Clearing All Tabs in a Document

Somehow my first idea what have been to do a find and replace...find "^t" and replace with nothing. I like your way better.

Thank you very much

I do have the 365 . Your instruction to remove all tab stops at once does not work. I did as you instructed but the tab stops are still there. I used a preprepared template for this file. Would that make a difference? Do I have to remove the tab stops from the template?
Very frustrated.

Allen is right. It worked for me.
Doing as he said: "If you want to get rid of the actual tab characters in a document, you need to do so by using Find and Replace. Search for ^t (a caret followed by a lowercase t) and replace it with nothing. This will get rid of all the actual tab characters in the document."
Ctrl + H

Find what: ^t
Replace with:

Mark: The process above clears all tab stops. The result is that the "default tab stops" are then in effect. (This typically means that pressing the Tab key moves to the next half-inch horizontally.)

If you want to get rid of the actual tab characters in a document, you need to do so by using Find and Replace. Search for ^t (a caret followed by a lowercase t) and replace it with nothing. This will get rid of all the actual tab characters in the document.

-Allen

This does not work. I have tried dozens of times, with chapters, sections of chapters, and individual paragraphs. I select the text. I go to paragraphs. I go to tabs. I click clear all. I click OK. NOTHING HAPPENS. I supposedly have the latest edition of Word, Microsoft 365. Is the program defective? I am formatting a 110,000 word novel for KDP, and I really don't want to go through the whole thing, erasing every tab via backspace, so that the Style Sheet will work effectively.

Thanks, Allen. Your site has helped me tremendously throughout the years. I really appreciate your Tips!!!!

A little quicker:
Hold Alt, and type the letter o.
Then just type the letter t.
It will bring you to the dialog box shown, where you can make your selection.

To remove all tab stops which have been inserted in a document, without changing the tab settings:
Hold Ctrl and type the letter h.
At Find what, enter "^t" (without the quote marks).
At Replace with, enter a space, so that you don't get words joined which were separated by the tab stop. If you don't mind that, just leave it blank.
Hold Alt and type the letter a.
All the tab stops will be remove (and replaced by a space).

If you want to replace the tab stops with a line break, at Replace with enter "^l" (lower case L) without the quotes.
If you want to replace the tab stops with a paragraph break, at Replace with enter "^p" without the quotes.
Other options: click on Special in the Find and Replace dialog box. You'll see the code appear in the Find what or the Replace with area.

Peter,

I can find the Home tab between the File tab and the Insert tab at the left-hand end of the ribbon. My version of Word is 2010. Perhaps you have a different version of Word.

Step 2: Display the Home tab of the ribbon.
How do I do that?
Dose this mean "click on the Home button"?
If so why does it not say "click on the Home button"?
If it means something else for me the rest of the article is irrelevant and surplus and a waste of time.
If you do not say exactly what you mean, nothing more nothing less, you will be wasting your time and more importantly OUR time!
Doing this (teaching) is a terrific responsibility, do it right or don't do it.