Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021. 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: Removing Tabs Used to Indent a Paragraph.
Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated February 8, 2020)
This tip applies to Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021
If you frequently convert documents from a different word processor to Word, there is a good chance you must remove tabs inserted at the beginning of paragraphs. Some word processors require tabs in order to indent the first line of a paragraph; Word does not.
About the only way to remove the unnecessary tabs is to go to the beginning of each of the paragraphs and press the Del key. You could, however, use Find and Replace in order to search for tabs and remove them. (Actually, you would search for a paragraph mark followed by a tab; this would then be replaced with a paragraph mark, thereby deleting the tab.)
A quicker way to take care of this problem is to develop a macro to do it for you. The following macro, TabsOut, searches for any hard return/tab combinations in your document (or your selected text) and removes the tab.
Please Note:
This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021. 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:
Sub TabsOut()
If Selection.Type <> wdNoSelection Then
Selection.HomeKey Unit:=wdStory, Extend:=wdMove
End If
Selection.Find.ClearFormatting
Selection.Find.Replacement.ClearFormatting
With Selection.Find
.Text = "^p^t"
.Replacement.Text = "^p"
.Forward = True
.Wrap = wdFindContinue
.Format = False
End With
Selection.Find.Execute Replace:=wdReplaceAll
End Sub
Note:
WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (8958) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Word here: Removing Tabs Used to Indent a Paragraph.
Learning Made Easy! Quickly teach yourself how to format, publish, and share your content using Word 2021 or Microsoft 365. With Step by Step, you set the pace, building and practicing the skills you need, just when you need them! Check out Microsoft Word Step by Step today!
Ever wonder why you can't undo just a single edit you made a few minutes earlier? The short answer is that it could make ...
Discover MoreWant to add a finishing touch to your printed document? Hyphenating the words in the document can make your text read ...
Discover MoreWhen you copy and paste information from the Internet, you may end up with a lot of non-breaking spaces in the pasted ...
Discover MoreFREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."
2020-02-10 10:20:22
Andrew
Similarly, to remove all whitespace at the beginning of every line would be to search for ^p^w and replace it with ^p. And to remove all whitespace at the end of every line to the same with ^w^p.
But if you use "Replace all" you have to watch out for underlined whitespace you may not want to delete, such as signature lines and tab-formatted tables. But since I usually am using these to reformat OCR'd documents, this is not so much of an issue.
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 © 2025 Sharon Parq Associates, Inc.
Comments