behavior in Affinity 2.6.5, it worked just fine.

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