How to Use the Ruler to Set Tabs in Word 2016

Word 2010 For Dummies

The visual and quick way to set a tab stop in Word 2016 is to use the ruler. Assuming that the ruler is visible, the process involves two steps:

Click the Tab gizmo until the desired tab stop type appears.

The Tab gizmo also shows paragraph indent controls.
Click the ruler at the exact spot where you want the tab stop set.

For example, click the number 2 to set a tab stop at the 2-inch mark, which is 2 inches in from the page's left margin.

The tab stop icon appears on the ruler, marking the tab stop position. You can further adjust the tab by dragging left or right with the mouse. If a tab character already sits in the current paragraph, its format updates as you drag the top stop hither and thither.

Tab stops are a paragraph-level format. The tab stop you set applies to the current paragraph or any selected paragraphs.

About This Article

About the book author:

Dan Gookin has been writing about technology for 20 years. He has contributed articles to numerous high-tech magazines and written more than 90 books about personal computing technology, many of them accurate.
He combines his love of writing with his interest in technology to create books that are informative and entertaining, but not boring. Having sold more than 14 million titles translated into more than 30 languages, Dan can attest that his method of crafting computer tomes does seem to work.
Perhaps Dan’s most famous title is the original DOS For Dummies, published in 1991. It became the world’s fastest-selling computer book, at one time moving more copies per week than the New York Times number-one best seller (although, because it’s a reference book, it could not be listed on the NYT best seller list). That book spawned the entire line of For Dummies books, which remains a publishing phenomenon to this day.
Dan’s most recent titles include PCs For Dummies, 9th Edition; Buying a Computer For Dummies, 2005 Edition; Troubleshooting Your PC For Dummies; Dan Gookin’s Naked Windows XP; and Dan Gookin’s Naked Office. He publishes a free weekly computer newsletter, “Weekly Wambooli Salad,” and also maintains the vast and helpful Web site www.wambooli.com.