[Tex/LaTex] Full Customize of Itemize and Enumerate

#enumerateenumitemitemizelists

Suppose, it's necessary to change the most of itemize or enumerate parameters globally (it's not elegant to change the parameters inside every itemize or enumerate environment). If to write something like 

\renewcommand{\@listI}{
\leftmargin=5mm
\labelsep=5mm
\itemindent=0mm
\listparindent=3mm}

it will not work in standard LaTeX classes. Also, it's possible to create own itemize like 

\newenvironment{itemizetest}
{\begin{list}{$\bullet$}{
\leftmargin=5mm
\labelwidth=3mm
\labelsep=3mm
}}{\end{list}}

but it's just one-level itemize (not nested).

  1. Is it possible to change default parameters of itemize/enumerate globally (in preamble)?
  2. If to create own itemize or enumerate, is it possible to create 2nd level (nested)?

Best Answer

enumitem provides a dedicated way of dealing with this. Read more about it under section 5 Global settings (p 9) in the enumitem documentation.

The main interface provides:

\setlist[enumerate,<levels>]{<format>}
\setlist[itemize,<levels>]{<format>}
\setlist[description,<levels>]{<format>}
\setlist[<levels>]{<format>}

which can be used to set the <format> for different <levels> of the lists enumerate, itemize and description, or globally for all. Without <levels>, it applies to all levels.

The following illustration shows a nested enumerate/itemize list using the default settings on the left, while \setlist[enumerate]{noitemsep,label*=\arabic*.} has been applied to the same nested structure on the right:

enter image description here

As may be seen, only enumerate has no separation between items and a nested \arabic*. label style as supplied through \setlist.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{enumitem}% http://ctan.org/pkg/enumitem
\begin{document}

\noindent
\begin{minipage}[t]{0.5\textwidth}
\begin{enumerate}
  \item First item
  \begin{itemize}
    \item Second item
    \item Third item
    \begin{enumerate}
      \item Fourth item
      \item Fifth item
    \end{enumerate}
    \item Sixth item
    \begin{itemize}
      \item Seventh item
      \item Eighth item
    \end{itemize}
    \item Ninth item
  \end{itemize}
  \item Tenth item
\end{enumerate}
\end{minipage}%
\begin{minipage}[t]{0.5\textwidth}
\setlist[enumerate]{noitemsep,label*=\arabic*.}
\begin{enumerate}
  \item First item
  \begin{itemize}
    \item Second item
    \item Third item
    \begin{enumerate}
      \item Fourth item
      \item Fifth item
    \end{enumerate}
    \item Sixth item
    \begin{itemize}
      \item Seventh item
      \item Eighth item
    \end{itemize}
    \item Ninth item
  \end{itemize}
  \item Tenth item
\end{enumerate}
\end{minipage}

\end{document}
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