• Formatting
  • About Cell Formatting
  • Conditional Formatting
  • Adjusting Cell Height
  • Adjusting Cell Width
  • Aligning a Column of Cells
  • Aligning Numbers and Text in a Cell
  • Capitalizing Cell Contents
  • Changing a Cell's Font
  • Changing a Cell's Type
  • Changing The Separator for Date Cells
  • Creating a User Defined Underline
  • Defining Cell Options Globally
  • Distributing Cell Contents Evenly
  • Formatting The Appearance of Negative Values
  • Formatting The Appearance of Positive Values
  • Formatting The Appearance of Zero Values
  • Printing a Currency Sign Inside a Cell
  • Separating Large Currency Values with a Comma
  • Shading a Cell
  • Shading a Column of Cells in Form Mode
  • Shading Multiple Cells
  • Underlining a Cell
  • Underlining The Currency Symbol

Aligning a Column of Cells

1. Drag the pointer to select the paragraphs containing the columns you want to align. Tabs that are common for the entire area appear as black tab markers on the horizontal ruler. Tabs that occur intermittently throughout the selected area appear as gray tab markers on the horizontal ruler and are called indeterminate tabs. Indeterminate tabs may be modified in the same fashion as normal tab markers.

2. While the area is still selected, set common tabs in the desired positions on the horizontal ruler. Common tabs may be set in one of two ways:

   1. Remove all pre-existing gray and black tab markers by dragging them off the horizontal ruler and then re-setting new common tabs for the entire area. This method is the easiest and most accurate.
   2. Remove all gray tab markers and drag black tab markers to the desired column position on the horizontal ruler.

3. If cells or text in the column still appear unaligned, this can be remedied using the following techniques:

   • Carefully examine the alignment of tab markers on the horizontal ruler in paragraphs whose text and cells are aligned and those whose text and cells are unaligned. You must position the insertion point on each of the paragraphs in order to assess if there are any differences. If differences are found, make the required modifications to the alignment of the tab markers.

   • Position the insertion point on an aligned paragraph and examine the tab markers on the horizontal ruler. Next position the insertion point on an unaligned paragraph and examine the tab markers on the horizontal ruler. Remove any unnecessary tab markers and move other tab markers to the same position as the aligned paragraph.

   • Remove any extraneous spaces before the text or cell to ensure that the position of the tab character in the paragraph, indicating a tab has been set, is directly to the left of the text or cell in the column.

   • Examine the tab characters within the paragraph to ensure only one tab character is placed before the text or cells.

Related Topics

• About Cell Formatting