Indentation of Paragraphs

[Jann]

I cannot change the setting for indentation. It's now on
10 spaces and I want it to indent 7 spaces. I've tried
Tabs under the Paragraph command in Format, Tools and
AutoFormat, moving the ruler (which Word Help directed me
to do), but that just messed up my right margin. One
suggestion was to place the cursor in from a a paragraph
and then press the Tab key. But that just pushed my text
forward.

One more question, please: every time I indent with the
tab key, a little box appears with what looks like a
yellow lightning icon. This icon blocks the characters
under it and to remove it, I have to make some change to
another paragraph, such as backspacing, etc.

Would appreciate any help.

 

[Robert M. Franz]

Hi Jann

I cannot change the setting for indentation. It's now on
10 spaces and I want it to indent 7 spaces. I've tried
Tabs under the Paragraph command in Format, Tools and
AutoFormat, moving the ruler (which Word Help directed me
to do), but that just messed up my right margin. One
suggestion was to place the cursor in from a a paragraph
and then press the Tab key. But that just pushed my text
forward.

Since you're posting in .longdocs here, I assume that's what you're
working with. I then strongly suggest that you change all of your
indents (and most anything else) through styles and not through direct
formatting.

That said, to change an indet, change the style through Format | Styles
| <chose style> | Format | Paragraph: Left <your prefered indent>.

If you have Word 2003 or (IIRC) 2002, then you do that through the
styles and formatting task pane.

One more question, please: every time I indent with the
tab key, a little box appears with what looks like a
yellow lightning icon. This icon blocks the characters
under it and to remove it, I have to make some change to
another paragraph, such as backspacing, etc.

Sounds like a SmartTag. It's Word's way of showing you that it has just
decided that you didn't really want to have a tab-character inserted,
but an indent. You might change some of the things Word "guesses" via
the "AutoFormat as you type" settings. But I repeat: This is direct
formatting, and its use is highly discouraged in long documents.

Greetings
Robert

 

[Jann]

Thank you. What is the difference beetween a "tab" and
and "indent"? to me, the Tab is the key you press to
create an indent. So why would the Smart Tag think I'm
doing two opposite things when, to me, they are one and
the same?

 

[Guest]

Went to Format and Style, but there was nothing to allow
me to set the indentations to the number I want. It just
says Paragraph and Body Text, but I kdon't know what that
means.

 

[Robert M. Franz]

Hello Jann

Thank you. What is the difference beetween a "tab" and
and "indent"? to me, the Tab is the key you press to
create an indent. So why would the Smart Tag think I'm
doing two opposite things when, to me, they are one and
the same?

To observe what the standard behaviour is for pressing the TAB
character, imagine what happens in (or open up) Notepad when you press
that button. If you do so at the beginning of a line, why yes, that
*looks* like an indent, but in effect, there's a tab-character inserted
which makes the cursor jump to the next default tab position. You see
that easily if you press TAB after having written a couple of words.

Greetings
Robert

 

[Robert M. Franz]

Went to Format and Style, but there was nothing to allow
me to set the indentations to the number I want. It just
says Paragraph and Body Text, but I kdon't know what that
means.

You need to change the style which you are currently using (Body Text,
maybe?).

In Word 2000, that is done in the following way:

Format | Styles | Body Text | Format | Paragraph: Left <your prefered
indent>.

In Word 2003, that would go like:

Format | Styles and Formatting (unless the said Task pane isn't already
active); then right-click on the style and select Modify. Format |
Paragraph | etc.

Greetings
Robert

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Ordinarily the Tab key does just insert a tab character. But if you have
"Tabs and backspace set left indent" (Tools | Options | Edit in Word 2000
and earlier) or "Set left- and first-indent with tabs and backspaces" (Tools
| AutoCorrect Options | AutoFormat As You Type in Word 2002 and 2003)
enabled, then pressing Tab indents the paragraph to the first tab stop.

A better way to create a first-line indent (assuming that's what you're
after) is to drag the first-line indent button on the ruler (see
http://word.mvps.org/faqs/formatting/UsingRulers.htm) or set an indent in
the Format | Paragraph dialog. Then every time you press Enter and get a new
paragraph, it will have a first-line indent. Or you can select a style, such
as Body Text First Indent, that has this property built in.