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. Stefan Blom 353K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2013-12-04T20:11:39+00:00

    Note that you have to add the tab stop to the style via the Tabs dialog box (in the Modify Style dialog box, click Format, Tabs). You can't just click the ruler to add a tab stop to the right of a right indent.

    Also, unlike older versions of Word, you can no longer set tab stops outside the right margin. This remains true even after you have applied the hotfix.

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  2. Anonymous
    2013-12-04T20:01:54+00:00

    I finally did that update and it didn't change Word 2013's ability to recognize the tab that is outside of the right indent. I guess we will have to review our table of contents after we generate them and manually add returns where the titles are longer than one line.

    Also, we will need to update the formatting of the paragraph styles in our table of contents because the page numbers are indented on the right since Word can't recognize the tab stop. We'll just have to remove the tab stop and get rid of the right indentation. This way the page numbers will be aligned correctly at the right margin (not indented). We don't have to do it right now because we are piloting Word 2013, but when we go to Word 2013 company-wide we will have to do this.

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  3. Anonymous
    2013-11-22T16:47:03+00:00

    We actually have this formatting in our paragraph styles for the TOC, so in that case I'm not actually using the ruler as the formatting is already applied to the paragraph style. In Word 2013 (not compatibility) mode, Word doesn't even recognize the right tab to the right of the indent - it's as if it doesn't exist.

    In other situations, I have a situation where I am applying the formatting manually using the ruler, when the nature of the text dictates that I apply this tab setting. Then I definitely can't do it. Sounds like I need to use the Tabs function in the Paragraph dialog box, instead of the ruler to apply it.

    As far as MS Word not recognizing the tab, I guess I need to talk to our IT department about this June 2013 upgrade. I thought we had already done all the current upgrades, but I'll look into it. Thanks everyone!

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  4. Anonymous
    2013-11-21T03:34:40+00:00

    Thanks for the explanation Suzanne. From what Stefan has said, the tab may still be set with the Tabs dialog box (although not without the latest updates). I will be upgrading to Word 2013 soon, so I guess I better get use to all the new changes!

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