[Stefan Blom]

FWIW, indents, as well as tab stops, do transfer to the new paragraph added
when pressing Enter.

But note that for an efficient approach, you should be using a style with
left and right indents specified, for example, the built-in Block Text
style (already suggested by Jay earlier in this thread).

Note that you can change the default indents of 1" (2.54 cm), if you find
them excessive, as I do.

--
Stefan Blom
Microsoft Word MVP


"Ronald Mason" wrote in message
...

I am using Word 2003

When I select a paragraph and set right and left tabs nothing happens.
If I correctly understand Word Help, the paragraph should change to
the tab stops.

What am I missing?

Thanks

You're misunderstanding the purpose of tabs (more correctly, "tab
stops"). If you want to affect the distance between the document
margins and the edges of the current paragraph, you should be setting
the paragraph's indents, not its tab stops.

Sorry, I should have been more explicit. I do use indents (or is it
styles?) for that purpose.

For example, I want to type a paragraph that is two inches from the
left and right edges of the paper. All other text will have a margin
of one inch. Seems to me it would be more efficient to set desired tab
stops for the one paragraph, type the text, and then finish typing the
remainder of the document using the previously set one inch margins.

Thanks for your response