Tabs and Tab Stops

Tips, Tricks, and Answers

The following articles are available for the 'Tabs and Tab Stops' topic. Click the article's title (shown in bold) to see the associated article.

Accurately Setting Tabs on the Ruler
If you try to set tabs by clicking on the Ruler, you may not be able to set them exactly where you want. This is normally due to a setting used for aligning graphics, but you can easily change it.

Adding Tabs at the Beginning of a Line
Press Tab at the beginning of a line, and chances are good that Word will simply indent the paragraph rather than inserting an actual tab character. This tip explains how you can insert a real tab character, as well as how to configure Word so it doesn't indent paragraphs when you press Tab.

Aligning Plus/Minus Symbols
Scientific writing often involves the use of special symbols, such as the plus/minus symbol. If you want to align these symbols within a table, there are a couple of techniques you can use.

Aligning Text on a Specific Character
Want to use tab stops to align text according to the position of a certain character? It's easy to do if that character is a decimal point (period), but can also be done for many other characters.

Automatically Setting Right Leader Tabs
If you have a constant need to define tabs at the edge of the right margin, you'll love the macro-based technique provided in this tip. You can, just by running the macro, set the requisite tab and include either dot or underscore leaders for the tab.

Changing Default Tab Stops
By default, Word sets your tabs every 1/2 inch. Here's how to change that setting.

Changing Tabs Using the Ruler
Got tab stops in a paragraph? Change them quickly and easily be dragging them around on the ruler. This tip explains how.

Clearing All Tab Stops in a Paragraph
Tab stops allow you to modify the horizontal position at which text is positioned on a line. If you want to get rid of all the tab stops that may be set for a particular paragraph, it's easy to do using the technique in this tip.

Clearing All Tabs in a Document
Need to get rid of all the tab stops in a particular document? It's easy to do when you apply the technique outlined in this tip.

Deleting Tab Stops
Need to delete some tabs tops in a paragraph? It's easy to do using the Tabs dialog box, as described in this tip.

Entering Tabs in a Table
When press the Tab key while entering info into a table, Word dutifully moves to the next table cell. If you don't want to do this, but instead want to add the Tab into a cell, you'll appreciate the techniques in this tip.

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 tab stops creatively. Here's how to do the proper formatting.

Indenting a Paragraph to the Next Tab Stop
Need to indent a paragraph from the left margin? It's easy to do when you use the Indent tool, as described in this tip.

Misbehaving Leader Dots
What do you do if your leader dots don't print out correctly?

Numbering Equations
Word allows you to easily number a variety of elements in your document. Not so with equations; there is no automatic numbering feature for them. You can use other tools in the program to get your number to appear just as you want it to, as highlighted in this tip.

Precisely Adjusting Tab Stops
A great way to get your tab stops positioned just where you want them is to use the Tabs dialog box. This tip explains how to use the dialog box to make the exact changes you need.

Quickly Changing Tab Alignment
Need to change the alignment of some tabs in a multitude of paragraphs? How you approach the problem depends on whether those paragraphs are formatted using styles or not.

Quickly Displaying the Tabs Dialog Box
Setting tabs in a paragraph is a common task. This is most easily done by using the Tabs dialog box. Displaying the dialog box is most easily done by using the technique in this tip.

Removing Tabs Used to Indent a Paragraph
Someone sends you a document, and it has a lot of tabs in it that are used to indent paragraphs. This tip explains how you can get rid of those tabs as a first step in cleaning up the text.

Removing Tabs Used to Indent a Paragraph with WordBasic
An easy little WordBasic macro to strip tabs from the beginning of a paragraph.

Replacing Multiple Spaces with Tabs
If you get a document or some text that has multiple consecutive spaces used to align information, you'll undoubtedly be looking for a quick way to replace those spaces with tabs. Here's the absolute fastest way to do the replacing.

Searching for Tabs
Tabs don't normally show up in your printed document, but Word allows you to still search for them. All you need to do is use the special code (^t) recognized by Word as a tab character. This tip explains how to utilize that code when searching.

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 be interested in the techniques for keyboard tab setting, as described in this tip.

Setting Tab Stops Using Menus
Tabs are a very common way to format text in a paragraph. Using Word's menus you can easily set exactly the type of tabs that you need for formatting your text.

Sorting Tabular Tables
Some people like to format simple tables using tabs instead of using Word's table editor. When it comes time to sort such tables, here are the steps you need to follow.

Understanding Decimal Tabs
Word offers a variety of tabs that define different ways to align text. If you need to align numeric values, you'll become quite familiar with the decimal tab, described in this tip.

Understanding Default Tab Stops
When you press the Tab key, Word checks to see if you've already set a tab location for that paragraph. If not, it uses a default tab stop, over which you have complete control. This tip shows how you can adjust the default tab stops used by Word.

Using Dot Leaders in a Paragraph
Adding dot leaders to your text is easy through the application of tab stops. This tip explains the steps you need to follow to add those dot leaders to your paragraphs.

Using Leaders with Tab Stops
Tab stops allow you to modify the horizontal position at which text is positioned on a line. Word allows you to preface the tabbed position of your text with a "leader character" of your choosing.

Vertical Lines in Word
Lines are a common addition to documents. Word provides several different methods by which you can add vertical lines to your document. This tip describes each of these methods so you can pick the one that best matches your needs.