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?

Microsoft 365 and Office | Word | For home | Windows

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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
    2016-09-15T15:46:38+00:00

    Thanks, Suzanne! I totally used the wrong term. I revised my post to refer to the indentation - not the margin. Thanks for keeping me on my toes!

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  2. Anonymous
    2016-12-07T07:57:14+00:00

    I have followed all these posts and still can't solve my problem.  I have both Word 2013 (15.0.4420.1017) and Word 365. 

    I need to place my page number outside my right indent, inside my right margin as shown below in compatibility mode (old 2007 document). 

    In 2013, I need to get the same effect.  Instead I get this ...

    My ribbon shows a right margin at 16.5cm, right tab at ~16 cm and a right indent at 15.2cm - BUT all the text stops at the right indent including the page number.  I have tried doing the indents first, then tabs and vice versa but it makes no difference. I have also tried all the suggestions mentioned in these posts to no avail.

    I produce very long reports with TOC - this is an essential feature which has now been removed from Word. 

    I'd appreciate any help.

    Regards, Kary

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  3. Stefan Blom 353K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2016-12-07T08:40:14+00:00

    I can't reproduce that here (Word 15.0.4885.1000 according to File | Account | About Word).

    Can you share an example document?

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  4. Anonymous
    2016-12-07T08:56:28+00:00

    Hi Stefan

    Thanks for your quick reply.  Was the example you gave above in compatibility mode?  I have tried the same with both my versions (including 16.0.6925.1044) and can't get the same effect except in compatibility mode.

    I have created two documents:

    1. in compatibility mode: https://1drv.ms/w/s!ArauHNcxHooVcf5JoDkO0Kqhuq8
    2. in 2013: https://1drv.ms/w/s!ArauHNcxHooVb6noPEL91F7RLIs

    Thanks, Kary

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