Section 4.5. Setting Tabs

4.5. Setting Tabs

The lowly Tab key contains more power than you may think. Sure, you can use the Tab key to scoot the insertion point across the page in half-inch increments . But Word's tab tool is capable of much loftier feats: You can use it to design a dinner menu, create a playbill, or develop a series of consistently formatted reports .

Tab stops are all about precision alignment, giving you control over the way you present text and numbers to your readers. For example, on your dinner menu you can use tab leaders ( dotted lines like the ones in this book's table of contents) so that your reader's eye tracks from Wild Salmon to the exceptionally reasonable price you're asking. Once you have settings you like, you can save and reuse them. (How's that for efficiency?)

Before you start working with tabs, you need to know a few basic terms:

• Tabs . Technically considered tab characters , tabs are hidden formatting characters, similar to space characters. Tabs are embedded in your document's text.

• Tab stops . These paragraph settings define the position and characteristics of tabs in your document. Think of tab stops as definitions, describing your tabs. To define them, you use Word tools, like the Ruler or the Tabs dialog box.

• Tab key . The key on your computer keyboard that inserts tabs into your text.

Press the Tab key, and Word inserts a tab in the text at that point. The tab character makes the insertion point jump left to right and stop at the first tab stop it reaches . If you haven't set any new tab stops, Word uses the built-in set of tab stopsone every half inch across the widththat every new, blank document starts out with.

4.5.1. How Tab Stops Work

Tab stop settings apply to paragraphs. If a paragraph has several lines, the tab stops are the same for all the lines within that paragraph. If you haven't deliberately set tab stops, Word provides built-in tab stops at half-inch intervals. These stops are left tab stops, meaning the text aligns on the left side. You can see all tab stops on the horizontal rulerthey show as small vertical tick marks in the gray area below the number scale (Figure 4-15).

Figure 4-15. Tabs are just white space in your text, but for Word, they're these little arrow characters that position your text on the line. You can change your Word Options (Office button Word Options Display) to show tabs on your screen.

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Tip: If you don't see tab stops in the ruler, click within a paragraph. Remember, tab stops are paragraph settings, so your insertion point must be in a paragraph to see them.

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4.5.2. Viewing Tab Marks in Your Text

Tabs are invisible on the printed page, like spaces or paragraph marks. Sometimes, when your document behaves unexpectedly, it helps to reveal the hidden characters so you can see if tabs are the culprit. After all, when they're hidden, all you see is white space on the page, however, spaces, tabs, and indents each behave quite differently.

To view tabs within your text:

1. Choose Office button Word Options to open the Word Options dialog box (Figure 4-16) .

   The Word Options button is at the bottom of the Office menu.

   

   Figure 4-16. Use the Word Options box to reveal formatting characters like tabs, spaces, and paragraph marks. When you turn on the checkbox next to the mark, you see these nonprinting characters on your screen.

   
   

2. On the left side of the Word Options box, choose the Display option .

   The panel on the right is divided into three parts . The top section shows page display options, the middle section shows formatting marks, and the bottom section holds printing options.

3. In the middle group , turn on the "Tab characters" checkbox to make your tabs visible .

   An icon next to this checkbox shows you the symbol for tab characters. This mark shows up on your computer screen but not in printed text.

4. Click OK to save the settings and close the dialog box .

   The box closes and you see the tabs as small arrows in your text.

4.5.3. Deleting and Editing Tabs

Because tabs are characters within your document, you can delete, copy, and paste them, just as you would any other character or text fragment. Maybe you want to delete a tab just click immediately after a tab character, and then press the Backspace key. You can also use the Tabs box (Figure 4-17) for to control tabs.

With tabs, you can use almost any editing trick that you'd use on other characters. You can select and drag a tab to a different place in your text. You can use shortcut keys, such as Ctrl+X to cut a tab and Ctrl+V to paste it someplace else. (All of these activities are much, much easier when you've set your Word Options to view tab marks as described previously.)

Figure 4-17. The Tabs box puts you in complete control of all things tabular. When you select a specific tab in the upper-left box, you can customize its alignment and leader characters.

4.5.4. Types of Tabs

Five types of tabs are available in Wordone of which isn't a true tab but works well with the others:

• Left tab . The most common type of tab, it aligns text at the left side; text flows from the tab stop to the right. When you start a new, blank document, Word provides left tabs every half inch.

• Center tab . Keeps text centered at the tab stop. Text extends evenly left and right with the tab stop in the middle.

• Right tab . Aligns text to the right. Text flows backwards from the tab stop, from right to left.

• Decimal tab . Used to align numbers, whether or not they have decimals. Numbers align with the decimal point centered on the tab stop. Numbers without decimal points align similar to a right tab.

• Bar tab . The Bar tab is the oddball of the group and, no, it has nothing to do with your local watering hole. It also has nothing to do with aligning text. It inserts a vertical bar in your text as a divider. The bar appears in every line in the paragraph. This tab stop ignores tabs inserted in your text and behaves in the same manner whether or not tab characters are present.

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Note: There may be a certain Microsoftian logic in grouping the bar tab with the tab feature, but Word provides other ways to place vertical lines on your pages that you may find more intuitive. You can use Insert Insert Shapes More and choose the line for free-form lines. Or you can use borders for paragraphs or tables.

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4.5.5. Tab Leaders

Tab leaders help readers connect the dots by providing a trail from one tabbed item to the next. They're ideal for creating professional-looking menus , playbills, and more.

Here are some examples:

 Hamlet, Prince of Denmark...........Sir Laurence Olivier Ophelia, daughter to Polonius.......Roseanne Barr 

Four Leader options can be used with each type of tab stop except the bar tab:

 None                                No leader here Dotted..............................You've seen this before Dashed_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ For a different, intermittent look Underline__________________________ When only a solid line will do 

As visual aids, leaders are quite helpful, and they work equally well for text and numbers.