inserting dot leaders

Patty · External Since: Oct 15, 2004 Posts: 13

Is there anyway to insert dot leaders at the end of a line of text to the
margin without setting up a new tab? (I'm an ex-WordPerfect user, and I used
this feature all the time. But I haven't been able to find it in Word.)

Suzanne S. Barnhill · External Since: Sep 26, 2003 Posts: 24065

No, you have to have a tab stop to have tab leaders.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://word.mvps.org
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

"Patty" <Patty.RemoveThis@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:B139048F-C108-4F10-9740-DE3612FAF2A7@microsoft.com...
> Is there anyway to insert dot leaders at the end of a line of text to the
> margin without setting up a new tab? (I'm an ex-WordPerfect user, and I
used
> this feature all the time. But I haven't been able to find it in Word.)

Patty · External Since: Oct 15, 2004 Posts: 13

Thanks for confirming this for me. I miss the WordPerfect feature!

"Suzanne S. Barnhill" wrote:

> No, you have to have a tab stop to have tab leaders.
>
> --
> Suzanne S. Barnhill
> Microsoft MVP (Word)
> Words into Type
> Fairhope, Alabama USA
> Word MVP FAQ site: http://word.mvps.org
> Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
> all may benefit.
>
> "Patty" <Patty.RemoveThis@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:B139048F-C108-4F10-9740-DE3612FAF2A7@microsoft.com...
> > Is there anyway to insert dot leaders at the end of a line of text to the
> > margin without setting up a new tab? (I'm an ex-WordPerfect user, and I
> used
> > this feature all the time. But I haven't been able to find it in Word.)
>
>

abs · External Since: Jun 21, 2004 Posts: 15

What we did was to create a style for a dot leader. Helped a lot of my users.

"Patty" wrote:

> Thanks for confirming this for me. I miss the WordPerfect feature!
>
> "Suzanne S. Barnhill" wrote:
>
> > No, you have to have a tab stop to have tab leaders.
> >
> > --
> > Suzanne S. Barnhill
> > Microsoft MVP (Word)
> > Words into Type
> > Fairhope, Alabama USA
> > Word MVP FAQ site: http://word.mvps.org
> > Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
> > all may benefit.
> >
> > "Patty" <Patty.RemoveThis@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> > news:B139048F-C108-4F10-9740-DE3612FAF2A7@microsoft.com...
> > > Is there anyway to insert dot leaders at the end of a line of text to the
> > > margin without setting up a new tab? (I'm an ex-WordPerfect user, and I
> > used
> > > this feature all the time. But I haven't been able to find it in Word.)
> >
> >

Lola · External Since: May 30, 2006 Posts: 5

This is another example of how much more user friendly WordPerfect is than
Word. I use Word at work because I have to, but I use WordPerfect for Windows
at home because it is much easier to use.

"Patty" wrote:

> Is there anyway to insert dot leaders at the end of a line of text to the
> margin without setting up a new tab? (I'm an ex-WordPerfect user, and I used
> this feature all the time. But I haven't been able to find it in Word.)

Stefan Blom · External Since: Jun 18, 2007 Posts: 44

I believe this is entirely a matter of personal preferences. Personally I
could never figure out WordPerfect. Smile

--
Stefan Blom
Microsoft Word MVP

"Lola" wrote:

> This is another example of how much more user friendly WordPerfect is than
> Word. I use Word at work because I have to, but I use WordPerfect for Windows
> at home because it is much easier to use.
>
> "Patty" wrote:
>
> > Is there anyway to insert dot leaders at the end of a line of text to the
> > margin without setting up a new tab? (I'm an ex-WordPerfect user, and I used
> > this feature all the time. But I haven't been able to find it in Word.)

Suzanne S. Barnhill · External Since: Sep 26, 2003 Posts: 24065

There were certain aspects of WordPerfect that I found utterly infuriating
(and a lot of them had to do with those much-lauded "codes"). In the end,
what a Word-trained WP user would miss most are styles (WP has them but
doesn't know how to use them) and line breaks.

What I found infuriating was that you can't conveniently set and reset tab
stops for a selection. You select the text and set the tab stops, and all is
well, but if you want to move one of the tab stops, you can't just click in
a paragraph and do it because that inserts a code at the insertion point,
and the change is effective only from that point forward. And you can't
reselect the initial selection because when you do, you're inside (or
outside, whichever it takes) the "codes," and so what you see on the ruler
is the default tab stops, not the ones you set for the selection. That
frustration alone was enough to drive me to distraction because I tend to
type first, then set the tab stops when I can see where they need to go, but
I may fine-tune them later.

