Bullet Point Symbols

A bullet is a typed shortcut for a list

In a word processor, a bullet is part of the list structure: you click a button and the app draws a marker, indents the line and keeps the alignment. In a plain text field, such as a social bio, a video description or a profile summary, none of that exists. You have to type the marker yourself, and the character you choose becomes part of the text. That is why people search for bullet symbols to copy.

The standard is • (U+2022, BULLET). It is in every font and every character set that matters, so it appears reliably anywhere text does. The others are alternatives for taste, not necessity.

Round, square, arrow

The round family differs mostly in size and weight. • is the normal size. ◦ (WHITE BULLET) is a hollow version used for sub-points. ∙ (BULLET OPERATOR) is a maths symbol that happens to look like a small bullet, and · (MIDDLE DOT) is smaller and sits at mid-height. ● and ○ (BLACK CIRCLE and WHITE CIRCLE) are much larger, which suits a presentation or a big heading but looks heavy in body text. ◉ and ◎ add a ring and a dot, while ⦿ and ⦾ are circled bullets from the maths blocks.

Squares and diamonds ▪ ▫ ■ □ ◆ ◇ read as more formal and structured. The small squares ▪ and ▫ are particularly popular for tidy lists because they are compact and don’t distract from the words.

Arrow bullets suit steps and calls to action. ‣ (TRIANGULAR BULLET) is the one in this group that is designed as a list marker; the others, such as ➤ and ➔, are dingbat arrows borrowed for the job. Arrows imply direction or sequence, so use them for “do this next”, not for an unordered list.

Dashes and hyphens

The hyphen-minus is the plainest bullet and needs no copy-paste. The en dash – and the em dash — are used in some house styles as list markers, and ⁃ (HYPHEN BULLET) is a character built for exactly that purpose, a short horizontal bar sitting at bullet height. Be aware that an en dash and an em dash are punctuation marks, so a screen reader may announce them as “en dash” and “em dash” where a bullet would be skipped or read as “bullet”.

Bullets in bios, LinkedIn and descriptions

Most platforms treat a bio as plain text with line breaks. A short list of three or four items starting with • or ▪ is easy to scan. Platforms differ in whether they preserve line breaks, how many characters they allow, and which symbols they accept, so verify after saving. Our character limits guide explains why a bullet that looks like one character may count as one or more, and the platform pages such as Instagram fonts record limits we have documented.

On LinkedIn, there is no list button in post composer, so pasted bullets are the usual workaround. Keep to • or ▪ for the best chance of identical results across devices. In a resume, use • or your word processor’s real list, since applicant tracking systems read text and rare symbols may be lost.

Text and emoji presentation

Almost all bullets here are text characters. A few of the decorative ones, such as ♦ (BLACK DIAMOND SUIT) and ☛ (BLACK RIGHT POINTING INDEX), may be drawn as colour emoji on some phones. ★ and ☆ also have emoji look-alikes. You can ask for text with the invisible variation selector U+FE0E after the character, but apps may ignore it. If consistency matters, use • ▪ or ◆, which don’t have emoji forms.

How to type a bullet

1. Windows Alt code. Hold Alt and type 0149 on the numeric keypad for •, the Windows code-page bullet. Alt+7 also gives a bullet in many programs, using the older DOS character set.
2. Mac, US layout. Option+8 types •, and Option+Shift+9 types the middle dot ·. Other layouts differ.
3. iPhone. On the numeric keyboard, press and hold the hyphen key to reveal •.
4. Android. Most keyboards put • on the symbols page; the exact location depends on the keyboard app.
5. Word and Google Docs. Use the list button for a structural bullet; for typed characters, use Alt+X with 2022 for •.
6. HTML. • gives •.

Accessibility

A screen reader may read a typed bullet as “bullet” or skip it, depending on the program and the setting. Real HTML or word processor lists are announced as lists with a count of items, which is much more helpful. In plain text fields, a line starting with • is clear enough, but decorative bullets are read by name, so ✿ becomes “black florette” at the start of each line. Stick to a simple bullet for anything important. For the wider issue see the fancy text accessibility guide.

Combining bullets with other symbols

For separating sections rather than listing items, see the divider symbols page. For tick-style lists with a done state, the check mark symbols page has boxes. The arrow symbols page has more pointer shapes.