Tabs

PowerPoint enables you to define the tab stops to control the placement of text within a paragraph.
To display the ruler you must be in Normal view. The ruler is not displayed in Outline or Slide Sorter view.
A very important difference between indents in PowerPoint compared with indents used in Word is that the indents in PowerPoint apply to the whole textbox and not just an individual paragraph.

	Left tab - Text is aligned with its left edge on the tab stop
	Centre tab - Text is centred beneath the tab stop
	Right tab - Text is aligned with its right edge on the tab stop
	Decimal tab - Numbers are aligned with the decimal point beneath the tab stop

Each text placeholder is initially set up with the default tab stops which are set at every inch.
When you add a tab stop, any default tab stops located to the left of the new tab stop are removed.
You can press (Ctrl + Tab) to move to the next tab

Each text object has its own tab settings.
The tab settings for a textbox apply to all the paragraphs in the textbox meaning it is impossible to change the tab settings for individual paragraphs.

Indents and tab stops help you align text on a slide. For numbered and bulleted lists, preset indents exist for five levels of bullets or numbers and body text. When you type plain paragraphs (not using bullets or numbers), an initial indent and default tab stops help you indent the text. You can change and add to indent and tab stop positions.
Indents and tab stops appear on the horizontal ruler. When you display a new slide and either click the text area in a placeholder or click a text box you've added, the default indents and tab stops appear.

Default Tab Stops

These are the small grey markers vertical lines that appear underneath the ruler.
You can drag these to new positions. Use them for text that's not in a bulleted or numbered list.

You can drag one of these lines to the right or left to change the interval

On the ruler, drag to a new position the tab stop (grey marker) that matches the text's position of indent.
The space between all default tab stops changes proportionately. For example, if you move a default tab to one-half inch, all default tabs will be one-half inch apart.

You can set as many tabs as you want; default tabs in front of tabs you set are cancelled. To get the default tab stops back, drag the new tab markers off the ruler.

Different Types of Tab

There are actually four different types of tabs.

Left tab - Text is aligned with its left edge on the tab stop

Centre tab - Text is centred beneath the tab stop

Right tab - Text is aligned with its right edge on the tab stop

Decimal tab - Numbers are aligned with the decimal point beneath the tab stop

Click the button on the far left of the ruler to cycle through the different types of tabs.

Custom Tab Stop

To remove a tab stop, use the mouse to drag the stop off the ruler.
Use the left mouse button to drag the tab stop below the ruler and release it over the slide.

Important

For more accurate positioning of the indent markers hold down the Ctrl key as you drag.