Shift+Tab Goes Right Instead of Left

R

RWD30

Ordinarily, when I press Shift+Tab, my tabs will go left instead of right.
Now, they're continuing to go right instead of left. It's as if there's no
recognition of my pressing Shift+Tab simultaneously, just the Tab key.

I fixed this once before by looking here, but I can't seem to find the
posting I once found before. Can someone help me out here? Thanks.
 
T

TF

AFAIK, Shift+Tab has never been a shortcut in Word. I can only guess that it
is one of the horrible WordPerfect things. Go to Tools, Options, General tab
and deselect both WordPerfect options.



: Ordinarily, when I press Shift+Tab, my tabs will go left instead of right.
: Now, they're continuing to go right instead of left. It's as if there's
no
: recognition of my pressing Shift+Tab simultaneously, just the Tab key.
:
: I fixed this once before by looking here, but I can't seem to find the
: posting I once found before. Can someone help me out here? Thanks.
 
S

Suzanne S. Barnhill

Shift+Tab does not ever tab backward in any normal sense. In tables,
Shift+Tab will take you to the previous cell. And if you have the relevant
option enabled, Shift+Tab will unindent a paragraph or promote it to a
higher outline level.
 
R

RWD30

Hi, thanks for your help, except that you never explained how to enable the
option, which is the information I'm looking for. Thanks.
 
R

RWD30

Hi, I don't know where you got that from, but it sure has and does do what I
said it did. Can you do me a favor please and if you're going to reply to my
posts, at least say something that is going to be useful? Thanks.
 
T

TF

Shift+Tab only works in a table for going back to the previous Cell. It has
never done anything else. If you don't like the answer, then don't post the
question.



: Hi, I don't know where you got that from, but it sure has and does do what
I
: said it did. Can you do me a favor please and if you're going to reply to
my
: posts, at least say something that is going to be useful? Thanks.
:
: "TF" wrote:
:
: > AFAIK, Shift+Tab has never been a shortcut in Word. I can only guess
that it
: > is one of the horrible WordPerfect things. Go to Tools, Options, General
tab
: > and deselect both WordPerfect options.
: >
: > --
: > Terry Farrell - Word MVP
:
: >
: > : > : Ordinarily, when I press Shift+Tab, my tabs will go left instead of
right.
: > : Now, they're continuing to go right instead of left. It's as if
there's
: > no
: > : recognition of my pressing Shift+Tab simultaneously, just the Tab key.
: > :
: > : I fixed this once before by looking here, but I can't seem to find the
: > : posting I once found before. Can someone help me out here? Thanks.
: >
: >
: >
 
S

Suzanne S. Barnhill

As Terry and I have said, Shift+Tab has never moved the cursor left. You can
do that by backspacing over an existing tab, but if you're trying to do
something like a Margin Release in WordPerfect, Word doesn't do that. You
haven't said what version of Word you have, but you can use Shift+Tab to
promote or unindent headings by setting the following:

In Word 2000 and earlier, check the box for "Tabs and backspace set left
indent" on the Edit tab of Tools | Options.

In Word 2002 and 2003, check the box for "Set left- and first-indent with
tabs and backspaces" on the AutoFormat As You Type tab of Tools |
AutoCorrect Options.
 
R

RWD30

Suzanne,

Let's agree that I'm trying to accomplish what you're describing, and not
get into a pissing match about semantics. The bottom line is that, until
recently, when I press Shift+Tab at the same time, the indentation moves to
the left, as opposed to when I press the Tab button alone (which moves it to
the right).

That having been said, I'm using Word XP. I tried to follow your
instructions, but the tab you referred to wasn't there. However, I was able
to find that tab under Format/AutoCorrect/Options/AutoFormatAsYouType.

Thanks for the help.
 
S

Suzanne S. Barnhill

Tools | AutoCorrect Options | AutoFormat As You Type is just a different
path to the same dialog. This is on the menu in Word 2003, and I am
confident it was also on the menu in Word 2002; possibly you are still using
adaptive menus?

And all I can say is that if Shift+Tab ever moved the cursor left it was not
in Word or there was some kind of macro involved.
 
J

jared cooper

I registered simply to come to the defense of the original post. I found
this forum by encountering the same problem. I am completing a Ph.D., and
have 12 years of lecture note-taking. I always have used tabs, bullets, and
numbered outlines when I take notes, and I can say with absolute certainty
that pressing tab does indeed advance to the right, and shift-tab advances
to the left WHILE IN WORD.

No macro was involved. Word 2003 OEM standard edition was freshly installed
on a new laptop.

Not only does tab and shift-tab normally advance to the right and left
respectively, but it also "drags" the bullet or outline-number to the right
or left as well, enabling the user to easily beg an outline heading at a
higher 'level' without needing to manually start a new bulleted list or
outline.

I couldn't say what magic combination of keys I must have mashed to turn
this option off, but the ability to left-tab (after having already tabbed
forward at least once) no longer worked, and tab and shift-tab both tabbed
to the right. Also, when making a bulleted list, tab no longer advanced the
bullet to the next level, but rather left the bullet justified to the left,
and tabbed the text only.

when I found this thread, I tried the following, which worked for me (after
already attempting to 'repair' and uninstall/reinstall to regain the feature)
:

Format/AutoFormat/Options/AutoFormat As You Type. I checked 'Set left- and
first-indent with tabs and backspaces,' and I was back in business.

To all the detractors of the original post, you are correct that shift-tab
advances to the left in spreadsheets, and it also advances backwards through
text-fields, buttons, and most other functions tab is used for.

Thank you for the help.
 
Top