Tabs, Bullets, and Numbered Lists

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Word Processing I >>
Tabs, Bullets, and Numbered Lists

Tabs and bullets are used to help lay out the content in a document. Numbering can be used to number lists (instead of bullets). Each of these will be reviewed in this section.

Tabs

There are four types of tabs in Word: left, center, right, and decimal tab. Each of these are named for their alignment. For your assignment, you will need to demonstrate each of these tabs. Type each of the following words with each on its own separate line, so it appears as follows:

Left
Center
Right
10.80

When setting up a tab in word, it will only apply to the text you select or the line in which your cursor is active. If you want a tab to apply to the entire document, you will need to select all of the text and then set up the tab.

To set up the Left tab,
Select the text "Left" (or click anywhere on that line).
Next, you can either go through the Format menu or use a shortcut. Each will be described below.

In the Format menu, select "Tabs..." to view the following window:

In the first field called "Tab stop position,"
Type in "1.2" as shown above. This will be the location of your new Left tab.
Under the Alignment section, leave the button on "Left" and leave "none" selected under the Leader section, then click "Set" then "OK."
Your tab has been set. Place your cursor at the start of your word "Left" and click the Tab button on your keyboard. The word should move to exactly the 1.2 location by your ruler bar.

For the Center tab, go through these instructions again to set up a Center tab at 2.8 for the word "Center" on your second line. Remember that you will have to select "Center" under the Alignment section of the Tab window.

For the Right tab, follow these same instructions for the word "Right" on the third line.

Select "Right" under the alignment section
Select option "2 ......" in the Leader section
Place the tab stop position at 4.9.
You will notice that a dotted line will appear before the tab. This type of feature is helpful when setting up a table of contents.

The last tab for you to set up is the Decimal tab.

Set this one up with no leader.
Select "Decimal" as the alignment
Place this tab at 3.6.
When you tab the text "10.80" to this decimal tab, you will notice that the decimal is aligned to the 3.6 location and not the beginning of the text. This is useful when writing mathematical notation in your documents.

The shortcut for setting up the above tabs involves simply clicking anywhere on the top ruler bar. A tab will be dropped at each location you click on the bar. To remove a tab, click and drag the tab away from the ruler bar and release. What type of tab you are inserting will depend on what tab is viewed in the top left corner of the document - where the horizontal and vertical rulers meet. For example, the L-shaped image in the circle below stands for a left-aligned tab.

The images for each tab are as follows:

= Left tab

= Center tab

= Right tab

= Decimal tab

To change the type of tab being inserted, click on the tab icon circled above and the tab icon will change. Keep clicking the icon to go through all four options.

Bullets

When writing flyers or other documents, it is often helpful to insert either bulleted lists or numbered lists. For your assignment, you will set up one list of each type.

To set up a bulleted list, place your cursor where you want to start entering the list. Go to the Format menu and select "Bullets and Numbering" to get the following window:

Under the "Bulleted" tab on this window, select one of the bullet styles by clicking on it. Click OK and a bullet will appear where your cursor is in the document. For your assignment, make a bulleted list of three names. At the end of your list, when you no longer want to have bullets appear, return to the above window, choose "None," and then click OK. Your list should appear something like the following:

Valerie

Mike

Ryan

A shortcut for creating bulleted lists appears in the "Formatting" toolbar. Click on the following icon to use bullets and then click on it again to remove them.

Numbered Lists

Next, for your assignment, create a "numbered list" of any three items. A numbered list can be created by returning to the above "Bullets and Numbering" window and viewing the "Numbered" tab. Click on one of styles for a numbered list and click OK. Type your three items, pressing return after each. To remove numbering at the end of your list, return to this window, select "None" from the Numbered tab, and click OK. Again, a shortcut is available on the "Formatting" toolbar. You may click on the following icon to create a numbered list and click the icon again to remove numbering.

Please continue on to the next section on Tables to learn more on how to organize the content in your documents.