Changing Default Tab Stops

To permanently change open normal.dotm in MSWord and apply same technique of changing default tab. Then save the normal.dotm doc. All new docs using the normal template will keep the desired tab spacing.

@Frank, and others: The general process for changing defaults for all documents is to edit templates. All documents in Word are derived from an existing template - either the Normal template, or a custom designed template. So for instance if you want all your documents to have a new tab setting, then you will change the tab setting in the underlying template, not your current document. All future documents will then have the new setting.

(How to do that is described elsewhere on this site and on other sites.)

Dear Mr. Wyatt,

I routinely use 1/4" tabs vice the Word default of 1/2". Every Word document I create I must reset the default tab setting. I have not been able to find a way to make 1/4" tabs the standard for all Word documents I create. Is there a way to change the default for all documents as you can easily do in WordPerfect?

Your help is greatly appreciated. Also, may I comment that your article is well done - clear, concise and easy to follow. Thank you.

Greg: You and I have a different definition of "default." You apparently want to set the default for all documents, whereas I specifically say (at the end of the first paragraph in the article) "...if you want to change the default tab stops for a document...".

I also suggest reading the last paragraph in the article.

-Allen

This article is NOT ABOUT HOW TO CHANGE

D E F A U L T TAB STOPS!

It merely changes the tabs for the current document.

PS: If anything, shouldn't all of the doc's text align according to the "Alignemnt" button in the "Tabs" dialog? Because it simply stays center-aligned, regardless of which "Alignment" button is selected.

One more thing: I *am* able to "undo" the alignment glitch.

I am using Word 2007 to work on a document that was written by somebody else. I don't know what version of Word he used.

The ruler shows a continuous row of little gray dashes in the narrow blue margin just below the white section showing the ruler's increments. I think they are default tab stops that are set to 0.01 inches apart, but I cannot make them go away.

This is because, when I merely click the "Tabs..." button in the "Paragraph" group, the text throughout my entire document suddenly becomes center-aligned.

My hunch is that this issue is due to some unpatched incompatibility between the Word version with which the document was originally created and my version.