Tabs in PowerPoint

[ksynowka]

Version: 2008
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger)
Processor: intel

How do I set tabs in PowerPoint? Thanks!

 

[CyberTaz]

First you need to be in a legitimate text placeholder and you must have the
Ruler displayed (View> Ruler) - PPt doesn't have a Tabs dialog. Set the Tab
by clicking the ruler at the spot where you want the tab stop. See the PPt
Help topic: Set or Clear Tab Stops for more.

It's a bit different, however, if you actually mean you want to change the
Indentation of bullets or text in a bulleted list - that isn't controlled by
tabs. Use the markers that appear on the left end of the Ruler. Details on
this are available in Help as well.

Alternatively you may actually be better off using a Table, but you haven't
provided enough information to make that clear.

HTH |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

 

[paul mckenzie]

It is easy enough to set/clear tab stops. However there is no obvious way to enter TAB CHARACTERS that would actually make text align with the tab stops. Hitting the tab key has some effect on text alignment, but nothing obviously useful, e.g., it may affect spacing in some other part of a line not near the cursor. How does one enter a WORKING tab character?

 

[CyberTaz]

If working in a standard Bulleted List placeholder have you turned off the
Bullets formatting? Is the Alignment set to something other than Left?

Regards |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

 

[Steve Rindsberg]

It is easy enough to set/clear tab stops. However there is no obvious way to enter

TAB CHARACTERS that would actually make text align with the tab stops. Hitting the
tab key has some effect on text alignment, but nothing obviously useful, e.g., it may
affect spacing in some other part of a line not near the cursor. How does one enter a
WORKING tab character?
And in addition to Bob's suggestions, bear in mind that when the cursor is on the
first character of a paragraph in a body text placeholder, pressing TAB will indent
the entire paragraph to the next lower bullet level rather than entering a TAB
character.

================================================
Steve Rindsberg, PPT MVP
PPT FAQ: www.pptfaq.com
PPTools: www.pptools.com
================================================

 

[paul mckenzie]

I have tried bullets on/off, tried left/center/right alignment and the problem persists. It seems that center-aligned tab stops just don't work properly in PowerPoint 2008 (12.10 Upgrade). For me, this is an issue of compatibility with PowerPoint 2003, in which the document appears properly!

The specific kind of PowerPoint line that is giving me problems is something like:

• Types of fruit:
Apples Bananas Cherries
Grapefruit Peaches Figs

where I tried to use center-aligned tabs to align the various fruit names vertically. There is a "soft" return (shift+return) after "fruit:"; it doesn't matter whether or not there is a bullet in front of "Types", nor does left/center/right alignment matter. It works fine in PowerPoint 2003 (Windows)

 

[CyberTaz]

Hi Paul -

I haven't had an opportunity to test thoroughly but it appears you have
found a verifiable problem. My findings are a bit different at first glance
though. Center tabs seem to work OK as long as there is text typed on the
line ahead of the first press of the Tab key. Starting the line by pressing
Tab is what seems to trigger the faulty behavior here.

I'd suggest you use Help> Send Feedback to log it with MacBU. Describe the
steps to reproduce as accurately as you can. When I have a chance to check
it out further I'll submit one from this end as well.

Regards |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

 

[Lee]

I've observed that the "upgrades" 12.1.0 and 12.1.1 seem to compound the
problem regarding tabs. And while the tabs do not properly place the items,
even without the upgrades (I'm running 12.0.1), the cursor often is not
displayed at the letters at which it actually is. The problems also seem to
get worse when the listing of items is rather long - the tabs are reasonable
for maybe a number of lines (10 or so) but then they are totally ineffective.