Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. If you are using a later version (Word 2007 or later), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for later versions of Word, click here: Deleting Tab Stops.

Deleting Tab Stops

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated November 2, 2019)
This tip applies to Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003


There may be times when you don't want to clear all the tab stops in your document—you only want to clear a few of them. To clear individual tab stops for a paragraph, follow these steps:

  1. Make sure the insertion point is in the paragraph whose tabs you wish to clear.
  2. Choose Tabs from the Format menu. Word displays the Tabs dialog box. (See Figure 1.)
  3. Figure 1. The Tabs dialog box.

  4. In the tab list below the Tab Stop Position box, select the tab stop you want to clear.
  5. Click on Clear.
  6. Repeat steps 3 and 4 for each tab stop you want to clear.
  7. Click on OK.

If you have the ruler displayed on-screen, then you can also delete tabs by following these steps:

  1. Make sure the insertion point is in the paragraph whose tabs you wish to clear.
  2. Use the horizontal scroll bar to scroll left or right until you can see the offending tab on the ruler.
  3. On the ruler, click on the tab indicator and drag it off the ruler. When you release the mouse button, the tab should disappear from the ruler.
  4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 for each tab stop you wish to clear.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (246) applies to Microsoft Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. You can find a version of this tip for the ribbon interface of Word (Word 2007 and later) here: Deleting Tab Stops.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. ...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Pulling Tables Back Into View

If you make structural changes to your table by adding new columns here and there, you could easily end up with a table ...

Discover More

Problem Printing Quotation Marks

If you go to print a document and find out that your quotation marks aren't printing properly, there could be a number of ...

Discover More

ExcelTips Ribbon 2021 Archive (Table of Contents)

ExcelTips is a weekly newsletter that provides tips on how to best use Microsoft's spreadsheet program. At the ...

Discover More

The First and Last Word on Word! Bestselling For Dummies author Dan Gookin puts his usual fun and friendly candor back to work to show you how to navigate Word 2013. Spend more time working and less time trying to figure it all out! Check out Word 2013 For Dummies today!

More WordTips (menu)

Deleting All Tab Stops

Tab stops can be helpful when you want to align text within a paragraph. However, you might also want an easy way to get ...

Discover More

Setting Decimal Tabs in a Table Using the Keyboard

Most people use the mouse to set tab stops in the paragraphs in a table. If you prefer to not use the mouse, then you'll ...

Discover More

Flush Left and Flush Right On the Same Line

Need to have some text at the left margin and some at the right, all on the same line? It's easy to do if you use your ...

Discover More
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

View most recent newsletter.

Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] (all 7 characters, in the sequence shown) in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

What is 2 + 8?

There are currently no comments for this tip. (Be the first to leave your comment—just use the simple form above!)


This Site

Got a version of Word that uses the menu interface (Word 97, Word 2000, Word 2002, or Word 2003)? This site is for you! If you use a later version of Word, visit our WordTips site focusing on the ribbon interface.

Videos
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)

View the most recent newsletter.