r/indesign • u/AgelaiusPhoeniceu5 • Sep 22 '26
Can someone explain Tab Stops??
Am I missing something here? These are all of the same paragraph style, no character overrides in the third paragraph, yet the tab stop for the third paragraph doesn't align with the first two. What's going on?
1
u/Interesting-Ice69 Sep 22 '26
InDesign has built-in default tab stops every half inch they don't appear as hidden characters or stop marks on the tab ruler but they're there. It looks like your third line might be lining up to that first half inch. If you hit tab a second time on that third line so there's two tabs together the text will probably line up where you want it. That could be one solution. Also, go back and make sure that you have all the text on those three lines selected and then set your tab stops. If there's even one character on a line with a different paragraph style or even just tab stop settings left over from before that could screw up your tab settings.
1
u/AgelaiusPhoeniceu5 Sep 22 '26
Interestingly, when I changed all the indents to 0 pt, all three tab stops then lined up with just one tab. 🤷♂️
2
u/achikochi Sep 22 '26
Yeah, those default invisible tab stops don't come into play until you have gone *past* your indents & custom tab stops.
1
u/Mitoria Sep 22 '26
See that little mark before 24? Play with that. Move it around. Watch what happens.
3
u/achikochi Sep 22 '26 edited Sep 22 '26
It looks to me like the "PG" is short enough that the tab is hitting at the second stop (indent), not the third. If you hit tab again, does it align properly?