Tab Stop Frustration in Word 2003

[Guest]

I am trying to use tab stops to acheive a similar layout that you can with
tables in a document. I have gotten this to work on occassion, but it is
more oftent than not extremely frustrating.

While using Ctrl + Tab advances to the tab stop, it does not perform the
text wrap. When I got it to work the other day, it would start back at the
far left margin, only when I pressed [Enter]. Now, it is going all the way
back to the far left margine for the text wrap, as if I had pressed a normal
[Tab].

Am I missing something, or are Tab Stops really not meant to work this way?
Just a little background, I'm trying to do this to decrease overall document
size. When converted to pdf, Tables tend to double the size of the resulting
document. I have file size limits to contend with, so I thought tab stops
would be a better answer than using tables or going through the hassle of
using section and column breaks, switching back and forth with single and
double newspaper columns. Any guidance here would be appreciated.

Thanks...

 

[Stefan Blom]

Tab stops are intended for entries that don't need to wrap. See
http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/TblsFldsFms/TableBasics.htm. For tips on
improving performance with tables in Word, see
http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/TblsFldsFms/FastTables.htm.

--
Stefan Blom
Microsoft Word MVP


in message
news:[email protected]...

 

[Guest]

You are correct; tabs do not perform a text wrap. Sometimes, Word will
adjust the margin sliders for you when you use a tab, but the best way to
achieve a word wrap on indented text is to use margin sliders.

However, you will still only have one text column. Are you setting up a
grid of data? Or, are you trying to have long columns of text, as in a
newspaper column?

 

[Guest]

I'm not really going for "long" columns of text. More along the format of:

Step 1 do this

Step 2 do that

I might have 3 or 4 rows of text within the information where it says "do
this" or "do that" above. As stated in my original message, I realize tables
are the best way to accomplish this, but the file space used to convert them
into pdf usually at least doubles the size of the file. This is a 50+ page
document. The frame relay connection people would be downloading this
through is not much better than 56K dialup. So minimalizing size does matter.
--
Bill M

You are correct; tabs do not perform a text wrap. Sometimes, Word will
adjust the margin sliders for you when you use a tab, but the best way to
achieve a word wrap on indented text is to use margin sliders.

However, you will still only have one text column. Are you setting up a
grid of data? Or, are you trying to have long columns of text, as in a
newspaper column?

I am trying to use tab stops to acheive a similar layout that you can with
tables in a document. I have gotten this to work on occassion, but it is
more oftent than not extremely frustrating.

While using Ctrl + Tab advances to the tab stop, it does not perform the
text wrap. When I got it to work the other day, it would start back at the
far left margin, only when I pressed [Enter]. Now, it is going all the way
back to the far left margine for the text wrap, as if I had pressed a normal
[Tab].

Am I missing something, or are Tab Stops really not meant to work this way?
Just a little background, I'm trying to do this to decrease overall document
size. When converted to pdf, Tables tend to double the size of the resulting
document. I have file size limits to contend with, so I thought tab stops
would be a better answer than using tables or going through the hassle of
using section and column breaks, switching back and forth with single and
double newspaper columns. Any guidance here would be appreciated.

Thanks...

 

[Guest]

Did you try Stefan's suggestions for optimizing tables?

I'm not really going for "long" columns of text. More along the format of:

Step 1 do this

Step 2 do that

I might have 3 or 4 rows of text within the information where it says "do
this" or "do that" above. As stated in my original message, I realize tables
are the best way to accomplish this, but the file space used to convert them
into pdf usually at least doubles the size of the file. This is a 50+ page
document. The frame relay connection people would be downloading this
through is not much better than 56K dialup. So minimalizing size does matter.
--
Bill M

You are correct; tabs do not perform a text wrap. Sometimes, Word will
adjust the margin sliders for you when you use a tab, but the best way to
achieve a word wrap on indented text is to use margin sliders.

However, you will still only have one text column. Are you setting up a
grid of data? Or, are you trying to have long columns of text, as in a
newspaper column?

I am trying to use tab stops to acheive a similar layout that you can with
tables in a document. I have gotten this to work on occassion, but it is
more oftent than not extremely frustrating.

While using Ctrl + Tab advances to the tab stop, it does not perform the
text wrap. When I got it to work the other day, it would start back at the
far left margin, only when I pressed [Enter]. Now, it is going all the way
back to the far left margine for the text wrap, as if I had pressed a normal
[Tab].

Am I missing something, or are Tab Stops really not meant to work this way?
Just a little background, I'm trying to do this to decrease overall document
size. When converted to pdf, Tables tend to double the size of the resulting
document. I have file size limits to contend with, so I thought tab stops
would be a better answer than using tables or going through the hassle of
using section and column breaks, switching back and forth with single and
double newspaper columns. Any guidance here would be appreciated.

