I have a buffer with the 3 lines below. Notice that the long lines contains no newlines. I selected (with the mark) the whole last line, the one starting with "2.", and ran `fill-region`. It worked, and the line was filled. Then I tried to do the same with the line starting with "1.", but when I selected it and ran fill-region, nothing happened, and it remained one long line. If I try to fill the line starting with "1." first, before filling "2.", it works. And after "1." I can fill "2.". If I remove the "1." and "2." and just have two long lines instead of a list, they can be filled in any order. The buffer text: * Test 1. long line long line long line long line long line long line long line long line long line long line long line long line long line long line long line long line long line long line long line long line 2. long line long line long line long line long line long line long line long line long line long line long line long line long line long line long line long line long line long line long line long line Emacs : GNU Emacs 25.1.1 (x86_64-pc-linux-gnu, GTK+ Version 3.18.9) of 2016-12-21 Package: Org mode version 9.0.5 (9.0.5-elpa @ /home/oskar/.emacs.d/elpa/org-20170210/) current state: ============== (setq org-tab-first-hook '(org-babel-hide-result-toggle-maybe org-babel-header-arg-expand) org-speed-command-hook '(org-speed-command-default-hook org-babel-speed-command-hook) org-occur-hook '(org-first-headline-recenter) org-metaup-hook '(org-babel-load-in-session-maybe) org-confirm-shell-link-function 'yes-or-no-p org-startup-indented t org-after-todo-state-change-hook '(org-clock-out-if-current) org-from-is-user-regexp "\\" org-src-mode-hook '(org-src-babel-configure-edit-buffer org-src-mode-configure-edit-buffer) org-agenda-before-write-hook '(org-agenda-add-entry-text) org-babel-pre-tangle-hook '(save-buffer) org-mode-hook '(rainbow-delimiters-mode #[0 "\300\301\302\303\304$\207" [add-hook change-major-mode-hook org-show-block-all append local] 5 "\n\n(fn)"] #[0 "\300\301\302\303\304$\207" [add-hook change-major-mode-hook org-babel-show-result-all append local] 5 "\n\n(fn)"] org-babel-result-hide-spec org-babel-hide-all-hashes) org-archive-hook '(org-attach-archive-delete-maybe) org-cycle-hook '(org-cycle-hide-archived-subtrees org-cycle-hide-drawers org-cycle-show-empty-lines org-optimize-window-after-visibility-change) org-M-RET-may-split-line nil org-todo-keywords '((sequence "TODO" "IN-PROGRESS" "DONE")) org-confirm-elisp-link-function 'yes-or-no-p org-metadown-hook '(org-babel-pop-to-session-maybe) org-link-parameters '(("id" :follow org-id-open) ("rmail" :follow org-rmail-open :store org-rmail-store-link) ("mhe" :follow org-mhe-open :store org-mhe-store-link) ("irc" :follow org-irc-visit :store org-irc-store-link) ("info" :follow org-info-open :export org-info-export :store org-info-store-link) ("gnus" :follow org-gnus-open :store org-gnus-store-link) ("docview" :follow org-docview-open :export org-docview-export :store org-docview-store-link) ("bibtex" :follow org-bibtex-open :store org-bibtex-store-link) ("bbdb" :follow org-bbdb-open :export org-bbdb-export :complete org-bbdb-complete-link :store org-bbdb-store-link) ("w3m" :store org-w3m-store-link) ("file+sys") ("file+emacs") ("doi" :follow org--open-doi-link) ("elisp" :follow org--open-elisp-link) ("file" :complete org-file-complete-link) ("ftp" :follow (lambda (path) (browse-url (concat "ftp:" path)))) ("help" :follow org--open-help-link) ("http" :follow (lambda (path) (browse-url (concat "http:" path)))) ("https" :follow (lambda (path) (browse-url (concat "https:" path)))) ("mailto" :follow (lambda (path) (browse-url (concat "mailto:" path)))) ("message" :follow (lambda (path) (browse-url (concat "message:" path)))) ("news" :follow (lambda (path) (browse-url (concat "news:" path)))) ("shell" :follow org--open-shell-link)) org-clock-out-hook '(org-clock-remove-empty-clock-drawer) )