WordPerfect is ideal for legal offices where everything is done in Courier
New and all tabs are half an inch and no one really cares how awful anything
looks (huge gaping spaces between numbers and text in numbered paragraphs,
for example).

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
http://word.mvps.org

"Stefan Blom" <StefanBlom DeleteThis @discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:1AA5678E-FD48-4008-97CE-F8054686261F@microsoft.com...
>I believe this is entirely a matter of personal preferences. Personally I
> could never figure out WordPerfect. Smile

>
> --
> Stefan Blom
> Microsoft Word MVP
>
>
>
>
> "Lola" wrote:
>
>> This is another example of how much more user friendly WordPerfect is
>> than
>> Word. I use Word at work because I have to, but I use WordPerfect for
>> Windows
>> at home because it is much easier to use.
>>
>> "Patty" wrote:
>>
>> > Is there anyway to insert dot leaders at the end of a line of text to
>> > the
>> > margin without setting up a new tab? (I'm an ex-WordPerfect user, and
>> > I used
>> > this feature all the time. But I haven't been able to find it in
>> > Word.)
>

CyberTaz · External Since: Jul 20, 2005 Posts: 660

I've not launched any version of WP in *years* Smile

Does the current version
still insert a separate instance of the Ruler for every variation in Tab
Stops & Indents throughout the document? What a clutter!

The program definitely had its strong points, and compared to Word Star it
was a godsend. But unfortunately it did not [IMHO] make a very graceful or
functional migration to the world of graphic user interfaces. For those who
learned early on to master its intricacies I can understand the feeling of
"control", but for anyone unpracticed with a command/code driven environment
it was still an absolute nightmare... And slapping a graphic interface on it
just made things worse.

Regards |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

On 9/26/09 9:37 AM, in article eU5qL#qPKHA.2092@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl,
"Suzanne S. Barnhill" <sbarnhill.DeleteThis@mvps.org> wrote:

> There were certain aspects of WordPerfect that I found utterly infuriating
> (and a lot of them had to do with those much-lauded "codes"). In the end,
> what a Word-trained WP user would miss most are styles (WP has them but
> doesn't know how to use them) and line breaks.
>
> What I found infuriating was that you can't conveniently set and reset tab
> stops for a selection. You select the text and set the tab stops, and all is
> well, but if you want to move one of the tab stops, you can't just click in
> a paragraph and do it because that inserts a code at the insertion point,
> and the change is effective only from that point forward. And you can't
> reselect the initial selection because when you do, you're inside (or
> outside, whichever it takes) the "codes," and so what you see on the ruler
> is the default tab stops, not the ones you set for the selection. That
> frustration alone was enough to drive me to distraction because I tend to
> type first, then set the tab stops when I can see where they need to go, but
> I may fine-tune them later.
>
> WordPerfect is ideal for legal offices where everything is done in Courier
> New and all tabs are half an inch and no one really cares how awful anything
> looks (huge gaping spaces between numbers and text in numbered paragraphs,
> for example).

Suzanne S. Barnhill · External Since: Sep 26, 2003 Posts: 24065

I agree that the UI was not very attractive, though in many ways quite
functional. The version that was especially clunky was the DOS version 6.0
(I think it was) that attempted to be WYSIWYG (at least in one view). One
thing that was/is superior about WP wrt tabs, however, is that you can
right-click (IIRC) on a tab stop on the ruler and select tab leaders from a
dropdown menu instead of having to go to the Tabs dialog as in Word.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
http://word.mvps.org

"CyberTaz" <onlygeneraltaz1 RemoveThis @com.cast.net> wrote in message
news:C6E39DF4.5447F%onlygeneraltaz1@com.cast.net...
> I've not launched any version of WP in *years* Smile

