Can Word centre tabs on a colon ":" instead of a decimal point?

[NetPomme]

Hi there
I need to align numbers based upon a colon ":" in the same way you would use
a decimal point. For example:

15:16
100:56

I was trying to use Tabs but can't think how to do it... anyone got any ideas?
Thank you.

 

[Klaus Linke]

Hi there
I need to align numbers based upon a colon ":" in the same way you would
use
a decimal point. For example:

15:16
100:56

I was trying to use Tabs but can't think how to do it... anyone got any
ideas?
Thank you.

Have you tried the decimal tab? It aligns your numbers fine for me...

Greetings,
Klaus

 

[NetPomme]

Thank you Klaus it works. I never thought to try it. I think this is the
silly question for the day.
Thank you again.

 

[grammatim]

If you always have exactly two digits after the colon, you can simply
use a right tab.

(You can choose the character to align on with the "decimal" tab in
FrameMaker. Maybe someday Word will be able to do that.)

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Times will align on the colon using a decimal tab.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA

If you always have exactly two digits after the colon, you can simply
use a right tab.

(You can choose the character to align on with the "decimal" tab in
FrameMaker. Maybe someday Word will be able to do that.)

 

[Peter Jamieson]

FWIW as far as I can see, when you have a decimal tab, Word aligns on the
first non-digit character, e.g.

5.6
45,6
345:67
2345x6789
12345 67890

will all be aligned on the "5" (though of course the stuff from 6 onwards
will probably not be aligned because the widths of ".",",",":", "x"," " may
differ)

(I guess you need something pretty general to have a reasonably good chance
of dealing with differences in regional settings anyway - what if you use
decimal tabs "1234.56" on a machine set up for US Windows, then open it on a
machine set up with French settings, for example?)

--
Peter Jamieson
http://tips.pjmsn.me.uk


--
Peter Jamieson
http://tips.pjmsn.me.uk

If you always have exactly two digits after the colon, you can simply
use a right tab.

(You can choose the character to align on with the "decimal" tab in
FrameMaker. Maybe someday Word will be able to do that.)

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

It aligns on the first non-digit character other than the thousands
separator (though you might confuse it with the comma in your second
example). This is based on whatever the thousands separator is on a given
system, so yes, it could perhaps give unpredictable results "in
translation."

 

[Peter Jamieson]

Thanks, Suzanne.