[Didymus20x6]

Why is it that when I click on the ruler bar to set tabs, it posts them in
increments of .26" rather than .25? .26 makes no sense. I can understand
posting them at .13 for 1/8 inch, but for 1/4 tabs, it should adjust to .25,
not .26.

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[Doug Robbins - Word MVP]

Inches is only one of the units of measure that can be selected in Word. If
you select cm or mm as the unit of measure, you will get tabs inserted at
what would appear to you to be more logical increments.

A better suggestion would be that the whole world switches to the metric
system. However, that is not within Microsoft's control. Maybe however
they should stop allowing the selection of inches as a unit of measure.

--
Hope this helps.

Please reply to the newsgroup unless you wish to avail yourself of my
services on a paid consulting basis.

Doug Robbins - Word MVP

"Didymus20x6" wrote in message
news
Why is it that when I click on the ruler bar to set tabs, it posts them in
increments of .26" rather than .25? .26 makes no sense. I can understand
posting them at .13 for 1/8 inch, but for 1/4 tabs, it should adjust to
.25,
not .26.

----------------
This post is a suggestion for Microsoft, and Microsoft responds to the
suggestions with the most votes. To vote for this suggestion, click the "I
Agree" button in the message pane. If you do not see the button, follow
this
link to open the suggestion in the Microsoft Web-based Newsreader and then
click "I Agree" in the message pane.

http://www.microsoft.com/office/comm...ocmanagemen t

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

If I set a tab at the ¼" mark on the ruler in Word 2003, the Tabs dialog
shows it as 0.25". ISTR that there was some version of Word that had a
problem with imprecise ruler measurements, but I imagine this was corrected
by a service pack.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://word.mvps.org
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"Didymus20x6" wrote in message
news
Why is it that when I click on the ruler bar to set tabs, it posts them in
increments of .26" rather than .25? .26 makes no sense. I can understand
posting them at .13 for 1/8 inch, but for 1/4 tabs, it should adjust to
..25,
not .26.

----------------
This post is a suggestion for Microsoft, and Microsoft responds to the
suggestions with the most votes. To vote for this suggestion, click the "I
Agree" button in the message pane. If you do not see the button, follow
this
link to open the suggestion in the Microsoft Web-based Newsreader and then
click "I Agree" in the message pane.


http://www.microsoft.com/office/comm...ocmanagemen t

[Bob S]

On Sun, 23 Jul 2006 00:51:01 -0700, Didymus20x6 wrote:

Why is it that when I click on the ruler bar to set tabs, it posts them in
increments of .26" rather than .25? .26 makes no sense. I can understand
posting them at .13 for 1/8 inch, but for 1/4 tabs, it should adjust to .25,
not .26.

The quick fix:

Set Word's default interface measurement units to "points" in Tools |
Options | General.

Bring up the drawing toolbar and select Draw | Grid. Set all of the
values correctly (the grid spacing should be 9 points) and click OK.

Reset the default measurement unit if desired.

From then on, never click OK in that dialog.


The long answer:

This problem is a result of a confluence of unfortunate decisions in
the design of Word.

First there are the problems that beset all of Word's dialogs that
include measurements.

Point 1: Word rounds the displayed grid spacing to two decimal places
rather than showing you the correct value.

Point 2: If you ever click OK in a dialog box, Word updates all of the
items that can be set in the dialog, not just the ones that you
happened to change (if any) while you had it open.

The result is that if you ever bring up a dialog and click OK to get
rid of it, even if you never touched an entry, Word will write the
rounded-to-two-places value as the new value!

The settings for default tab stops are set by the Drawing Grid dialog
box. However, the Drawing Grid dialog has an additional fatal flaw:

Point 3: The Drawing Grid dialog rounds to two decimal places on input
as well as on output!

This means that you can never use that dialog correctly in inches,
because you can never set the default grid spacing of .125 inches.


For ordinary dialog boxes, remember:

1. If you don't change anything in the box, don't click OK, click
Cancel instead.

2. If you do change anything and intend to click OK, make sure to
re-enter the proper values for any measurements first.

For the Drawing Grid dialog (and optionally for any other dialog):

Change your measurement units to points instead of inches before
entering the dialog. "Points" are small enough that two decimal places
is enough to express Word measurements exactly. There are 72 points to
the inch. The default drawing grid spacing of .125 inches is 9 points.

Bob S