Tame Word's List Indentation
The Problem:
The way Word indents listsespecially nested listsis very frustrating. If you leave it at the default settings, you very quickly end up with very short lines. Trying to reformat a line within the list so that it aligns the way I want it to is next to impossible.
The Solution:
I doubt that this is what you want to hear, but you need to adjust the styles you use for the lists (whether they are list styles or paragraph styles) so that they have the indentation you want. Don't leave the styles at their default settings, because Word indents the lines generously, as you say.