Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and Word in Microsoft 365. 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 Word in Microsoft 365
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 Word in Microsoft 365. 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 Word in Microsoft 365. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Word here: Removing Tabs Used to Indent a Paragraph.
Create Custom Apps with VBA! Discover how to extend the capabilities of Office 2013 (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Access) with VBA programming, using it for writing macros, automating Office applications, and creating custom applications. Check out Mastering VBA for Office 2013 today!
When creating a document, if can be frustrating to have a blank page somehow appear at the end of the document. If you ...
Discover MoreSome people like to have Word replace previous information as they type; this is called 'overtype mode.' You can control ...
Discover MoreOne of the final touches you can add to a document is to hyphenate it. This allows text to flow more smoothly from line ...
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 © 2024 Sharon Parq Associates, Inc.
Comments