Using Microsoft Word Tabs and Lists

Using Microsoft Word

Tabs and Lists

Tabs and lists are common elements in many types of documents and are an important feature to
learn in a Word Processing application. Tabs allow you to create spaces at even intervals so you can
line text up on a page. Bulleted and numbered lists allow you to present related information in neat
lists on a page with a lot of options for changing the way the list appears.

Tab Spaces
Tabs are created on a page every time you press the [Tab] key while you are in a document. If you
look at the ruler at the top of the document you will notice faint marks evenly spaced along the
bottom of the ruler. These indicate tab markers. Every time you press the [Tab] key, a space will be
inserted that will extend to the next available tab marker. Normally these are placed 1.27 centimetres
apart, but you can create your own tab markers in any position you choose. You can also choose how
text will line up with a tab marker you have created.

Tab markers

Exercise 1. Creating a Simple Tabbed List

1) When you begin Word, you will usually already have a blank document. If you don’t already
have a blank document ready for use, then create a new blank document by pressing [Ctrl] [N] or
click the icon on the toolbar.
2) Type the word Name.
3) Press the [Tab] key. Your insertion point will move to line up with the first tab marker on the
ruler.
4) Type Score and press [Enter] to start a new paragraph on a new line.
5) On the new line type Bob and press [Tab]. The insertion point will once again line up with the
first tab marker.
6) Type 6 and press [Enter].
7) On the next line type Ann. Press [Tab] and type 7. Because of the tab markers, each
of the scores will be perfectly lined up. It is not possible to get text lined up this
precisely by pressing the space bar, since the letters that make up the text in front of
the spaces will be all different widths. Try lining up the same text by inserting several spaces
instead of one tab and they will never quite be lined up straight.
8) Click the Show/Hide icon on the toolbar. When hidden characters are displayed,
the tabs will appear as an arrow.
9) Click the Show/Hide icon again.

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Using Microsoft Word Tabs and Lists

Exercise 2. Setting a Tab Stop

1) Press [Ctrl] [A] to select all of the paragraphs on the page. Since Tabs are a
part of paragraph formatting, we need to make sure all of our paragraphs
are selected before we create a manual tab stop.
2) Move your mouse to the 3cm mark on the ruler and click on that point. A
small tab indicator will appear on that position in the ruler. Also, any text
Text lined up with
that was lined up with the first tab stop will now be lined up with your new manually placed
tab stop. tab marker.
3) You can adjust the position of a manually placed tab stop simply by
dragging it. Make sure the paragraphs are still selected. Move your mouse
over the tab stop on the ruler and drag it to the 4cm mark on the ruler.
Remember that if the tab stop moves in steps, you can be more precise by
holding down the [Alt] key as you drag. When you have moved the tab stop,
all of the text that was lined up with that tab stop will also move to the 4cm position.
4) Move your mouse over the tab stop. Drag the tab stop away from the ruler in an upward or
downward direction. This is an easy way to remove a tab stop. When a manual tab stop has been
removed, the tab on each line will revert to the default tab stop position.
5) Close the document. It is not necessary to save changes.

Note If you have modified tabs in a paragraph and want to use the same tabs in another
paragraph, you can use the Format painter that was introduced in the character
formatting section. Copying paragraph formats including tabs is the same as copying
character formats.

Tip A lot of what’s in this section can also be applied to other programs such as PowerPoint.

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Using Microsoft Word Tabs and Lists

Aligned Tab Stops

Normally when you press [Tab] any text after the tab will be lined up so that the left of the text is in
line with the tab stop. Word provides 5 different tab alignment options, described below.

Left The left edge of text after the tab will line up with the tab stop.

Centre The centre of text after the tab will line up with the tab stop.

Right The right edge of text after the tab will line up with the tab stop.

Decimal If the text after the tab is a number with a decimal point, the decimal point will be lined up
with the tab stop

Bar A vertical bar will be placed in line with the tab stop.

You can place aligned tabs using the ruler as shown in the previous exercise or you can place them
using the Format Tabs dialog shown below.

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Using Microsoft Word Tabs and Lists

Exercise 3. Setting Aligned Tab Stops

1) Create a new blank document.
2) Enter the text Price List.
3) Format this text so that it is bold and 18 point size.
4) We’ll create a price list using tabs. This time we’ll set up the tabs before we type any text
5) To the left of the ruler you will see a tab alignment box that allows you to choose a tab
marker type.
6) Click once on the marker so that it shows a centre tab marker.
7) Once the Centre tab marker is selected, click on the 4cm mark on the ruler.
8) Click on the tab marker box again so that it shows a right aligned tab marker.
9) Once the Right tab marker is selected, click the 7cm mark on the ruler.
10) Click on the tab marker box twice so that it shows a bar tab marker (skipping the
decimal tab marker for now).
11) Once the Bar tab is selected, click the 8cm mark on the ruler.
12) Clicking the tab marker box again will show markers to place first line indents and
then hanging indents. Keep on clicking until the box shows a Decimal tab marker.
13) Once the decimal marker is selected, click the 11cm mark on the ruler. When all the
tabs are in place, the ruler will look like the example below.

