The Ruler

The ruler in MS Word has several important functions. If you use the ruler instead of ribbon buttons or dialog boxes, you can save a bit of time. The parts listed above include:

  • Tabs: These allow you to set special markers which the "Tab" key will jump to (see below)
  • Margin: The bluish side areas show the left and right margins. If you wish, you can change then by clicking and dragging the border of the margin and the typing area.
  • Left Indent Buttons: These important buttons allow you to set indents (see below)
  • Typing Area: The white area is the area in which you type.
  • Right Indent: Sets the right-most border of typing. This is not used so much.
  • Split Page: Allows you to split the screen into two parts, so you can view different parts of a long document at the same time.
  • Show/Hide Ruler: Turn the ruler on and off.

Note that the ruler as shown above is set to inches. You can change to centimeters and back in the Options (Office Button menu).

Near the left side of the ruler, you will see the hourglass shape shown above. This controls the left margin and indent.

  1. First line indent. Move this button, and it will set the starting point for the first line of the selected paragraphs. For a typical academic paper, this should be set to 0.5 inches (@1.25 cm.).
  2. Hanging indent. This will set the starting point for all lines in a paragraph except the first line. Usually this is set at 0, but in the Bibliography, it is set to 0.5 inches. The hanging indent and first line indent can move independent of each other.
  3. Left indent. This square button will move both the first line and hanging indents at the same time, by the same amount.

In the illustration below, notice that the First Line Indent button is at 0.5". When you do this, all selected paragraphs will get a first line indent of 0.5". If you did not select any text, then only the paragraph with the blinking cursor is affected.

Note the "Automatic Tab" marks below each half-inch mark. You will also notice the "Tabs" button at the far left of the ruler. What are these?

You know about the Tab Key on your keyboard. You are probably used to the fact that when you hit the Tab Key, the cursor jumps half an inch. You probably have become used to it as a kind of "super-space" key. But the Tab has a long history, starting with manual typewriters, which used metal keys to make marks on paper via an ink ribbon.

With those old typewriters, tabs were a way of easily making columns for lists. One would set "tabs" for the distance you want each column to start. Hitting the "Tab" key would jump to the next tab setting.

Today, we have tables, which make tabs somewhat obsolete. It is much easier to make a list using a table. However, tabs still have their uses, and some people still prefer them.

First, there are the automatic tabs. These are set to one-half-inch each, and are automatically included. They make the cursor jump to the next half-inch mark each time you press the "Tab" key. They will not jump a half-inch each time--they only go to the next mark, even it it is 1/10th of an inch to the right.

Next are the manual tabs:

These can be selected by clicking the Tab Select button at the far left of the ruler. There are many different settings, but the four above are the most commonly used. From left to right:

  1. Left Tab
  2. Center Tab
  3. Right Tab
  4. Decimal Tab

Clicking the "Tab Select" button will cycle through these choices.

When you click somewhere on the Ruler, a manual tab will appear. Note that all the automatic tabs to the left of the manual tab disappear! For example, if you make a new manual tab at 1.25 inches, then the automatic tabs at 0.5" and 1" disappear, while all the automatic tabs to the right of the manual tab are still there.

Now, if you hit the tab key, the cursor will jump to 1.25", where you set the manual tab.

You can set as many manual tabs as you like. But what is the difference between the four types of tabs I listed above? Well, they are different in how the text is aligned after you hit the tab key:

  1. Left Tab: text will act normally, starting at the left and moving out to the right.
  2. Center Tab: text will spread out to the right and the left, so it is all centered underneath the tab.
  3. Right Tab: text will start at the right and move out to the left, so that the text is aligned to the right over several lines.
  4. Decimal Tab: text will move out to the left until you tye a decimal (period), after which it will move out to the right, as normal. In this way, all the decimal places will be aligned under the tab.

To erase any manual tab, click and drag the tab down below the ruler, then let go; the tab mark will disappear.

Finally, there is the Split Screen feature:

At the far right side of the ruler, you will see a small "minus" sign, above the right scroll bar. If you hold the cursor over this, the cursor will change to a double-arrow. If you then click and drag down, you can split the screen into two parts:

This allows you to view two different areas of your essay at the same time. For example, if you are writing an academic essay and you need to make citations, you can view both the area of text with the parenthetical citation, and the Works Cited list, both at the same time.