XL97: CTRL+ALT+TAB Does Not Insert Tab into Active Cell

• Microsoft Excel 97 for Windows

SYMPTOMS

When you press CTRL+ALT+TAB, Microsoft Excel fails to insert a tab character in the active cell.

CAUSE

This behavior occurs because Microsoft Excel 97 no longer uses this keystroke to position cell text; instead, Microsoft Excel uses text alignment features.

NOTE: In earlier versions of Microsoft Excel, you use the key combination CTRL+ALT+TAB, which inserts a tab character in the active cell, to indent text in a cell. In Microsoft Excel 97, you can indent text in a cell without inserting a tab character in the cell.

RESOLUTION

To indent text in a cell, use one of the following methods:

Method 1

Select the text and click Increase Indent on the Formatting toolbar.

Method 2

1. Select the text.

2. On the Format menu, click Cells.

3. Click the Alignment tab.

4. In the Horizontal list, click Left(Indent) and type the amount by which you want to indent the text, or click the arrows in the Indent box.

5. Click OK.

MORE INFORMATION

In earlier versions of Microsoft Excel, you can indent text in a cell by inserting tab characters. However, by inserting tab characters, you change the text string in the cell. For example, if you type the following text in a worksheet:

   A1: test   B1: =LEN(A1)

REFERENCES

For more information about the Indent feature, click the Index tab in Microsoft Excel Help, type the following text

   indenting text