Thanks...

 

[Guest]

Glanced over it but haven't been able to get to it yet. Too many other
projects taking precidence today. I'll give it a shot tomorrow and see how
it works out.
--
Bill M

Did you try Stefan's suggestions for optimizing tables?

I'm not really going for "long" columns of text. More along the format of:

Step 1 do this

Step 2 do that

I might have 3 or 4 rows of text within the information where it says "do
this" or "do that" above. As stated in my original message, I realize tables
are the best way to accomplish this, but the file space used to convert them
into pdf usually at least doubles the size of the file. This is a 50+ page
document. The frame relay connection people would be downloading this
through is not much better than 56K dialup. So minimalizing size does matter.
--
Bill M

You are correct; tabs do not perform a text wrap. Sometimes, Word will
adjust the margin sliders for you when you use a tab, but the best way to
achieve a word wrap on indented text is to use margin sliders.

However, you will still only have one text column. Are you setting up a
grid of data? Or, are you trying to have long columns of text, as in a
newspaper column?


:

I am trying to use tab stops to acheive a similar layout that you can with
tables in a document. I have gotten this to work on occassion, but it is
more oftent than not extremely frustrating.

While using Ctrl + Tab advances to the tab stop, it does not perform the
text wrap. When I got it to work the other day, it would start back at the
far left margin, only when I pressed [Enter]. Now, it is going all the way
back to the far left margine for the text wrap, as if I had pressed a normal
[Tab].

Am I missing something, or are Tab Stops really not meant to work this way?
Just a little background, I'm trying to do this to decrease overall document
size. When converted to pdf, Tables tend to double the size of the resulting
document. I have file size limits to contend with, so I thought tab stops
would be a better answer than using tables or going through the hassle of
using section and column breaks, switching back and forth with single and
double newspaper columns. Any guidance here would be appreciated.

Thanks...

 

[Jay Freedman]

To get this kind of layout, you use the Format > Paragraph dialog (or
preferably set up a paragraph style) to set a "hanging indent". In the
dialog, to the right of the "Left indent" box, pull down the dropdown
labeled "Special" and set it to "hanging". To the right of that, set the
amount of space from the left margin to the place where you want lines to
wrap.

Let's say you want to leave 0.75 inch for the "Step 1" and the space. So set
the hanging indent measurement to 0.75". This not only defines the wrap
point, but also defines an invisible tab stop there. Type the "Step 1" and
then press the Tab key. Start typing the "do this" stuff. When it gets to
the right margin, the text will automatically start the next line below the
"do". This continues until you press Enter to start a new paragraph; the
next paragraph will start at the left margin for "Step 2".

To stop having the paragraphs indented, go back to the dialog and set the
Special box to "(none)".

You can also set and remove hanging indents by dragging the lower half of
the left margin marker along the horizontal ruler.

For completeness, there's a whole other way to get this format: You can go
into Format > Bullets & Numbering and define a custom numbered list format.
Select one of the boxes in the dialog and click the Customize button. Type
the word Step to the left of the number in the "Number format" box. Leave
the "Number position" settings at Left and 0". Set the "Text position"
settings to the same number (for example, 0.75"). Any paragraph to which you
apply this format will automatically have the word Step and the number, and
you just start typing the text.

--
Regards,
Jay Freedman
Microsoft Word MVP
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

I'm not really going for "long" columns of text. More along the
format of:

Step 1 do this

Step 2 do that

I might have 3 or 4 rows of text within the information where it says
"do this" or "do that" above. As stated in my original message, I
realize tables are the best way to accomplish this, but the file
space used to convert them into pdf usually at least doubles the size
of the file. This is a 50+ page document. The frame relay
connection people would be downloading this through is not much
better than 56K dialup. So minimalizing size does matter.

You are correct; tabs do not perform a text wrap. Sometimes, Word
will adjust the margin sliders for you when you use a tab, but the
best way to achieve a word wrap on indented text is to use margin
sliders.

However, you will still only have one text column. Are you setting
up a grid of data? Or, are you trying to have long columns of text,
as in a newspaper column?

I am trying to use tab stops to acheive a similar layout that you
can with tables in a document. I have gotten this to work on
occassion, but it is more oftent than not extremely frustrating.

While using Ctrl + Tab advances to the tab stop, it does not
perform the text wrap. When I got it to work the other day, it
would start back at the far left margin, only when I pressed
[Enter]. Now, it is going all the way back to the far left margine
for the text wrap, as if I had pressed a normal [Tab].

