A procedure becomes ambiguous when a supporting detail looks like the next main action. Before adjusting indents, decide what each level means. A main step might describe an action, while a substep describes the observations required before continuing. Formatting should make that distinction visible throughout the document.

Work on a short example containing two main steps and two substeps. Include one item that wraps onto a second line, because a single-word sample will not show whether the hanging text remains easy to follow. Keep a second procedure elsewhere in the document as a comparison.

In Pages on Mac, the Bullets & Lists controls are in Format, Style, or Text then Style for text inside an object. Tab moves a list item inward and Shift-Tab moves it outward. Numbered lists can use Tiered Numbers for a nested sequence.

Build the style one level at a time

Create a new style from the Bullets & Lists style menu. Format the first level, then click Update beside the style. Add a lower level, format it and update again. Apple specifies repeating this for each level; updating changes existing items at the same hierarchy level. List styles include Bullets & Lists settings, not Font-section formatting.

Give the style a name that explains its purpose in the document. A name such as “Procedure steps” is more useful to a later editor than a description of the current colour, especially if the visual design will change.

Apply the style to the comparison procedure and inspect the role of every item. A substep should remain subordinate because of its relationship to the task, not merely because somebody dragged its paragraph to an attractive horizontal position.

Decide whether a change is local or shared

An asterisk beside the list style indicates an override. Leaving it retains the local change; using Update incorporates the change into the style. Before updating, inspect another list using that style so you understand which items should change together.

Finally, insert a temporary substep into the example, then remove it. Check the hierarchy and wrapped lines each time. Read the procedure without looking at the formatting controls: can another person tell which observations belong to which action? Review the finished output at its normal reading size before applying the design throughout a longer handbook.

Reference: Apple: formatting lists in Pages.