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#1
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Need help with tabs
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 |
#2
Posted to microsoft.public.word.pagelayout
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Need help with tabs
On Wed, 12 Dec 2007 13:07:29 -0600, Ronald Mason
wrote: 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. Here's a discussion of tabs: http://www.word.mvps.org/FAQs/Format...ettingTabs.htm Indents are explained he http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/Formatting/UsingRulers.htm Finally, if this is something you do often, you should be using styles instead of direct formatting. There's a built-in style called Block Text that has a 1" indent on both left and right, which might be the effect you were looking for. -- Regards, Jay Freedman Microsoft Word MVP FAQ: http://word.mvps.org Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so all may benefit. |
#3
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Need help with tabs
Tab settings only come into play if you press the Tab key. When you press
Tab the insertion point moves to the next available Tab setting on the line. IOW, just setting tab "stops" doesn't automatically separate the text. -- HTH |:) Bob Jones [MVP] Office:Mac "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 |
#4
Posted to microsoft.public.word.pagelayout
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Need help with tabs
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 |
#5
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Need help with tabs
On Wed, 12 Dec 2007 16:25:29 -0500, "CyberTaz"
typegeneraltaz1ATcomcastdotnet wrote: Tab settings only come into play if you press the Tab key. When you press Tab the insertion point moves to the next available Tab setting on the line. IOW, just setting tab "stops" doesn't automatically separate the text. Thanks for the response, Bob Below is a quote from Word 2003 Help: "Select the paragraph in which you want to set a tab stop. Do one of the following: To set tabs Click Left Tab at the far left of the horizontal ruler until it changes to the type of tab you want: Left Tab , Right Tab , Center Tab , Decimal Tab , or Bar Tab . Click the horizontal ruler where you want to set a tab stop." This is what I did to an existing paragraph. I did hit the Tab key after setting the Tab stops - the paragraph was deleted because it was selected, I assume. The unquoted second part of the instructions refer to setting tabs with leader characters, which I am not trying to do. |
#6
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Need help with tabs
FWIW, you don't have to have the paragraph selected when setting tabs. The
only reason for a selection is to set tabs for more than one paragraph. -- Suzanne S. Barnhill Microsoft MVP (Word) Words into Type Fairhope, Alabama USA "Ronald Mason" wrote in message ... On Wed, 12 Dec 2007 16:25:29 -0500, "CyberTaz" typegeneraltaz1ATcomcastdotnet wrote: Tab settings only come into play if you press the Tab key. When you press Tab the insertion point moves to the next available Tab setting on the line. IOW, just setting tab "stops" doesn't automatically separate the text. Thanks for the response, Bob Below is a quote from Word 2003 Help: "Select the paragraph in which you want to set a tab stop. Do one of the following: To set tabs Click Left Tab at the far left of the horizontal ruler until it changes to the type of tab you want: Left Tab , Right Tab , Center Tab , Decimal Tab , or Bar Tab . Click the horizontal ruler where you want to set a tab stop." This is what I did to an existing paragraph. I did hit the Tab key after setting the Tab stops - the paragraph was deleted because it was selected, I assume. The unquoted second part of the instructions refer to setting tabs with leader characters, which I am not trying to do. |
#7
Posted to microsoft.public.word.pagelayout
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Need help with tabs
Ronald Mason wrote:
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 I don't know what you mean by "more efficient" -- something that doesn't work because it wasn't meant for that purpose won't be efficient at all. I repeat, setting tab stops has no effect on the distance from the margins to the text boundaries. Setting left and right indents does have that effect. You can set indents directly for one or a few paragraphs, or you can include them in a style definition and apply that style to particular paragraphs. Did you look at either of the articles I mentioned? Here are the links again: Here's a discussion of tabs: http://www.word.mvps.org/FAQs/Format...ettingTabs.htm Indents are explained he http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/Formatting/UsingRulers.htm -- Regards, Jay Freedman Microsoft Word MVP FAQ: http://word.mvps.org Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so all may benefit. |
#8
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Need help with tabs
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 |
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