Does the current
> version
> still insert a separate instance of the Ruler for every variation in Tab
> Stops & Indents throughout the document? What a clutter!
>
> The program definitely had its strong points, and compared to Word Star it
> was a godsend. But unfortunately it did not [IMHO] make a very graceful or
> functional migration to the world of graphic user interfaces. For those
> who
> learned early on to master its intricacies I can understand the feeling of
> "control", but for anyone unpracticed with a command/code driven
> environment
> it was still an absolute nightmare... And slapping a graphic interface on
> it
> just made things worse.
>
> Regards |:>)
> Bob Jones
> [MVP] Office:Mac
>
>
>
> On 9/26/09 9:37 AM, in article eU5qL#qPKHA.2092@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl,
> "Suzanne S. Barnhill" <sbarnhill RemoveThis @mvps.org> wrote:
>
>> There were certain aspects of WordPerfect that I found utterly
>> infuriating
>> (and a lot of them had to do with those much-lauded "codes"). In the end,
>> what a Word-trained WP user would miss most are styles (WP has them but
>> doesn't know how to use them) and line breaks.
>>
>> What I found infuriating was that you can't conveniently set and reset
>> tab
>> stops for a selection. You select the text and set the tab stops, and all
>> is
>> well, but if you want to move one of the tab stops, you can't just click
>> in
>> a paragraph and do it because that inserts a code at the insertion point,
>> and the change is effective only from that point forward. And you can't
>> reselect the initial selection because when you do, you're inside (or
>> outside, whichever it takes) the "codes," and so what you see on the
>> ruler
>> is the default tab stops, not the ones you set for the selection. That
>> frustration alone was enough to drive me to distraction because I tend to
>> type first, then set the tab stops when I can see where they need to go,
>> but
>> I may fine-tune them later.
>>
>> WordPerfect is ideal for legal offices where everything is done in
>> Courier
>> New and all tabs are half an inch and no one really cares how awful
>> anything
>> looks (huge gaping spaces between numbers and text in numbered
>> paragraphs,
>> for example).
>
>

CyberTaz · External Since: Jul 20, 2005 Posts: 660

I also liked the versatility of being able to use any combination of
characters for custom leaders such as ox or x‹ or whatever. I still miss
that capability in both PC/Mac Word.

The bottom line is that both apps have their good/bad points, but the
biggest distinction is that they're just *different*. I did a lot of
training for SSA as well as a number of others several years ago when many
made "the big switch" & the hardest obstacle to overcome was the
unwillingness of users to accept that fact... They wanted Word to be WP with
a different name Smile

It's really difficult to comprehend why people insist
on being able to hunt for *sets* of control codes rather than simply
selecting text & looking at a button or a plain English explanation.

Regards |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

On 9/26/09 11:16 AM, in article uBBhT2rPKHA.1280 RemoveThis @TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl,
"Suzanne S. Barnhill" <sbarnhill RemoveThis @mvps.org> wrote:

> I agree that the UI was not very attractive, though in many ways quite
> functional. The version that was especially clunky was the DOS version 6.0
> (I think it was) that attempted to be WYSIWYG (at least in one view). One
> thing that was/is superior about WP wrt tabs, however, is that you can
> right-click (IIRC) on a tab stop on the ruler and select tab leaders from a
> dropdown menu instead of having to go to the Tabs dialog as in Word.

Suzanne S. Barnhill · External Since: Sep 26, 2003 Posts: 24065

Yes, the custom leaders are a great idea, though I'm not sure how often they
actually get used.

I'm always a little skeptical of claims that problems can be sorted out by
examining the "codes," since the kinds of problems people encounter in Word
are often much more subtle. Or they're things that are quite obvious, but
even when you tell people where to look for the solution, they claim to have
done it with no effect, and then when they send you the document to look at,
you see that the problem is *exactly* what you said it was, and obviously
they *didn't* look at or do whatever it was you told them to look at or do.
<g>

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
http://word.mvps.org

"CyberTaz" <onlygeneraltaz1.DeleteThis@com.cast.net> wrote in message
news:C6E3B4A8.544A5%onlygeneraltaz1@com.cast.net...
>I also liked the versatility of being able to use any combination of
> characters for custom leaders such as ox or x< or whatever. I still miss
> that capability in both PC/Mac Word.
>
> The bottom line is that both apps have their good/bad points, but the
> biggest distinction is that they're just *different*. I did a lot of
> training for SSA as well as a number of others several years ago when many
> made "the big switch" & the hardest obstacle to overcome was the
> unwillingness of users to accept that fact... They wanted Word to be WP
> with
> a different name Smile

It's really difficult to comprehend why people insist
> on being able to hunt for *sets* of control codes rather than simply
> selecting text & looking at a button or a plain English explanation.
>
> Regards |:>)
> Bob Jones
> [MVP] Office:Mac
>
>
>
> On 9/26/09 11:16 AM, in article uBBhT2rPKHA.1280.DeleteThis@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl,
> "Suzanne S. Barnhill" <sbarnhill.DeleteThis@mvps.org> wrote:
>
>> I agree that the UI was not very attractive, though in many ways quite
>> functional. The version that was especially clunky was the DOS version
>> 6.0
>> (I think it was) that attempted to be WYSIWYG (at least in one view). One
>> thing that was/is superior about WP wrt tabs, however, is that you can
>> right-click (IIRC) on a tab stop on the ruler and select tab leaders from
>> a
>> dropdown menu instead of having to go to the Tabs dialog as in Word.
>
>