Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 2007 and 2010. 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.
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 and 2010. 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
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 and 2010. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Word here: Removing Tabs Used to Indent a Paragraph.
Comprehensive VBA Guide Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) is the language used for writing macros in all Office programs. This complete guide shows both professionals and novices how to master VBA in order to customize the entire Office suite for their needs. Check out Mastering VBA for Office 2010 today!
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2015-06-08 13:07:53
Jeff Guarino
I am trying to modify a legal text and it is taking me hours just to figure out Word 13. I cannot get rid of the indent formatting and have tried everything. I have never seen such an overloaded junky program , user unfriendly and I have been searching for help and found none. I can only adjust the margins by going to Print preview and adjust the page there. I just give up totally . For someone who just needs word infrequently , it is just awful and useless. It will take me a whole day just to figure out how to release the indenting format. I even copied the text to notepad, saved it and repasted it to a blank word and it still is stuck.
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