Insert Leader Lines In Word For Mac

Click at the leader lines, and right click to select Format Leader Lines in the context menu. Then in the popping Format Leader Lines dialog/pane, you can change the color in Line Color section, and check Solid line and select the color you need from the Color list. Creating printed forms can be a hassle if you can't get those blank lines to cooperate. Learn one of the easiest and most versatile ways to set up your form: using underlined tabs.

A leader tab shows a series of dots or other characters where the tab appears on the page. Press the Tab key in Word 2016 and the insertion pointer hops over to the next tab stop. The space added is empty, but it doesn’t have to be. Word lets you apply different styles to the empty space, which help create something called a leader tab.

Three styles of leader tabs are available: dot, dash, and underline, as illustrated here.

You can apply a leader to any tab stop in Word other than the bar tab. To do so, follow these steps:

  1. Create the tab-formatted list.

  2. Select the text as a block.

  3. Bring forth the Tabs dialog box.

    The quick shortcut is to double-click a tab on the ruler.

  4. Select the tab stop from the Tab Stop Position list.

  5. In the Leader area, choose the leader style.

  6. Click the Set button.

    Don’t click OK before you set the tab stop to add the leader. This step is the one you’ll screw up most often.

  7. Click OK.

    The leader is applied.

Use the underline leader tab to create fill-in-the-blank forms. In the Tabs dialog box, set a left tab stop at the far right margin (usually, 6.0 inches). Choose the underline leader style (number 4). Click Set and then click OK. Back in your document, type a tab to create a fill-in-the-blank line, such a:

Insert Leader Lines In Word For Mac 2016

This format is far better than typing a zillion underlines.

You can do only one task in Word 2013 in the Tabs dialog box that you cannot do with the ruler: Set a leader tab stop. What exactly is a leader tab stop? A leader tab stop produces a row of dots where the tab character appears. This trick is the only way to get a tab character to appear in your document, and it’s quite useful.

You can apply a leader to any tab stop in Word other than the bar tab. To add the dot leader to a tabbed list you have created, follow these steps:

1Select the text.

There are a number of ways to select text. Use whatever method you find most comfortable.

2Bring forth the Tabs dialog box.

The Tabs dialog box offers tab options.

Word

3Select the tab stop from the Tab Stop Position list.

The right tab stop shows up in the Tab Stop Position list as 4″ (create a right tab stop at 4” if it doesn’t already exist). Click to select that item in the list.

4In the Leader area, choose the leader style.

None means no leader, and it’s selected already. Choose one of the other three options.

Insert Leader Lines In Word For Mac 2017

5Click the Set button.

Don’t click OK before you set the tab stop to add the leader. This step is the one you’ll screw up most often.

6Click OK.

After clicking the Set button, you can click OK to close the Tabs dialog box and gawk at your text.

The leader tab that uses the underline character is also the best way to create fill-in-the-blanks forms. Use the Tabs dialog box to set a left tab stop at the far right margin (usually, 6.0 inches). Choose an underline leader for that tab. Click Set and then OK.