![]() ![]() Do NOT mess the formatting by overusing Tab stops! Please, please, PLEASE! Do NOT use tab stops for first line indents, your paragraph styles are able to deal with that (and more!) just fine. And by “properly used” I mean “together with styles”. This mobility turns tab stops into a dangerous tool: the paragraph distribution could change dramatically by adding just a single character.īut tab stops are also a powerful formatting tool if properly used. To see this at work just Write two words with a Tab stop between them and start inserting text before the first word: now it should be clear why the text after the tab “jumps” like it does. Many people think this means that by adding a Tab stop you’ll move the following text by that amount, but that’s not true: in reality they are called Tab stops because by using them you divide the text area on fixed columns so the character used to represent the Tab stop just moves the following text to the nearest column to the right of the insertion point. Under Tools → Options → LibreOffice Writer → General we find an option to set Tab stops, by default on 1.25 cm. ![]() On most WYSIWYG (What You See is What You Get) processors, and Writer is no exception here, the “tab” key has retained in part its original function of jumping between “imaginary columns” in the text, but with the problem of being represented by a formatting character that moves with the text itself, generating confusion among many users. ![]() The infamous Tab key has changed its function since its introduction on old typewriters: nowadays we use it to switch between windows (in combination with Alt), to jump from one field to another, from one button to another, and of course to create annoying formatting problems. For a deeper analysis of this topic, check my book: To Tame a Writer, LibreOffice Writer for Writers. ![]()
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