Working with lists

The Google Docs API supports updating paragraph styles, converting plain paragraphs to bulleted lists, and removing bullets from paragraphs.

Convert a paragraph to a list

A common paragraph formatting operation is converting paragraphs into a bulleted list. Use the CreateParagraphBulletsRequest with a range and optionally a bullet glyph to create a list. All paragraphs that overlap with the provide range will be bulleted. If the specified range overlaps with a table, the bullets will be applied within the table cells.

The following example show a batch request that first inserts text at the start of the document then creates a list out the paragraphs spanning the first 50 characters.

Java

      List<Request> requests = new ArrayList<>();
      requests.add(new Request().setInsertText(new InsertTextRequest()
              .setText("Item One\n")
              .setLocation(new Location().setIndex(1))));

      requests.add(new Request().setCreateParagraphBullets(
              new CreateParagraphBulletsRequest()
                      .setRange(new Range()
                              .setStartIndex(1)
                              .setEndIndex(50))
                      .setBulletPreset("BULLET_ARROW_DIAMOND_DISC")));

      BatchUpdateDocumentRequest body = new BatchUpdateDocumentRequest().setRequests(requests);
      BatchUpdateDocumentResponse response = docsService.documents()
              .batchUpdate(DOCUMENT_ID, body).execute();

Python

    requests = [
         {
            'insertText': {
                'location': {
                    'index': 1
                },
                'text': 'Item One\n',
            }}, {
            'createParagraphBullets': {
                'range': {
                    'startIndex': 1,
                    'endIndex':  50
                },
                'bulletPreset': 'BULLET_ARROW_DIAMOND_DISC',
            }
        }
    ]

    result = service.documents().batchUpdate(
        documentId=DOCUMENT_ID, body={'requests': requests}).execute()

You can also use CreateParagraphBulletsRequest to change the bullet style on an existing list.

To remove a paragraph list, use DeleteParagraphBulletsRequest.

Java

      List<Request> requests = new ArrayList<>();
      requests.add(new Request().setDeleteParagraphBullets(
              new DeleteParagraphBulletsRequest()
                      .setRange(new Range()
                              .setStartIndex(1)
                              .setEndIndex(50))));

      BatchUpdateDocumentRequest body = new BatchUpdateDocumentRequest().setRequests(requests);
      BatchUpdateDocumentResponse response = docsService.documents()
              .batchUpdate(DOCUMENT_ID, body).execute();

Python

    requests = [
         {
            'deleteParagraphBullets': {
                'range': {
                    'startIndex': 1,
                    'endIndex':  50
                },
            }
        }
    ]

    result = service.documents().batchUpdate(
        documentId=DOCUMENT_ID, body={'requests': requests}).execute()