Tabs

Tabs position text at specific horizontal locations in a text frame.

Before
After

The position of tab(s) are displayed either on the text ruler or in the Paragraph panel (Tab Stops section).

The text ruler can be activated via the View menu.

Paragraph indentation level and tab stops

When the insertion point is at the start of a paragraph, the increases the paragraph's indentation level rather than typing a tab character. This is indicated by the first-line indent marker (aligned to the top of the text ruler), which can be dragged to fine-tune indentation.

If you would rather the always typed a tab character at the start of a paragraph, disable Use tab to alter paragraph level instead of inserting a tab character in Affinity Publisher's Auto-Correct preferences. You can still drag the first-line indent marker to set paragraph indentation precisely.

To activate the text ruler:

Do one of the following:

To set a tab stop using the text ruler:
  1. Put the insertion point in the paragraph in which you want to set tab stops, or a selection that includes multiple paragraphs.
  2. Click on the text ruler at the top of your text frame where you want to set a tab stop. You'll see your tab stop appear.
  3. Double-click the tab stop until it changes to the type of tab alignment you want: (Left Tab Left, Center Tab Center, Right Tab Right, or Decimal Tab Decimal).
    • To move a tab stop, drag it to a new ruler position.
    • To delete a tab stop, drag it off the ruler.
  4. To edit any of the tab stops you've created, -click on the tab stop to open a pop-up menu containing tab options.
To set a tab stop via the Paragraph panel:
  1. Select the paragraph(s) in which you want to set tab stops.
  2. From the Paragraph panel, adjust the settings in the Tab Stops section, specifying the tab Position, Alignment and Leader where necessary.

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