Deleting a default tab stop

[Rick]

In Word 2003, my default tab stops are set to every 0.5". In one
document, I want to delete the tab stop that's at position 1.0". How do
I do that? I understand that you normally clear a tab stop by dragging
it down off the ruler, but in my ruler I don't see any tab stops at all.
(Maybe you only see stops that you yourself have set rather than the
default stops?) Thanks.

 

[Stefan Blom]

The default tab stops cannot be deleted. What you can do is change the
distance between them. Note, however, that the proper way to deal with this
is to set custom tab stops at the appropriate locations (as you may already
know, a custom tab stop will override any default tab stops on the left of
it). For more on the basics of tab stops, see
http://word.mvps.org/faqs/formatting/SettingTabs.htm.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

When you set a specific tab stop, all the built-in stops to the left of it
are cleared. So if you want tab stops at 0.5" and 1.5" but not at 1.0",
you'll need to explicitly set stops at 0.5" and 1.5".