Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated December 14, 2019)
This tip applies to Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and Word in Microsoft 365
Dot leaders are dots (which look like periods) that appear to the left of information. Dot leaders are often used in tables of contents or in some tabular material. (See Figure 1.)
Figure 1. An example of dot leaders.
Word allows you to automatically place dot leaders in tabular material. (That is, in material that uses tabs to separate information on a line or in a paragraph.) Simply follow these steps:
Figure 2. The Tabs dialog box.
All these steps do is to define how you want Word to treat the tab stop in the paragraph (or paragraphs) you specified in step 1. Now, in those paragraphs, you can see the effect of the tab stop by typing some text, pressing the Tab key, and then typing a bit more text. When you pressed the Tab key—assuming the insertion point was to the left of the measurement you specified in step 5—you should have seen the leader dots appear and the text jumped over to the tab stop position.
WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (6086) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and Word in Microsoft 365. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Word here: Using Dot Leaders in a Paragraph.
The First and Last Word on Word! Bestselling For Dummies author Dan Gookin puts his usual fun and friendly candor back to work to show you how to navigate Word 2013. Spend more time working and less time trying to figure it all out! Check out Word 2013 For Dummies today!
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 ...
Discover MoreTabs don't normally show up in your printed document, but Word allows you to still search for them. All you need to do is ...
Discover MoreTab stops can be helpful when you want to align text within a paragraph. However, you might also want an easy way to get ...
Discover MoreFREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."
2022-02-13 01:22:28
Mirna
Select the four lines of text below the Package, Length, and Price
column headings below the heading Rates and Packages in the
NEVADA section. Add dot leaders to the tab set at the 3.5-inch mark
and the tab set at the 5.5-inch mark.
Got a version of Word that uses the ribbon interface (Word 2007 or later)? This site is for you! If you use an earlier version of Word, visit our WordTips site focusing on the menu interface.
Visit the WordTips channel on YouTube
FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."
Copyright © 2023 Sharon Parq Associates, Inc.
Comments