If you want to see the precise placement of the tabs, just hold down the Alt key as you drag them. You should now be able to drag tabs along the Ruler smoothly and precisely. Clear the Snap Objects to Grid check box.Word displays the Drawing Grid dialog box. On the Drawing toolbar, click on Draw, then choose Grid.(Choose View | Toolbars | Drawing, or click on the Drawing tool on the Standard toolbar.) The toolbar should appear at the bottom of the Word window. Make sure the Drawing toolbar is displayed.If you don't need the drawing grid, you can turn it off by following these steps:

Thus, when you drag a tab stop, it seems to 'jump' in increments of 1/16 inch. (Nobody seems to know why this is the case it just is.) Word, by default, is configured so that 'snap to grid' is turned on, and the grid is set for 1/16-inch increments.

If this is the case, and you long for a way to more accurately set the tabs using the mouse on the Ruler, there are a couple of things you can check out.įirst, you should understand that the grid settings on the drawing layer can affect the dragging behavior for tabs. In fact, you may notice that the tabs seem to 'jump' from one location to another as you are dragging them. Sometimes, however, accurately placing the tabs using the Ruler and the mouse can be a pain. You can then click on the tab and drag it to the location desired. The tab that is inserted depends on the tab type selected at the left side of the Ruler.

You probably know that Word allows you to set tabs in a paragraph by clicking on the Ruler at the top of the document window.

Word turn on tab ruler