Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 2007, 2010, and 2013. If you are using an earlier version (Word 2003 or earlier), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for earlier versions of Word, click here: Setting Tab Stops Using the Tabs Dialog Box.
Tab stops allow you to quickly and accurately align information on a line in your document. If you are familiar with typewriters, then you are already familiar with the concept of tab stops. Word goes far beyond the rudimentary tab stops in typewriters, however. It allows you to set four different types of tab stop:
| Type | Effect | |
|---|---|---|
| Center | Text entered after pressing the Tab key is horizontally centered on the position where the tab stop is located. | |
| Decimal | Text entered after pressing the Tab key is horizontally aligned so the decimal point (or period) is where the tab stop is located. If there is no decimal point, text is right-aligned to the tab stop. | |
| Left | Text entered after pressing the Tab key is horizontally aligned so the left side of the text is where the tab stop is located. | |
| Right | Text entered after pressing the Tab key is horizontally aligned so the right side of the text is where the tab stop is located. |
Word provides two major ways to set tab stops. One involves using the ruler, which is best deferred to a different tip. The other involves using the Tabs dialog box. To set tab stops using this method, use the following steps:
Figure 1. The Tabs dialog box.
You may have noticed from examining the Tabs dialog box that there is also a tab alignment type known as Bar. This is not really a tab stop at all, but a way to place a vertical bar at a particular location in your paragraph. In fact, referring to Bar as an alignment type is a misnomer because no text is aligned at all.
WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (8257) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, and 2013. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Word here: Setting Tab Stops Using the Tabs Dialog Box.
Learning Made Easy! Quickly teach yourself how to format, publish, and share your content using Word 2013. With Step by Step, you set the pace, building and practicing the skills you need, just when you need them! Check out Microsoft Word 2013 Step by Step today!
Tab stops can be helpful when you want to align text within a paragraph. However, you might also want an easy way to get ...
Discover MoreIf you try to set tabs by clicking on the Ruler, you may not be able to set them exactly where you want. This is normally ...
Discover MoreIf you don't explicitly set tab stops in a paragraph, Word relies upon a default tab stop distance. You can adjust that ...
Discover MoreFREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."
2013-08-31 09:44:44
awyatt
Frank:
See here:
http://wordribbon.tips.net/T010733
-Allen
2013-08-31 07:33:23
Rod Grealish
If you want to apply the same tabs to a group of paragraphs you will need to select all the paragraphs.
You should also click Clear All if you want to remove any pre-existing tabs in the selected text.
2013-08-31 06:11:58
If you have not done so already, could you provide an instruction on how to automate a double indent, or perhaps a double indent with its own font size attached to it (for a prolonged quote)? Thank you.
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.
FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."
Copyright © 2019 Sharon Parq Associates, Inc.
Please Note:
This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 2007, 2010, and 2013. If you are using an earlier version (Word 2003 or earlier), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for earlier versions of Word, click here: 
Comments