Dot leader in table cells

[BeerStud]

I am a long time user of LaTeX and am trying to see how MS Word compares. I have noticed a problem immediately. I often create tables. In LaTeX, I can insert data, a dot leader and then a number. The number is often, although not always, aligned on a decimal point. I can not find a way to do this in MS Word. I cannot even get a dot leader to work in a table cell.

[macropod]

There is no problem doing that. See attached.

PS: Please post Word-related threads in the appropriate Word forum, not in the Office forum.

[Charles Kenyon]

To align with a decimal point, you would insert a decimal tab in the paragraph formatting.

Working with Tabs
Tables

The key to inserting a tab is to press Ctrl+Tab when inside a table.

[BeerStud]

Creating the TAB is not a problem. Creating a "dot leader" to the tab is not possible, or at least I cannot find a way to do it automatically.

[Charles Kenyon]

Did you look at Paul's document which has a dot leader inside a table cell?

1. With your insertion point inside your table cell, on the Home tab launch the Paragraph dialog box.
2. On that box, click the Tabs button in the lower left corner.
3. You get the dialog shown below.

This is best done as a part of a Style definition so you don't have to do it repeatedly and modify the settings for multiple cells multiple times.

[JimP]

Originally Posted by BeerStud

Creating the TAB is not a problem. Creating a "dot leader" to the tab is not possible, or at least I cannot find a way to do it automatically.

Once you have your cursor inside the table cell where you want the dot leader to appear

• From the "Home" ribbon, click on the downward arrow from the "Paragraph" section of the ribbon (near center)
• When the Paragraph dialog box appears, click on "Tabs" (lower left-hand corner)
• When the "Tabs" dialog box appears complete the tabs/alignment/leader to your requirements....click on OK to set.

Hope this helps...

[BeerStud]

Sorry, it doesn't work. I can set a "decimal" tab; however, I align to it as soon as I enter the cell. I cannot set a "dot leader" to it. Worse, I cannot set a regular tab in a cell. Try it yourself. MS Word certainly does not allow me the flexibility of "LaTeX".

[macropod]

It does work; you're just not doing it properly. The document I posted clearly shows a tab leader in a table cell. Type anywhere to the left of the leader dots and the text will be left-aligned; type anywhere to the right of the leader dots and it will be right-aligned. You can even have multiple tabs if you want; using any combination of tab alignments and leaders (or not).

Instead of criticizing Word for a supposed shortcoming that doesn't exit, spend a few moments learning to use it. I'm sure you spent longer than that learning to use LaTex. Sure, there are some things LaTex does better than Word, but there's a host of things Word can do better than LaTex too.

[Charles Kenyon]

It does work. It is easy to do. It is not so easy figuring out how to do it, but two of us have given you step-by-step instructions.

One step was neglected, though, to place a left tab near the left margin. I suspect that this was because we are unused to putting a decimal tab inside a table. You are right that with a decimal tab, unlike the other tab settings, in a table text aligns to that tab immediately, unless there is a tab setting before it.

I will be adding a section to my chapter on Tables about this.

See the attached file and screenshot.

Reminder: Once you have a setting you like, it is good practice to use this setting to define a paragraph Style. If you do that, you can apply the Style whenever you want it. More important is that if you change the size of your table cells, you can modify the Style and have it change throughout your document.

[Charles Kenyon]

Hint: One quick way to get to the tabs dialog box is to place any tab in the ruler and then double-click on it.

[Ulodesk]

The keyboard shortcut for the tabs dialogue is Alt+O,T.

Best,
Ulodesk

[Charles Kenyon]

Originally Posted by Ulodesk

The keyboard shortcut for the tabs dialogue is Alt+O,T.

Best,
Ulodesk

Thank you.