Tabs

For header/footer alignment tabs refer to Layout > VBA Code > Alignment Tabs

Tab Stops Collection

A tab stop object represents a tab stop
A tab stops collection is a collection of all the tabs stop objects.
Each of the Paragraph, ParagraphFormat and Paragraphs objects have a TabStops property which returns a tabstops collection.
The TabStops collection represents the custom and default tabs for a paragraph or group of paragraphs.
Tab stops are indexed numerically from left to right along the ruler.

Dim objTabStopsCol As TabStops 

Dim objTabStop As TabStop 
For Each objTabStop In Selection.Paragraphs.TabStops 
      objTabStop.Position 
Next aTab 

When working with the Paragraphs collection (or a range with several paragraphs), you must modify each paragraph in the collection individually if the tab stops aren't identical in all the paragraphs.

Dim objParagraph As Paragraph 
For Each objParagraph In ActiveDocument.Content.Paragraphs 
    objParagraph.TabStops(InchesToPoints(1)).Clear 
Next para 

Adding Tabs

Use the Add method to add a tab stop.

objTabStopsCol.Add Position:=InchesToPoints(1), _ 
                   Alignment:=wdTabAlignment.wdAlignTabLeft, _ 
                   Leader:=wdTabLeader.wdTabLeaderSpaces 

You can also add a tab by specifying the location with the TabStops property

Selection.Paragraphs.TabStops(InchesToPoints(2)).Alignment = wdTabAlignment.wdAlignTabLeft 

This is equivalent to the following line:

Selection.Paragraphs.TabStops.Add Position:=InchesToPoints(2), _ 
                                  Alignment:=wdTabAlignment.wdAlignTabLeft 

This adds a tab stop positioned at 2.5 inches to the selected paragraphs and then displays the position of each item in the TabStops collection.

Selection.Paragraphs.TabStops.Add Position:=InchesToPoints(2.5) 

This adds a tab stop that is a left-aligned tab with a dotted tab leader positioned at 1 inch (72 points).

Selection.Paragraphs.TabStops.Add Position:=InchesToPoints(1), _ 
                                  Leader:=wdTabLeader.wdTabLeaderDots, _ 
                                  Alignment:=wdTabAlignment.wdAlignTabLeft 

This adds a tab that is centred and is positioned at 2 inches.

Selection.Paragraphs.TabStops.Add Position:=InchesToPoints(2), _ 
                                  Alignment:=wdTabAlignment.wdAlignTabCenter 

This adds a tab for every paragraph in the active document

ActiveDocument.Content.ParagraphFormat.TabStops.Add Position:=InchesToPoints(1), _ 
                                                    Alignment:=wdTabAlignment.wdAlignTabLeft 

Removing Tabs

This removes the first custom tab stop from the first paragraph in the active document.

ActiveDocument.Paragraphs(1).TabStops(1).Clear 

Removing all Tab Stops

This removes all the tabs from the whole document

ActiveDocument.Content.ParagraphFormat.TabStops.ClearAll 

objTabStopsCol.ClearAll 

Changing the Default Tab Stop Size

To change the default tab stop you must use the DefaultTabStop property of the Document object.

ActiveDocument.DefaultTabStop = InchesToPoints(1) 
objDocument.DefaultTabStop = InchesToPoints(0.5) 

To locate the nearest tab stop object (i.e. the nearest tab)

objTabStopsCol.Before Position:= 
objTabStopsCol.After Position:= 

Word removes all default tab stops whose positions lie to the left of a custom tab stop

objTabStop.Alignment 
objTabStop.Clear 
objTabStop.CustomTab = True | False 
objTabStop.Leader 
objTabStop.Previous | Next 
objTabStop.Position