Am I missing something, or are Tab Stops really not meant to work
this way? Just a little background, I'm trying to do this to
decrease overall document size. When converted to pdf, Tables tend
to double the size of the resulting document. I have file size
limits to contend with, so I thought tab stops would be a better
answer than using tables or going through the hassle of using
section and column breaks, switching back and forth with single and
double newspaper columns. Any guidance here would be appreciated.

Thanks...

 

[Guest]

I think I figured out a way for you to do this!

Go ahead and layout everything using a table. Then, when it is finished,
select all the lines in the entire table and click Table, then Convert then
Table to Text. Select Tabs then click OK. It should convert your entire
table to a tab-delimited layout.

I actually had to do this for a work activity just a few minutes ago so I
wanted to share it with you. Let me know if it works out for you.

Glanced over it but haven't been able to get to it yet. Too many other
projects taking precidence today. I'll give it a shot tomorrow and see how
it works out.
--
Bill M

Did you try Stefan's suggestions for optimizing tables?

I'm not really going for "long" columns of text. More along the format of:

Step 1 do this

Step 2 do that

I might have 3 or 4 rows of text within the information where it says "do
this" or "do that" above. As stated in my original message, I realize tables
are the best way to accomplish this, but the file space used to convert them
into pdf usually at least doubles the size of the file. This is a 50+ page
document. The frame relay connection people would be downloading this
through is not much better than 56K dialup. So minimalizing size does matter.
--
Bill M


:

You are correct; tabs do not perform a text wrap. Sometimes, Word will
adjust the margin sliders for you when you use a tab, but the best way to
achieve a word wrap on indented text is to use margin sliders.

However, you will still only have one text column. Are you setting up a
grid of data? Or, are you trying to have long columns of text, as in a
newspaper column?


:

I am trying to use tab stops to acheive a similar layout that you can with
tables in a document. I have gotten this to work on occassion, but it is
more oftent than not extremely frustrating.

While using Ctrl + Tab advances to the tab stop, it does not perform the
text wrap. When I got it to work the other day, it would start back at the
far left margin, only when I pressed [Enter]. Now, it is going all the way
back to the far left margine for the text wrap, as if I had pressed a normal
[Tab].

Am I missing something, or are Tab Stops really not meant to work this way?
Just a little background, I'm trying to do this to decrease overall document
size. When converted to pdf, Tables tend to double the size of the resulting
document. I have file size limits to contend with, so I thought tab stops
would be a better answer than using tables or going through the hassle of
using section and column breaks, switching back and forth with single and
double newspaper columns. Any guidance here would be appreciated.

Thanks...

 

[Stefan Blom]

See the response by MVP Jay Freedman for an easier method.

--
Stefan Blom
Microsoft Word MVP


in message

I think I figured out a way for you to do this!

Go ahead and layout everything using a table. Then, when it is finished,
select all the lines in the entire table and click Table, then Convert then
Table to Text. Select Tabs then click OK. It should convert your entire
table to a tab-delimited layout.

I actually had to do this for a work activity just a few minutes ago so I
wanted to share it with you. Let me know if it works out for you.

Glanced over it but haven't been able to get to it yet. Too many other
projects taking precidence today. I'll give it a shot tomorrow and see how
it works out.
--
Bill M

Did you try Stefan's suggestions for optimizing tables?



:

I'm not really going for "long" columns of text. More along the format of:

Step 1 do this

Step 2 do that

I might have 3 or 4 rows of text within the information where it says "do
this" or "do that" above. As stated in my original message, I realize tables
are the best way to accomplish this, but the file space used to convert them
into pdf usually at least doubles the size of the file. This is a 50+ page
document. The frame relay connection people would be downloading this
through is not much better than 56K dialup. So minimalizing size does matter.
--
Bill M


:

You are correct; tabs do not perform a text wrap. Sometimes, Word will
adjust the margin sliders for you when you use a tab, but the best way to
achieve a word wrap on indented text is to use margin sliders.

However, you will still only have one text column. Are you setting up a
grid of data? Or, are you trying to have long columns of text, as in a
newspaper column?


:

I am trying to use tab stops to acheive a similar layout that you can with
tables in a document. I have gotten this to work on occassion, but it is
more oftent than not extremely frustrating.

While using Ctrl + Tab advances to the tab stop, it does not perform the
text wrap. When I got it to work the other day, it would start back at the
far left margin, only when I pressed [Enter]. Now, it is going all the way
back to the far left margine for the text wrap, as if I had pressed a normal
[Tab].

Am I missing something, or are Tab Stops really not meant to work this way?
Just a little background, I'm trying to do this to decrease overall document
size. When converted to pdf, Tables tend to double the size of the resulting
document. I have file size limits to contend with, so I thought tab stops
would be a better answer than using tables or going through the hassle of
using section and column breaks, switching back and forth with single and
double newspaper columns. Any guidance here would be appreciated.

Thanks...