Text
Text that behaves predictably
Text lives in placeholders or text boxes. Select text to format characters; select the placeholder border to format the whole object. Know font, size, bold, italic, underline, colour, character spacing, alignment, line spacing, bullet and numbering controls, indentation and text direction. Use Tab and Shift+Tab to demote and promote bullet levels, and the ruler or Paragraph dialog for precise indents. Autofit can shrink text on overflow, resize the shape, or do nothing - know which option is active. Find and Replace can work across the deck; spell check uses the review tools and a custom dictionary. WordArt is decorative text, not body text.
Traps
Formatting a whole placeholder when the question asks for one word is a classic error; so is pressing Enter to create a new bullet when a line break is wanted (Shift+Enter). Bullet changes may apply only to the selected paragraphs. Replace All can alter unintended matches, so review. Autofit shrinking text is not the same as reducing font size manually, and overflowing text may be hidden in a slide show.
Rule of thumb
If bullets are at the wrong level, place the cursor in the paragraph and press Tab to demote or Shift+Tab to promote. If only one line should move, select that line first; the program applies the change to the paragraphs containing the selection.