How do you change the image of a bullet point in LaTeX Beamer

Question

When I use the itemize environment, i.e.

\begin{itemize} 
    \item one
    \item two
    \item three
\end{itemize}

The bullet points are ugly bitmap graphics that have harsh (aliased) edges. I'd like it to be a nice, clean font character or vector graphic

Stegodon

Answer 1

You can simply set a symbol of your choice. Let me assume you'd like the \checkmark symbol, just write:

\begin{itemize} 
    \item[\checkmark] one
    \item[\checkmark] two
    \item[\checkmark] three
\end{itemize}

Furthermore, if it's too long to write, you can set a new command:

\newcommand{\myitem}{\item[\checkmark]}

and the whole thing becomes:

\begin{itemize} 
   \myitem one
   \myitem two
   \myitem three
\end{itemize}

Otherwise, you can use the enumitem package as stated in the answer below.

---

For document classes other than beamer, there are two more ways to do the trick:

In the preamble, write:

\def\labelitemi{\checkmark}

If you want to change the symbol in only one itemize environment, write:

\begin{itemize} 
\newcommand{\labelitemi}{\checkmark}
   \item one
   \item two
   \item three
\end{itemize}

Lanta

Thanks! I used your "\myitem" solution and it works well. It looks a lot better. I also tried renewing the labelitemi command but I got an error that \labelitemi was not defined. – Stegodon

just edited to avoid the error you get. \renewcommand should be used inside the environment – Lanta

Thanks again. I tried \def\labelitemi{\checkmark} in the preamble, but nothing changed when I used \item (still the default bitmap bullet). I then tried the \newcommand method inside the particular itemize and it did not change anything either. I tried \renewcommand inside the itemize environment and got an error because it was not defined. I also tried \def\labelitemi{\checkmark} in the preamble AND \renewcommand{\labelitemi} and got an error that it was undefined. – Stegodon

I found your solution again on a website while searching around on the web for "labelitemi". I wonder if the problem is that this is inside beamer. According to this post: #2611776 beamer remaps the {itemize} environment... – Stegodon

Yes, it's true. the \newcommand and \def cause errors when using beamer (but not in other document classes). Now correcting the answer. – Lanta

Answer 2

Probably the best way is to use the beamer template:

\setbeamertemplate{itemize items}{\checkmark}

Valles

An alternative that may be of use for somebody: \let\OldItem\item \renewcommand{\item}{\OldItem[\checkmark]} – Mauricemauricio

Answer 3

So here is the long answer. I found this in the beamer manual. In beamer there are kind of two things you can do. One is to set the "innertheme".

\useinnertheme{circles}

This will have (roughly) the same effect as

\newcommand{\myitem}{\item[\textbullet]}

The other thing you can do is set the template

\setbeamertemplate{itemize item}{\textbullet}

Stegodon

Answer 4

You can also use a nice image with graphicx:

\usepackage{graphicx}
...
\item[\includegraphics{./images/image.png}]{Text}

Adjure

The problem is that you cannot specify the size. – Mainly

Answer 5

If you \usepackage{enumitem} you can then then set the label as a parameter

\begin{itemize}[label=\checkmark]
   \item ....
   \item ...
\end{itemize}

Full documentation is here.

Pogey

Should be enumerate not itemize. – Luxor

Answer 6

I solved my trobules with Russian and custom beamber symbols using Asana-math:

\setmathfont{Asana-Math.otf}

which implies using XeLaTeX, but the idea is the same for LaTeX -- just set the symbols manually:

\setbeamertemplate{itemize item}{$\blacktriangleright$}
\setbeamertemplate{itemize subitem}{$\QED$}
\setbeamertemplate{itemize subsubitem}{$\smblkcircle$}

Dayan