How to Use the Ruler in Microsoft Word to Make Documents Neat and Professional

3] How to Set Stop Tab Using Ruler

Tab stops are reference points that determine the position of text when you press the Tab key on the keyboard. The stop tab can help you align text horizontally easily and quickly. You can set the stop tab using the ruler in the following ways:

1. Open the document that you want to work on in Microsoft Word.
2. Select the paragraph or section of text for which you want to set the stop tab.
3. Click on the selector tab located at the left end of the horizontal ruler until the type of stop tab you want appears. There are five types of stop tabs that you can choose from, namely:
   • Left Tab: Aligns text to the left from the stop tab position.
   • Center Tab: Aligns text to the center of the stop tab position.
   • Right Tab: Aligns text to the right of the stop tab position.
   • Decimal Tab: Aligns numbers based on their decimal point at the tab stop position.
   • Tab Bar: Adds a vertical line to the stop tab position.
4. Click on the horizontal ruler where you want to add the stop tab. You can add more than one stop tab on the ruler.
5. If you want to remove or move a stop tab, click and drag it up to remove it or left or right to move it.

After that, the stop tab will be added, removed, or moved according to the settings you made.

4] How to Set Paragraph Indentation Using Ruler

Indentation is the distance between the margin and the beginning of a line in a paragraph. Indentation can make your paragraphs neater and easier to read. There are two types of indentation that you can set using a ruler, namely:

• Left indentation: The distance between the left margin and the beginning of a line in a paragraph.
• Right indentation: The distance between the right margin and the end of a line in a paragraph.

In addition, there are also two special types of indentation that you can set using a ruler, namely:

• First line indentation: The distance between the left margin and the beginning of the first line in a paragraph.
• Hanging indentation: The distance between the left margin and the beginning of the second line and so on in the paragraph.

To set paragraph indentation using the ruler, you can perform the following steps:

1. Open the document that you want to work on in Microsoft Word.
2. Select the paragraph or section of text that you want to set indentation for.
3. Hover over the symbols located under the selector’s tab on the horizontal ruler. There are three symbols that you can use to set the indentation, namely:
   • Top triangle symbol: Set the left indent of the first row.
   • Bottom triangle symbol: Set the left indent of the second row and so on.
   • Square symbol: Sets the right indentation of all rows.
4. Click and drag the symbols left or right to adjust paragraph indentation. You can see the indentation value in the pop-up box that appears when you drag the symbols.

After that, the indentation of your paragraphs will change according to the settings you made.