adjust tab indent size

Everything related to our flagship word processor.
Post Reply
lwieder
Posts: 3
Joined: 2012-07-15 05:27:41

adjust tab indent size

Post by lwieder »

I would like the tab key to indent ¼ inch, not the ½ inch that seems to be baked in.
Is there some (preferably simple) way to reset or do this?
User avatar
martin
Official Nisus Person
Posts: 5227
Joined: 2002-07-11 17:14:10
Location: San Diego, CA
Contact:

Re: adjust tab indent size

Post by martin »

Before I answer your question I want to clarify a few terms:

1. Tab character: this is the actual tab whitespace character that's inserted by typing on the keyboard.
2. Tab stop: this is the little icon on the ruler (it looks like an arrow), indicating where text aligned when a tab character is encountered.

With that out of the way, we can say that tab stops on the ruler control how far text is indented, whenever a tab character is encountered in document text. Beyond just controlling the indentation distance, tab stops can also draw leader character and underlines, or otherwise align text in certain special ways.

But all that doesn't directly answer your question. You're most likely asking about yet another term that we can define:

3. Default tab distance: the amount to indent text when a tab character is encountered, automatically, in absence of any tab stops on the ruler.

There's no way to customize the default tab distance. That's "baked in" as you say. However, the next best thing is to adjust your document's default ruler to add tab stops at the desired locations. I'd definitely do this via your style sheet's Normal paragraph style. You can customize that single style to enforce the desired tab stops so they're applied consistently throughout your entire document.

I hope that's clear and helps you. Please let me know if you have any questions.
Post Reply