How to change the characteristics of the Increase Indent button on the Formatting toolbar

[John]

Word 2003 Office SP2

I am unclear about where I change the characteristics of the Increase Indent
button on the Formatting toolbar.

According to the Word help, clicking the Increase Indent button "increases
the indent by one tab stop (tab stop: A location on the horizontal ruler
that indicates how far to indent text or where to begin a column of text.).
If you want to change the position of the indent, you can first set a
different tab stop."

I created a paragraph style called MyStyle based on Normal.
I set the tabs to be at 3" and 5".
I see the 3" and 5" tabs in the ruler.
I pressed Increase Indent but the result is
MyStyle + Left: 0.5"
MyStyle + Left: 1"

Why isn't it 3" and 5"?

Any feedback is appreciated.

 

[Doug Robbins - Word MVP]

The indents are by the amount of the "Default tab stop" as is set under the
Format>Tabs dialog.

You should probably define the indents that you want in the Style that you
are using.

--
Hope this helps.

Please reply to the newsgroup unless you wish to avail yourself of my
services on a paid consulting basis.

Doug Robbins - Word MVP

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

I have Ctrl+M assigned to something else so I can't test with left indents,
but when I set tabs in a paragraph, Ctrl+T did give me hanging indents at
the places where I had tabs set (without changing the default tab interval).

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA

Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

 

[John]

Doug - Thank you for the feedback.

You clarified the problem. The Increase Indent is set in the "Default tab
stop" in the Format>Tabs dialog. This is the only place it can be set since
the Tab dialog of the modify Style dialog does not have a "Default tab stop"
setting. Moreover, the "Default tab stop" is a global setting which applies
to all styles.

The Microsoft help for "indent paragraphs" does not specify that it is the
"Default tab stop" in the Format>Tabs dialog which you must set. It says "If
you want to change the position of the [increase] indent, you can first set
a different tab stop."

Thank you for your help.

 

[Doug Robbins - Word MVP]

Ctrl+M only indents by the default tab space.

--
Hope this helps.

Please reply to the newsgroup unless you wish to avail yourself of my
services on a paid consulting basis.

Doug Robbins - Word MVP

 

[Terry Farrell]

The word 'default' would have removed the ambiguity. We'll see if we can get
that changed.

Terry

 

[Shauna Kelly]

Hi Terry

But...

The Increase Indent button does not increase the indent at all when the
paragraph in question is in a style that is part of a List Template. So, for
example, if you set up your headings styles (Heading 1 to Heading 9) as an
outline numbered list, then clicking the indent button in a Heading 1
paragraph applies Heading 2 style, which may or may not be indented. In this
case, tab settings don't affect the behaviour of the Increase Indent button.

Hope this helps.

Shauna Kelly. Microsoft MVP.
http://www.shaunakelly.com/word

The word 'default' would have removed the ambiguity. We'll see if we can
get that changed.

Terry

Doug - Thank you for the feedback.

You clarified the problem. The Increase Indent is set in the "Default tab
stop" in the Format>Tabs dialog. This is the only place it can be set
since the Tab dialog of the modify Style dialog does not have a "Default
tab stop" setting. Moreover, the "Default tab stop" is a global setting
which applies to all styles.

The Microsoft help for "indent paragraphs" does not specify that it is
the "Default tab stop" in the Format>Tabs dialog which you must set. It
says "If you want to change the position of the [increase] indent, you
can first set a different tab stop."

Thank you for your help.