Tabs

Tabs display text in a columnar format or offset text with extra white space.  Moreover, you can use tabs to align text in different ways. A tab is treated like a character, however, unlike other text characters, tabs can be set to align in different ways and can be set at different locations on the page. 

One of the most common uses for tabs is to create a left and right aligned header for pages, as in the example below.

exampleheader.gif (3972 bytes)

To Set Tab Properties

  1. Enter the text and place [TAB] characters in the text where appropriate.

  2. Select the text where you want to edit the tabs.

  3. Click once in the ruler to create the tab.  A small triangle appears, this is a tab stop.  Notice that the tabs in the selected text align to this tab stop. 


    Text Ruler Items

  4. Drag the tab stop to the desired location.  The tab stop moves from ruler tick to ruler tick.  If you want the tab stop to slide on the ruler, regardless of the ticks and marks, press and hold the [ALT] and "Windows"   keys while moving the tab stop with the mouse.  For older PC keyboards, in lieu of  the "Windows"   key, press  [CTRL] on the right side of the keyboard.  For Macintosh style keyboards this is the [OPTION] key. 


  5. When the tab stop is in the correct  location, right click on the triangle.  A popup menu is displayed.





  6. Select Edit Tab from the popup menu.  The Edit Tab dialog box is displayed.  This dialog box allows you to modify the location and alignment of the tab stops. 

    edittab.gif (4164 bytes)

  7. In the Tab Type box, select the alignment option.
  • Left:  All text after the tab left aligns to the tab stop.   See diagram below.

  • Center:  All text after the tab centers on the tab stop.  See diagram below.

  • Right:  All text after the tab right aligns to the tab.  See diagram below.

  • Align To:  You can enter any character and the text will align to that character.  This is useful for aligning text to a decimal point.  If the character entered does not exist in the line, the text right aligns to the tab stop.   See diagram below.
  1. In the Tab Fill box, select the options for any characters that should proceed the tab stop.
  • None:  Nothing (blank space) will proceed the tab stop.  See diagram below.

  • With Pen:  A solid line will proceed the tab stop.  See diagram below.

  • With Char:  A continuous repetition of whatever character entered will proceed the tab stop.  See diagram below.

  1. Use the Tab Position field to place the tab at an exact location on the page. 

  2. Click OK when finished editing the tab. 
NOTE:  By default, the program places left-aligned tab stops every 0.5 inches. 


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