[tcebob]

Aha. I might have noticed that but I had Show Tabs
configured full time. So I assumed the vertical line was
just another tab symbol. Now that I know I will seek out a
reason to use them -- and impress and befuddle my
associates.

Thanks,

rs

Suzanne S. Barnhill wrote:
: They're almost entirely undocumented but useful in
specific
: situations. I gather that they are a holdover from DOS
versions of
: Word that didn't have the ability to create true tables.
To see how
: they work, you have to set one. When you do this, you
create a
: vertical line in the paragraph that is always there (you
don't have
: to insert a tab character to display it). It extends the
height of
: the paragraph (including line spacing), so that if you
have the same
: bar tab in several subsequent paragraphs, you have a
continuous
: vertical line through the paragraphs. This can be useful
in
: situations where you want the appearance of a ruled table
but don't
: want to use a table.
:
: Here's an example: I create an attendance sheet for my
Rotary club
: (rarely used now that we've gone to club management
software but
: still useful in a pinch). I have defined a style with a
bottom border
: and bar tabs at intervals. The member's name is on the
left side of
: the paragraph and the bar tabs create vertical lines
defining columns
: for the four or five meetings in a month. The sheet is
formatted in
: three columns. When I want to add or delete a member, it's
a simple
: matter of pressing Enter (to insert a new paragraph) or
Delete; I
: don't have to fool with using Insert Rows/Delete Rows. If
the roll
: were to be filled out online, I'd use a table, but because
it's for
: hand entry, the bar tabs work well for me (I might add
that I
: constructed this before I knew you could flow tables into
: newspaper-style columns, so that was undoubtedly one
reason for
: choosing the bar tabs).
:
: If you don't have any reason for using bar tabs, you may
consider them
: useless and puzzling, but if you experiment to find out
what they do,
: you may someday find yourself in a situation where they
would be
: useful, and this knowledge will be helpful.
:
:
: "tcebob" handle @ gwi.net wrote in message
: ...
:: What is it? Can't find in help. Doesn't seem to do
:: anything.
::
:: rs