In MS Word, how do I prevent a bullet/number from modifying when changing the color/size of the rest of its line?

In Microsoft Word 2013, is it possible to prevent a bullet/number from changing color/size when changing the color/size of rest of the line it's on?

For example, I have the following in an MS Word document:

1. Joe Shmoe
2. Marylou

And I subsequently highlight Joe Shmoe and make the color orange, the number will also be made orange. The same happens for Marylou.

I understand the blank character (pilcrow) at the end of each line has some kind of control over the bullet/number's formatting. But even if I carefully highlight the line not to include the hidden pilcrow, the bullet/number still changes formatting.

As a workaround I've been doing the formatting changes to the first few characters of the line and then the latter characters. Doing the line in 2 parts prevents the bullet/number from taking on the formatting change being done on the line. But I'd like to make it so this isn't a two-step process anymore. How can I accomplish this (without the side-effect of being unable to individually format numbers/bullets in general)?

1 Answer

The color of the bullet in the default list type is set to "automatic" which leads to the behavior that you are struggling with.

You can change this by placing your cursor in the list in question, click the small arrow next to the following icon from the ribbon and choose "Define New List Type":

Set the bullet color from "automatic" to "black". Thats it. From now on the color of the bullet is not affected anymore, if you change the text color of the list item.