Rulers

The Ruler is a graphic interface that allows the user to adjust a document's tab settings, indentation, and margins. Horizontal and vertical rulers are available and can be displayed or hidden by clicking View, Ruler.

The horizontal ruler has tab markers inside the ruler that look like the upper left corner of a square. Indentation is controlled by the gray arrowheads on the top and bottom edge of the ruler. Margins are controlled by the vertical lines on the ruler which divide the white and gray area portions. There is a 0.25 inch non-printable area that is marked on the ruler and margins cannot be less than this amount.

When the ruler is used to make a change to the tab setting, indentation or margins, a command is inserted in the document and it can be seen in Codes View. The command will affect the appearance of the document from the point of insertion until overridden by a subsequent command.

Tab settings

Nota Bene provides four different kinds of tabs, left, right, center and decimal. See Nota Bene tabs for a more detailed explanation of these tabs. Tab settings are adjusted using the tab icon at the left end of the ruler. If you click this icon it will change from a left tab (an angle that looks like the top left corner of a square) to a right tab (top right corner of a square). Click again and it changes to a center tab (a T), to a decimal tab (a T with a dot), and then to a delete tab (red circle with a line through it).

To add or delete tabs using the ruler:

1	Move your cursor to the top of your document or to whatever point you want the changes in tab settings to take effect.

2	Click on the tab icon until it takes the form of the tab you wish to add. If you want to delete a tab, click on the tab icon until it takes the form of a red circle with a line through it.

Place the mouse pointer on the tab icon and hold down the left mouse button while you move (or drag) the pointer to the position on the ruler where you want to add (or delete) a tab. When you release the mouse button, the symbol for the tab you are adding should be added (or deleted) from the ruler at the point you selected.

To adjust tab settings using the ruler:

1	Move your cursor to the top of your document or to whatever point you want the changes in tab settings to take effect.

Move the mouse pointer to the marker of the tab you would like to move or remove. When you place the pointer on the marker, the pointer will change into a horizontal line with arrows at the end. If you leave the mouse in that position, after a moment a label will appear reading "Tab Set: x" x is the number of inches from the left offset where that Tab is located.

Press the left mouse button and hold it while you move (or drag) the marker to the position on the ruler where you would like the tab to be and release the mouse button. To completely remove the tab, move the pointer completely onto the gray portion on the left side of the ruler and release the mouse button.

Indentation

To adjust indentation using the ruler:

1	Move your cursor to the top of your document or to whatever point you want the changes in tab settings to take effect.

Move the mouse pointer to one of the gray indentation arrowheads. [The arrowhead on the top left of the ruler controls the left indentation for the first line of each paragraph. The arrowhead on the bottom left of the ruler controls the left indentation for the subsequent lines. The arrowhead on the bottom right of the ruler controls the right indentation.] When you place the pointer on the marker, it will change into a horizontal line with arrows at the end. If you leave the mouse in that position, after a moment a label will appear reading "Indent First Line: x," "Indent Subsequent x," or "Right Indent x" as appropriate (x is the number of inches that will be indented).

3	Press the left mouse button and hold it while you move (or drag) the arrow to the position on the ruler where you would like the indent to be and release the mouse button.

Margins

To adjust the left or right margin using the ruler:

1	Move your cursor to the top of your document or to whatever point you want the changes in margin to take effect.

Move the mouse pointer to one of the margin lines on either the left or right side the ruler to change the corresponding margin. When you place the pointer on the line, it will change into a horizontal line with arrows on the end, If you leave the mouse in that position, after a moment a label will appear reading either "Left Offset: x" or "Right Offset: x" as appropriate (x is the number of inches that will be offset).

3	Press the left mouse button and hold it while you move (or drag) the arrow to the position where would you like the left or right margin to be and release the mouse button.

Changes to tab settings will be in effect from the point of insertion (the point where the cursor was when the change was made) to the next place in the document where the tab settings are changed. When you insert a command to change tab settings (using either the menus, the action line or the ruler), it remains in the document and will override changes to tab settings that are made earlier in the document. Unwanted tab settings can be deleted in Show Codes View.

For information about the settings available on the Vertical Ruler, see Vertical Ruler.