Bold enumerate labels, non-bold reference to them

Question

I would like to generate an enumerate list with bold labels but then reference them in the text where the label should appear in normal font.

I define my list and include the reference as follows:

\usepackage{enumitem}
\newlist{RQ}{enumerate}{1}
\setlist[RQ]{label=\textbf{RQ\,\arabic*}}

\begin{document}

    \begin{RQ}[align=parleft, leftmargin=!,itemsep=0pt,labelsep=14pt] 
        \item Item text. \label{RQA}
        \item Item text. \label{RQB}
    \end{RQ}

    I am referring to \ref{RQA}.

\end{document}

If I do that, my items are printed just as I want them (in bold, nicely aligned, etc.), but the reference in the text is also printed in bold. Enclosing it by \textnormal or similar statements was not successful.

Answer 1

The ref=... key is precisely meant to change the appearance of a reference to a list item other than the appearance of the item itself.

The \, is a little bit weird, in my point of view, but I kept it in the answer.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{enumitem}
\newlist{RQ}{enumerate}{1}
\setlist[RQ]{label=\textbf{RQ\,\arabic*},ref={RQ\,\arabic*}}

\begin{document}

    \begin{RQ}[align=parleft, leftmargin=!,itemsep=0pt,labelsep=14pt] 
        \item Item text. \label{RQA}
        \item Item text. \label{RQB}
    \end{RQ}

    I am referring to \ref{RQA}.

\end{document}