Tab turns into dots (Word 2003)

  • Thread starter Thread starter Anne Troy
  • Start date Start date
In my documents whenever I hit tab I get a series of dots that fill the
tabbed-over space. These dots actually print along with the page. How do I
make this stop (and what purpose does this feature serve?)

Word 2003

Thanks
 
Wowbagger said:
In my documents whenever I hit tab I get a series of dots that fill
the tabbed-over space. These dots actually print along with the
page. How do I make this stop (and what purpose does this feature
serve?)

Word 2003

Thanks
Click to expand...

The tabstop your tab goes to is defined with a "dot leader". From your
description, it sounds like that definition is in the Normal.dot template,
so you'll have to fix it there (see
http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/AppErrors/BlankDocNotBlank.htm).

To remove the leader in existing documents, first select any paragraphs that
contain the tabs. Then go to Format > Tabs, select that tabstop, and click
the None button in the Leader section of the dialog. See
http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/Formatting/SettingTabs.htm for more about this.

Dot leaders are usually used when you have a column of items on the left,
corresponding numbers (as in a Table of Contents or a price list) on the
right, and dots to connect them for easier reading.
 
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