Share via

Shift + Tab does not reverse indent, Windows 10 64bit, Microsoft Word 2010

Anonymous
2015-12-01T13:05:54+00:00

Hello,

Suddenly, my Shift + Tab is not reverse indenting in Word. I have already tried what many forums suggested:

File > Options > Proofing > AutoCorrect Options > Check Set left- and first-indent with tabs and backspaces

This does not work. I also checked to see if it was a keyboard issue but opening NotePad++ and typing text and then reverse indenting with Shift + Tab - this works in NotePad ++, so I do not think it's my computer's keyboard. Can someone please help me resolve this problem?

Thanks

Microsoft 365 and Office | Word | For home | Windows

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

0 comments

Answer accepted by question author

  1. Anonymous
    2017-11-16T00:46:37+00:00

    I figured it out.  The behavior is different if your cursor is sitting in whitespace, or with text.

    If I have the following in my Word doc (no bullets, no list):

    HEADING

    Sub Heading

    First Bullet

    • If I place my cursor at the beginning of "First Bullet", then I can press Tab as many times as I want to increase the indentation of that text.
    • If I start a new line after "First Bullet", then my indentation level starts at the same level as the previous line and I can press Tab as many times as I want to add tab characters, but pressing Shift+Tab ALSO adds a tab character.
    • If I start a new line after "First Bullet" and type a single non-whitespace character, then I can place my cursor in front of that character and press Tab as many times as I want to increase the indentation of that text.  I can also then use Shift+Tab to decrease the indentation as many times as I want.

    Note:  It is really easy to think you are increasing the indentation level with Tab, but sometimes you are adding tab characters...  The presence of whitespace will prevent Tab from increasing the indentation level AND Shift+Tab from decreasing the indentation level - new tab characters will be added instead.

    80+ people found this answer helpful.
    0 comments

15 additional answers

Sort by: Most helpful
Most helpful Newest Oldest
  1. Stefan Blom 339.3K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2016-12-23T00:52:07+00:00

    In an unnumbered (or unbulleted) paragraph, you should be able to use Shift+Tab to decrease an indent that you have previously created with Shift. The insertion point must be at the location of the indent when you press Shift+Tab.

    Note that pressing Tab with the insertion point in the first text line of a paragraph will create a first indent, while pressing Tab with the insertion point in some other text line will create a left indent. Shift+Tab works in the reverse.

    Of course, I agree that using an indented style is a lot better.

    2 people found this answer helpful.
    0 comments
  2. Stefan Blom 339.3K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2015-12-18T00:30:27+00:00

    OK, attacking this from another angle, how does the problem start? For example, if you manually set all indents to zero (in the Paragraph dialog box) and then test with Tab and Shift+Tab, does it work properly for a while or does it break immediately?

    1 person found this answer helpful.
    0 comments
  3. Stefan Blom 339.3K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2015-12-16T09:14:21+00:00

    For a session of Word started in Safe mode, do Tab and Shift+Tab behave?

    1 person found this answer helpful.
    0 comments
  4. Anonymous
    2015-12-14T23:15:04+00:00

    Has anyone figured out what's going on? Bueller...Bueller...Bueller?!

    Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks!

    1 person found this answer helpful.
    0 comments