Tab stops set in word processing are similar to tabs on a typewriter. They're easy to locate on the screen because they appear as a ~ symbol both in the text and on the format line. You can change tab stops anywhere in a document by changing the format line.
The Tab key is located in the same place as the tab on a typewriter keyboard, and it functions in a similar way. When you press the Tab key while typing text, the cursor moves to the first standard tab stop at position 4. When you have a tab symbol in position 4 on the format line, the tab symbol on the editing screen will also be located at position 4 and the cursor will be at position 5. Each time you press the Tab key, the cursor moves another 5 spaces to the next tab symbol. You can start typing at any tab stop across the line. If you don't have any tabs set on the format line and you press the Tab key, the cursor moves over one space.
In the following procedure, you'll put tabs in an existing document.
Step You Type Screen Says Comments
+[!JHE WELL-PLANNED Move the cursor REPORT ... down to the first
topic under OVERALL DESIGN.
1 ( NEXT SCRN ) [!Jool, an outline
2 (2)rn rnurpose. Every Use the Insert key to add the tab.
3 ( INSERT ) Insert what? Put in a tab.
4
CIMJ(
EXECUTE ) ~rnurpose. Every The "P" of"Purpose" is at position 5. Check the status line to see this.
4/83 Setting Horizontal Layout 3-17
CHANGING TAB STOPS
All tab stops, preset standard tabs and tabs you insert in the text, appear in the format line. The Format key allows you to change or remove any of these tabs.
Change the tab stop setting to see how this is done.
Step You Type Screen Says Comments
~[tJurpose. Every Change the format line.
1 ( FORMAT ) Change format The cursor is in 1 (l~D
...
~1 .. position 5 in theformat line. Move the cursor back-ward, and type over the tab symbol at position 4.
2
El
1(1~ .... ~1 Now remove the tab at position 4.3 ( SPACE BAR ) 1(1.
D ...
~1 .. Add a tab.4
O&J
1(1. ~D..
~l..
This adds a tab at position 5.5 ( EXECUTE ) ~[tJurpose. Every The heading moves over to position 6.
REMOVING TAB STOPS
Sometimes you'll want to remove tabs directly from your text. Move the cursor to the tab symbol on the screen, and press the Delete and the Execute keys to remove the symbol. The text will move to the left and align with the left margin or a previous tab stop in the text. See how removing tab stops works on the next page.
3-18 Page and Document Layout 4/83
Step You Type Screen Says Comments
~~urpose. Every Move the cursor over the tab symbol.
1
El
~ Purpose. Every Delete the tabsymbol to move the text to the left margin.
2 ( DELETE ) Delete what?
3 ( EXECUTE ) ~urpose. Every The text is now at the left margin.
The tab symbol still remains in the format line at position 5.
4/83 Setting Horizontal Layout 3-19
Indenting Text
Indented text aligns with a tab stop rather than with the left margin. As opposed to a tab, which affects only a single line, all text following an indent symbol aligns along the tab stop until you end the indent by using the Return key. Because indented text can be many lines long, it's an effective way to emphasize text.
THE INDENT KEY
The Indent key is located in the top row of keys next to the Help key. Use it when you want to place block indents like quotes and bulleted items in your text. To indent just the first line of a paragraph, use a tab as you would on a typewriter.
Each time you press the Indent key, the cursor moves to the next tab stop, and an indent symbol,~, appears in the text area. When you type text after an indent and reach the end of a line, the rest of the words wrap around and align under the first line of indented text. The text continues to indent until you press the Return key. Any text typed after this aligns with the left margin.
If you press the Indent key a number of times, the text will align with each succeeding tab stop. If you're revising a document and want to indent text that hasn't been indented before, use the Insert key with the Indent key.
Here's a procedure for indenting text.
Step You Type Screen Says Comments
~urpose. Every Insert an indent.
( INSERT ) Insert what? Press the Indent key.
2 ( INDENT) ~~urpose. Every The paragraph is
( EXECUTE) indented to the
first tab symbol on the format line Now try indenting it once more.
3-20 Page and Document Layout 4/83
Step You Type Screen Says Comments
3 ( INSERT ) Insert what?
4 ( INDENT ) ~ ~ [I]urpose The paragraph is
( EXECUTE ) indented to
position 10.
REMOVING INDENTS
When you want to return indented text to the left margin, you must use the Delete key to remove the indent symbol. The repositioned text lines up with the previous indent symbol or the left margin.
Remove the indents that you just inserted and watch what happens.
Step You Type Screen Says Comments
~ ~ [I]urpose Position the
cur-- sor over the
indent symbol.
1
El
~8
Purpose. Delete the indent.2 ( DELETE ) Delete what? Delete just the indent symbol.
3 ( EXECUTE ) (Rearranging) The text returns
~ [I]urpose. to the first indent. Remove the last indent.
4
El EJ
Purpose.S ( DELETE ) Delete what? Delete lust the indent symbol.
6 ( EXECUTE ) (Rearranging) The text returns [I]urpose. Every to the way it was,
aligned with the left margin.
4/83 Setting Horizontal Layout 3-21