Right Tab Stop to the right of the Right Indent - Not Working

Anonymous
2013-11-20T18:08:50+00:00

You used to be able to place a right tab stop outside of the right indent, so that the tab actually appeared on the ruler to the right of the right indent. This was how a table of contents would be formatted so that if the heading title was longer than one line, the text would only go as far right as the right indent as it wrapped onto multiple lines, and then the page number would align farther right of the heading text at the tab stop. It now appears that Word 2013 (when it is not in Compatibility Mode) cannot recognize a tab stop if it is to the right of the right indent, so I cannot figure out how to get this alignment if the heading title is longer than one line.

The only way I can find that you can is to use manual returns at the end of each line of text with a dot leader tab on the last line, like this example:

   Really long heading title that is tremendously long so it goes longer than one line of text (RETURN)

   and in fact just keeps going on and on so that it spans multiple lines in the document (RETURN)

   instead of all fitting on one line of the document……………………………………………………………..............……….…3

How do I create an alignment like this within the paragraph settings without manually adding returns?

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Stefan Blom 353K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
2017-06-22T11:17:31+00:00

Well, I have the same problem with WORD2016 now and even though I am glad I found your posts about the problems with the 2013 version, I am still frustrated that this problem is not addressed and solved in the new version.

I now followed an old reply found here and saved my document in the .doc format - and voila... it now does what I want. But can this be the solution?? To go back to save it in an ancient format???

If you are running Word for Mac, you should start a new thread.

In Word 2016 (or in Word 2013 with the most recent updates) for Windows, you can set a tab stop to the right of a right indent, but NOT to the right of the right margin. This is by design. See screen shot below.

Also, you must use the Tab dialog box; you can't add such a tab stop by double-clicking the horizontal ruler.

Older file formats still support the older behavior, which is to be expected.

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  1. Anonymous
    2016-09-14T23:30:49+00:00

    Thanks for your reply, Stefan.  It might be the case that my employer is behind on Office updates. Unfortunately, I have no control over that.  However, I did try adding the right tab stop in the Tabs dialog box then dragging it past the right margin on the ruler.  It won't go past the right margin.  I'm trying to format my TOC so the text doesn't go out to the right margin and instead stops short at 0.5" from the right so the text isn't right up against the page numbers.

    While I understand that adding tab stops outside the margin is no longer supported -- by design -- that doesn't mean it's a good decision on Microsoft's part.  IMHO it should be changed back.  In the meantime, I'm going to try the method described above by Charles Kenyon/Suzanne Barnhill:

    "Here is one with the Right Indent moved to the left, inside the tab. Note, it is not easy to grab the right indent and not the right tab. As noted earlier by Stefan, you cannot move the tab outside the indent using the ruler. However if you move the indent inside the tab, it works. (This is with the update.)"

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  2. Suzanne S Barnhill 279.4K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2016-09-15T02:25:46+00:00

    You can certainly set the tab stop location in the Tabs dialog. Also, using the ruler, if you first drag the right indent marker slightly outside the right margin (negative right indent), then set a tab stop at the margin, you can then drag the indent marker back to the left of the tab stop without dragging the tab stop along with it.

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  3. Anonymous
    2016-09-15T15:11:45+00:00

    The dragging of the tab to the right of the indentation on the ruler doesn't work anymore. You have to do it by setting the tab through the Paragraph properties. First set the right indentation where you want it and don't worry about the tab. Then right click in the paragraph somewhere, select Paragraph, open the Tabs button at the bottom, and then set a tab that is where you want it (I assume all the way to the right, where your margin in). For example, if you have .35 indentation on the right, then set a right tab at 6.5 inches (assuming you have a 1-inch margin on left and right sides, 6.5 would be the edge of the margin). This should set the tab outside the indentation of your paragraph. Good luck!

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  4. Suzanne S Barnhill 279.4K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2016-09-15T15:32:29+00:00

    You cannot set a right tab stop outside the right margin. When you add a right indent to a paragraph, you are not changing the page margin, just the indent. You can set a tab stop between the indent and the margin. And while you can't drag a tab stop to the right of the indent, you can drag the indent to the left of the tab stop.

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