Now to add the text and see how it lines up with the tabs. We’ll start with the headings.
14) Enter the following text. Each arrow indicates that you need to press the [Tab] key.
Item Name Æ Category Æ Price Æ Weight (kgs)
15) On the following lines, enter the following text.
Stapler Æ Stationery Æ $2.30 Æ 0.3
Guillotine Æ Stationery Æ $12.50 Æ 8.54
Printer Æ Computer Æ $320 Æ 11
Scanner Æ Computer Æ $150 Æ 4.5
16) Format the headings in bold text.
17) Save the file as Price List. Your completed list should look similar to the following example.

Notice the way text lines up with the tab stops depending on what type of tab stop has been used.
Also notice the way the bar tab stop has created a vertical dividing line in the list.

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Using Microsoft Word Tabs and Lists

Exercise 4. Creating Tab Stops With Leaders

Normally a tab will be a blank space. Using a tab leader, however, you can have this blank space
filled with a line.
1) Close the current document and open the document called Tab
Leaders. The paragraphs in this document each have a tab between
the manager names and department names. Each tab is lined up
with the next available tab stop, which is currently not the same for
each paragraph,
2) Select from Manager Name down to Human Resources as shown in
the example to the right.
3) From the Format menu select Tabs. The Tabs dialog box will appear.

We will create a tab stop that includes a dotted underline as the tab leader.
4) In Tab stop position type 9.
5) Under the Alignment options click Right.
6) Under the Leader options click 2 (the dotted underline option).
7) When each of those options is selected, click Set. The new tab stop will appear in the list.
8) Click OK to set the tab. Your list will appear like the example
below.

9) Save and close the document.

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Using Microsoft Word Tabs and Lists

Bulleted and Numbered Lists

In these exercises, there have been many examples of both bulleted lists and numbered lists as they
are a common feature in many types of documents. Bullet lists are lists where each paragraph begins
with a dot point. Numbered lists are lists where each item is ordered using a number. These lists can
be customised in a number of different ways such as changing the symbol used for bullet points or
changing a numbered list to use letters or roman numerals.

Examples

• Point 1 ¾ Point 1 1. Point 1 a. Point 1

• Point 2 ¾ Point 2 2. Point 2 b. Point 2
• Point 3 ¾ Point 3 3. Point 3 c. Point 3

Creating a bulleted or numbered list can be done in a number of different ways.

• You can use the AutoFormat options to create a list as you type.
• You can choose the type of list and then begin typing.
• You can select a range of existing paragraphs and then convert it in to a list.
The following exercises will demonstrate each of these methods for creating a list.

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Using Microsoft Word Tabs and Lists

Exercise 5. Using AutoFormat to Create Lists

1) Create a new blank document.
2) Enter the heading Colours, formatted as bold size 18 text.
3) Type an asterisk * symbol ([Shift] [8]) and press [Tab]. When you type an asterisk and then insert a
tab before typing, Word will convert the completed paragraph in to a bulleted paragraph.
4) After the tab type red and press [Enter]. As soon as you press [Enter] Word will know the
paragraph is ended and the paragraph will be automatically converted to a bullet point. A new
bullet point on the following line will also be created.
Note If this happens when you don’t want a bulleted list to be created, you can undo straight
away to undo the automatic change.
5) Continue to type the list so that it looks like the following example.

6) After you have typed the last item in the list, press [Enter] twice. Pressing it a second time
indicates that you are ending the list and the next paragraph will be normal.
7) On the new line type Days of the Week. Format the text as bold and 18 point size.
8) Type a number 1, press [Tab] and then type Monday.
9) Press [Enter] to complete the paragraph and it will be automatically formatted as a numbered list.
10) Complete the list so that it appears like the example below.

11) Press [Enter] twice to complete the list.

12) Save the document as Lists Practice.

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Using Microsoft Word Tabs and Lists

Exercise 6. Converting Existing Paragraphs to Lists

1) Open the file called Australian States and Territories.
2) Select the list of states & territories in the document.
Click the Bullets icon on the formatting toolbar. The
selected paragraphs will be converted to bullet points.
3) Click the Bullets icon again. The paragraphs will return to
normal. The icon can be used to turn bullet points on and
off for selected paragraphs.
4) Click the Numbering icon on the toolbar. The paragraphs will change to a numbered list.
5) Click the Numbering icon again. The paragraphs will return to normal.

