How to set default 'Adjust List Indents' - Word 2013

There are hints and bits in the comments already, but I'll try to put it together. If I understand correctly, you want to have some (list indent) settings in any new document instead of re-applying those settings every time you need them.

There are two steps to achieve this:

1. Apply the desired settings to a style
2. Save the style in the document template normal.dotm

Apply the desired settings to a style
Styles contain many layout settings. Every style had a name. This had the advantage that your document's layout is consistent and can be managed by editing the styles instead of all around your document. Say you have a bullet list named "Bullet list" and you want to change the style of that bullets from filled bullets to open bullets, you just change the style, and every occurrence of that bullet list in your document is changed. The basic idea behind all this is the separations of presentation (style) and content, which is widely adopted on web pages, where style (css) and content are also separated.

Now follow these steps to change the default behavior of numbered lists:

• Open a new document
• Create a numbered list and apply any formatting you like
• Select the numbered list you just created
• Click on the Styles drop-down in the Office ribbon and check which style is used. If it is a specific style for numbered lists (like the Office default "List Paragraph"), right-click on that style and select "Update to match selection". If another style is selected, like "Normal", select "Save selection as a New Quick Style..." and give it a meaningful name.
• Finally, drop-down the Styles from the Ribbon again, and right-click on the style you just created. Click "Modify...". Make sure that the line "Style for following paragraph" has the value "List Paragraph". This makes sure that any new list is based on this style.

Now, any time you create a numbered list in this document, this style is applied. Cool, huh? But now you want to put this style in any new document that you create...

Save the style in the document template normal.dotm
Any new Word document is created from the template normal.dotm. To have your style in any new document, we have to put that style in your normal.dotx. Follow these steps:

• In Word, close all documents.
• Click "File", "Open...", on the top left, select "Microsoft Word" and click "Templates". There you should see the normal.dotm file. Open it. If you can't find this file, browse to the following path: C:\Users\<your username>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Templates and open it from there.
• Validate that you have this file actually opened, as the file name should appear in the title bar.
• Modify the style for numbered lists, just as you just did (this is hopefully the last time you have to do this...)
• Save the document.

Now, any new document (based on the normal template) should have your numbered list style in it. This style should be applied if you create a numbered list and/or if you apply your style to a any text in your document.

Note that the above approach works for all styles and content and any layout defined in the normal.dotm file. So you can change the default paragraph spacing, headers/footers, company logo, font, page numbers, etc.