how to remove unwanted tabs when pasting table in word

[Billygotproblems]

Word is inserting tab stops in each column of my table when I paste the table
into another document. The table was created in Word 2003 and I'm pasting it
into a document that was probably created by Word 97.

How can I paste this table without the tabs appearing? Or, is there an easy
way to remove the tabs besides going to each cell individually and sliding
the tab marker to the right-most column border?

I've tried the Format/ Tabs function, but the mystery tabs do not show up so
selecting the remove all tabs feature has no effect.

On a related note, the text and the ruler in the same document created by
Word 97 are scrunched to the left side of the page, leaving a couple inches
of white space on the right side. Is this maybe a global problem with the
document?

 

[Jezebel]

If you've been 'deleting' tabs by sliding tab markers around, then that
explains where they are coming from - they are in the source document,
positioned out of the way. (Word doesn't 'insert' tabs when you paste a
table.) Tabs are characters: you delete them by selecting and pressing
delete. You can delete them in bulk by selecting the table then using Find
and Replace: search for ^t and replace with nothing.

 

[Billygotproblems]

Thank you! I tried your solution but I still have the problem.

I'm only sliding the tab markers AFTER they have been inserted randomly by
Word during the copy/paste process. The table was created in a new document
using the 'insert table' button and dragging a frame around a 5X23 cell
table. Then I typed text in each cell without tabs or other formatting
(except to center and bold some of the text).

So I start with a happy, normal table, copy and paste it as HTML into the
destination document (an old report that I'm updating) and then tabs appear
and skew everything.

As an experiment, I copied and pasted the table into a new document and the
table formatting was unaffected. Tab markers still appeared in the newly
pasted table, but they were located on the right-side border of each column
so they had no effect.

Long ago I had issues with updating really old reports because of something
to do with the global template I think. Unfortunately I no longer have in
house tech support and I'm not sure if this is a similar issue?

 

[Jezebel]

Not sure what solution you've tried, from that description. Why are you
sliding tab markers around? Why not just delete the tabs themselves (ie from
the text, not from the ruler).

And I don't follow how you've created the table. If you already have a 5 x
23 cells table, why are you using 'Insert table'?

I can't recreate (and I've never seen) the underlying problem: Word doesn't
insert (randomly or otherwise) tabs into tables that are copied and pasted,
so something else must be going on here. Copy and paste is actually handled
by a separate Windows application (the clipboard), which does no processing
of the content.

Try this: select the original table, display the Find and Replace dialog,
search for ^t and replace with nothing. Click Replace All: you'll get a
message box telling you how many replacements were made. Now do the same
with the pasted table. Do you get the same number?