Exercise 7. Customising a Bulleted List

1) Make sure the Australian States and Territories document is still open.
2) Select the paragraphs that were formatted in the last exercise.
3) Select the Format menu or right click on the selected paragraphs and then select Bullets and
Numbering. The following dialog box will appear.

4) Make sure the Bulleted tab is selected along the top and select the circle bullet style as shown.
You don’t have to choose from the bullet styles shown; you can also create your own bullet
styles.
5) Click the Customize button to open the following dialog box.

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Using Microsoft Word Tabs and Lists

The options at the top of this dialog allow you to change the style of bullet used for the list. The
bottom half allows you to choose the indentation for the paragraphs and also allows you to adjust the
position of the tab stop after the bullet.
6) Click the Character button. A dialog like the one below will appear.

7) Scroll through the list to view the characters that are available and select
one to use for your bullets.
8) Click OK to return to the bullet options and click OK again the complete
the changes. You list will now appear with the type of bullet you have specified.

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Using Microsoft Word Tabs and Lists

Exercise 8. Customising a Numbered List

Make sure the Australian States and Territories document is

still open.
Scroll down the page until you see the Largest States and
Cities list.
Select the paragraphs from Western Australia to Darwin as
shown to the right.
9) Click the Numbering icon on the toolbar to convert the
paragraphs to a numbered list.
10) Select the Format menu or right click on the selected
paragraphs and then select Bullets and Numbering. The following dialog box will appear.

11) Choose one of the alphabetical list formats as

shown and click OK to view the changes.
12) Display the Bullets and Numbering
options again as shown in step 5.
13) Click the Customise button to view
additional options for numbering as
shown below.

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Using Microsoft Word Tabs and Lists

Like the custom bullets option, the numbering options have a section at the bottom for adjusting tabs
and margins for the bullet points. The top section has options for changing the number style (letters,
numbers, roman numerals etc), for changing what the starting number will be (if you want a list to
start on a number other than 1) and also for changing the font used to display the number (by
clicking on the font button).
14) Change the number format box at the top so that it appears like the example below. This should
format your list so that each point has a letter followed by a right bracket.

15) Click OK to complete the changes.

One problem with the current selection is that the line City Population 1994 (000s) is included, even
though that shouldn’t be a numbered line.
16) Click on that line and then click the Numbering icon on the toolbar to remove the numbering
from that line.
Now you will notice that the list of cities continues the numbering from the list of states, even though
there is a non-numbered paragraph in between. We can easily choose whether we want a list to
continue from a previous list or not by going to the numbering options or by using the right mouse
menu.
17) Right click on Sydney to display the shortcut
menu.
18) Click on the Restart Numbering option from the
shortcut menu to specify that this paragraph is the beginning of a new list.
19) Save the changes and close the document. The completed document should look similar to the
example on the following page.

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Using Microsoft Word Tabs and Lists

Australian States and Territories

☻ Australian Capital Territory
☻ New South Wales
☻ Northern Territory
☻ Queensland
☻ South Australia
☻ Tasmania
☻ Victoria
☻ Western Australia

Largest States and Cities

Land Area
a) Western Australia 2 526 786
b) Queensland 1 723 936
c) Northern Territory 1 335 742
d) South Australia 978 810
e) New South Wales 800 628
f) Victoria 227 010
g) Tasmania 64 519
h) Australian Capital Territory 2 358
City Population 1994 (000s)
a) Sydney 3,736.7
b) Melbourne 3,197.8
c) Brisbane 1,454.4
d) Perth 1,238.8
e) Adelaide 1,076.1
f) Canberra 300.5
g) Hobart 194.2
h) Darwin 78.1

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Using Microsoft Word Tabs and Lists

Exercise 9. Nested Lists

In some situations it is necessary to create ‘lists within lists’ as in the following example.
1) Make sure the Australian States and Territories document is still open.
2) Scroll to the second page of the document until you see the Major Australia Cities heading.
3) Select all of the paragraphs from Australian Capital Territory down to Perth.
4) Click the Bullets icon on the toolbar to convert the paragraphs to bullet points (the bullet
formatting will probably be the same format used for the last list you created).
5) Click on the second paragraph (Canberra).
6) Click the Increase Indent icon on the toolbar. The paragraph will now become indented and
will be formatted with a different type of bullet (or possibly number). Remember that if you
don’t like the way the indented paragraph has been formatted, you can change the bullet
formatting using the methods shown previously.
7) Select the NSW cities (from Newcastle to Woolongong).
8) Hold down [Alt] [Shift] and press the right arrow key [Æ]. This is the same as clicking the Increase
Indent icon. The NSW cities will now be indented with the same bullet formatting that was used
for Canberra.
9) Indent the rest of the cities so that the rest of the list looks similar to the one below.

Note If you accidently indent a paragraph that you didn’t mean to, you can decrease indent
using the Decrease indent icon or by pressing [Alt] [Shift] [Å].

10) Save the changes and close the document.

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