Graphics Programs Reference
In-Depth Information
Working with tabs
The controls for creating and customizing tabs in InDesign are fairly similar to
those in a word processor. You can precisely position tabs, repeat tabs across a
column, create leaders for tabs, specify how text aligns with tabs, and easily modi-
fy the tabs you've created. Tabs are paragraph formats, so they apply to the para-
graph containing the text insertion point or any selected paragraphs. All the con-
trols are in the Tabs panel, which you open by choosing Type > Tabs. Here's how
the tabs controls work.
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Enter tabs: To enter a tab in text, press the Tab key.
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Specify tab alignment: To specify how text aligns with a tab stop—for ex-
ample, to the left of the tab stop (the traditional setting) or on a decimal
point—click one of the tab buttons in the upper-left corner of the Tabs panel:
Left-Justified Tab, Center-Justified Tab, Right-Justified Tab, or Align To
Decimal (Or Other Specified Character) Tab.
•
Position tabs: To position a tab stop, click one of the tab buttons, and then type
a value in the X box, and press Enter or Return. You can also click a tab but-
ton, and then click in the space just above the ruler.
•
Repeat tabs: To create multiple tab stops the same distance apart, select a tab
on the ruler. Choose Repeat Tab from the Tabs panel menu. This creates tab
stops across the column based on the distance between the selected tab stop
and the previous tab stop (or the left indent).
•
Specify a character to align text on: To align text on a specific character—for
example, a decimal point—click the Align To Decimal (Or Other Specified
Character) Tab button, and then type or paste the character into the Align On
box. (If the text does not contain that character, text will align to the left of the
tab stop.)
•
Create a tab leader: To fill the white space between text and tabs—for ex-
ample, to add periods between text and page numbers in a table of con-
tents—enter up to eight characters to repeat in the Leader box.
•
Move tabs: To change the position of a tab stop, select the tab on the ruler and
type a new position in the X box. On Windows, press Enter on the keyboard;
on Mac OS, press Return. Or, drag the tab on the ruler to a new location.
•
Delete tabs: To delete a tab, drag it off the tab ruler. Or, select the tab on the
ruler and choose Delete Tab from the Tabs panel menu.
