What is a specific location in the document marked on the Word ruler to which you can move using Tab key?

A


Alignment Guide A line that displays when an object is aligned with a document object such as a margin or heading.
Anchor A symbol that displays to the left of a paragraph to indicate which paragraph an object is associated with.
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D

Dot leader A series of evenly spaced dots that precede a tab stop.
Drop cap The first letter (or letters) of a paragraph, enlarged and either embedded in the text or placed in the left margin.
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F

Floating object An object that you can move independently of the surrounding text.
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L

Leader A series of characters that form a solid, dashed, or dotted line to fill the space preceding a tab stop.
Leader character The symbol used to fill the space in a leader.
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N

Nudge To move an object in small increments by pressing one of the arrow keys.
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S

Separator character A character such as a tab or comma designated as the character to separate columns of unformatted text.
Sizing handle A small square or circle on an object’s border that is used to resize the object by dragging.
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T

Tab stop A specific location on a line of text marked on the Word ruler to which you can move the insertion point by pressing the Tab key.
Text box A movable, resizable container for text or graphics.
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V

Vertical alignment The space above and below a text or object in relation to the top and bottom of a table cell or top and bottom margins.
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W

WordArt A set of graphic text styles that can be used to make text look like a graphic.
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Learning Outcomes

  • Set tab stops.

You may recall from Alignment, Justification, and Indentation that hitting the Tab key indents a paragraph. Each hit of the Tab key inserted a tab space. By default, a tab space stretches to fit the next 1/2 inch interval on the page. Tab stops control the width of a tab space so that it can be greater or less than 1/2 an inch.

By changing the width of tab spaces, you can align text with tab stops rather than the edge of a column, page, or margin. This can be useful for aligning text different ways in the same line.

What is a specific location in the document marked on the Word ruler to which you can move using Tab key?

Without tab stops

What is a specific location in the document marked on the Word ruler to which you can move using Tab key?

With tab stops

There are several kinds of tab stops, but the ones we will focus on in this course are the left tab, the center tab, and the right tab.

What is a specific location in the document marked on the Word ruler to which you can move using Tab key?

Left tab

What is a specific location in the document marked on the Word ruler to which you can move using Tab key?

Center tab

What is a specific location in the document marked on the Word ruler to which you can move using Tab key?

Right tab

Aligns text left along the tab stop line Aligns text centrally to the tab stop line Aligns text right along the tab stop line
What is a specific location in the document marked on the Word ruler to which you can move using Tab key?
What is a specific location in the document marked on the Word ruler to which you can move using Tab key?
What is a specific location in the document marked on the Word ruler to which you can move using Tab key?

There are two main methods for setting tab stops: the ruler and the tab dialog box.

Tab Stops Using the Ruler

First, make the ruler visible (if it isn’t visible already). Go to View>Show and check the Ruler box.

What is a specific location in the document marked on the Word ruler to which you can move using Tab key?

What is a specific location in the document marked on the Word ruler to which you can move using Tab key?

The rulers display the width of the page in inches. The shaded-in gray spaces on the ruler represent the margins. This screenshot shows margins of one inch.

To add a tab stop, select the paragraph or paragraphs the tab stop will be added to. Select the type of tab stop by clicking the tab selector icon in the top-left corner until it shows the appropriate icon (

What is a specific location in the document marked on the Word ruler to which you can move using Tab key?
,
What is a specific location in the document marked on the Word ruler to which you can move using Tab key?
What is a specific location in the document marked on the Word ruler to which you can move using Tab key?
). The tab selector button is located at the top of the vertical ruler and to the left of the horizontal ruler.

What is a specific location in the document marked on the Word ruler to which you can move using Tab key?

Right now the Left Tab is selected. Clicking the icon will switch to a different Tab type.

(Note: there are more tab options, such as decimal tab, bar tab, first-line indent, and hanging indent. Feel free to experiment with these later.)

Once the type of tab stop you want is selected, click anywhere along the horizontal ruler to place the tab stop.

What is a specific location in the document marked on the Word ruler to which you can move using Tab key?

The tab stop is represented by the icon in the ruler. In the screenshot above, the right tab is marked with a green circle. Notice that the lines below are right-aligned with the tab stop, with the exception of the last line. The last line is not aligned because the line is too long for the text to fit with the right-align.

To move the tab stop, click and drag the tab icon along the ruler.

What is a specific location in the document marked on the Word ruler to which you can move using Tab key?

The selected paragraphs moved with the tab stop. (And notice that the last line is aligned now that there is enough space for the text.)

To remove a tab stop, click the icon and drag it off of the ruler.

Practice Question

Tab Stops Using the Tab Dialog Box

You can also add and move tab stops using the tab dialog box. To reach it, go to the Paragraph dialog box in the Home tab.

What is a specific location in the document marked on the Word ruler to which you can move using Tab key?

Then click the Tabs button at the bottom-left corner of the Paragraph dialog box.

What is a specific location in the document marked on the Word ruler to which you can move using Tab key?

You have now reached the Tab dialog box.

What is a specific location in the document marked on the Word ruler to which you can move using Tab key?

Choose which type of tab stop you want in the Alignment area (Left, Center, Right, Decimal, or Bar). Type the distance of the tab stop in inches, then click Set or OK to apply that tab stop to whichever lines are selected.

Use Clear to remove tab stops. You can also still click and drag the tab stop along the ruler to change its location or drag the tab stop off the ruler to delete it.

Leader

The leader is a filler for the tab space. Instead of leaving the tab space blank, you can fill it with periods or other characters. This is particularly useful for a table of contents, but it can have other applications too. To choose a leader, select one of the options under the Leader section of the Tab dialog box.

Optional: Bar and Decimal Tabs

Two of the other tab stop types are the bar and decimal tabs.

The bar tab icon is a straight vertical line (|). Bar tabs do not align text. Instead, a bar tab adds a straight vertical line at the point of the bar tab. The line will be the length of the selected lines.

What is a specific location in the document marked on the Word ruler to which you can move using Tab key?

The decimal tab icon is

What is a specific location in the document marked on the Word ruler to which you can move using Tab key?
. Decimal tabs align text based on the placement of periods (or rather, decimal points). This is useful when lining up numbers, especially dollar amounts.

Side-by-Side Comparison of Decimal Tab Alignment
What is a specific location in the document marked on the Word ruler to which you can move using Tab key?
What is a specific location in the document marked on the Word ruler to which you can move using Tab key?

Notice that when a decimal tab is applied, the decimal points will line up regardless of what is on either side of the decimal point.

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Where is the ruler in Word located?

Go to View and select Ruler. If the vertical ruler doesn't show, make sure you're in Print Layout view. If it still doesn't show, you might need to turn the ruler on. Go to Word > Preferences > View (under Authoring and Proofing Tools).

Where is the tab selector on the ruler in Word?

Select Left Tab at the left end of the horizontal ruler to change it to the type of tab you want. Click or tap the bottom of the horizontal ruler where you want to set the tab stop.

Which tab is used to display the ruler in a document?

To show the ruler in Word or hide it, first select the “View” tab in the Ribbon. Then check or uncheck the “Ruler” checkbox in the “Show” button group to turn the display of the ruler on and off, if available for your currently selected document view.

What is the use of ruler in the Word window?

The ruler tool in Microsoft Word provides a simple way of making sure different parts of your document are aligned. It also lets you quickly adjust margins and indents in your work.