I'd like tab to set indent for bullets but not for paragraphs

[sargb]

My old installation of Word would use the tab key to set the indent ONL
for bullets and numbering, but NOT for regular paragraphs. I installe
exactly the same software on my new computer (with Windows 7 instead o
Windows XP) and this functionality seems to be lost. I can turn "Se
left- and first-indent with tabs and backspaces" on or off, but i
always applies this setting both to bullets and regular paragraphs
rather than permitting different behavior depending on the context.

I'm using Word 2003, installed on a Windows 7 (64-bit) system. M
previous system, on which the setting worked the way I want it to, wa
XP Pro.

Does anyone have any guesses about why the behavior is different on thi
system or suggestions for how to change it

 

[Stefan Blom]

Assuming that a paragraph contains text, Word will add a first line
indent to an unnumbered paragraph when you Tab with the insertion point
at the very beginning of the paragraph; I have seen this behavior in (at
least) Word 2007 and 2010, using both Windows XP and Windows 7.

Note that you can always force a tab character to be inserted if you
hold the Ctrl key as you press Tab.

Stefan Blom
Microsoft Word MVP