WD: How to Convert Multiple White Space Characters to Tabs (188874)


The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Word for Windows 6.0
  • Microsoft Word for Windows 6.0a
  • Microsoft Word for Windows 6.0c
  • Microsoft Word for the Macintosh 6.0
  • Microsoft Word for the Macintosh 6.0.1
  • Microsoft Word for the Macintosh 6.0.1a
  • Microsoft Word for Windows NT 6.0
  • Microsoft Word for Windows 95
  • Microsoft Word for Windows 95 7.0a
This article was previously published under Q188874

SUMMARY

This article describes how to change multiple spaces or tabs in a Word document to a single instance of a tab or other white space character.

You may want to perform this type of replacement in order to take advantage of some of the formatting commands in Word.

MORE INFORMATION

Some text or word processor files use multiple spaces or tabs to create tables. In Word, this type of formatting makes alignment and other types of formatting impossible.

To convert multiple instances of white space characters such as spaces or tab characters to a single instance of a character, use the following advanced criteria in the Find What box in the Find And Replace dialog box

x{y,}

where x is the character you are searching for, such as a space, and y is the minimum number of instances that the character must appear in order to be replaced.

These procedures will replace all occurrences of two or more spaces with a single tab character.

For example, if the text appears as

Filet Mignon<space><space><space><space><space>$21.95

it is converted to:

Filet Mignon<tab>$21.95

by doing the following steps:
  1. On the Edit menu, click Replace.
  2. In the Find What box, type

    <space>{2,}

    where <space> is the character you get when you press the SPACEBAR once.

    NOTE: There is no space between the comma (,) and the right brace (}).
  3. In the Replace With box, type ^t.

    NOTE: ^ is the caret symbol and is inserted by pressing SHIFT+6.
  4. Click to select the Use Pattern Matching check box.
  5. Click Replace All.

REFERENCES

In Word 7.x

  1. On the Help menu, click Answer Wizard.
  2. In Step 1, type How do I adjust tabs? and click Search.
  3. In Step 2, under "How Do I," select "Use tab stops in paragraph formatting," and click Display.
  4. Select the "Clear or move tab stops" topic.

In Word 6.x

  1. On the Help menu, click "Search For Help On."
  2. Type tab stops and click Show Topics.
  3. Under Select A Topic, select "Clearing or moving tab stops," and click Go To.
Modification Type:MinorLast Reviewed:8/17/2005
Keywords:kbhowto kblayout KB188874
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