WD: Word Ruler Supports Only Mouse Commands

• Microsoft Word for Windows, versions 6.0, 6.0a, 6.0c
• Microsoft Word for Windows 95, version 7.0
• Microsoft Word 97 for Windows
• Microsoft Word for the Macintosh, version 6.0, 6.0.1
• Microsoft Word 98 Macintosh Edition

SUMMARY

Microsoft Word version 6.0 and later do not have a keyboard activated ruler like Word 2.0 for Windows does. (In Word 2.0, you can press CTRL+SHIFT+F10 to make the ruler active.) The ruler in Word 6.0 and later is accessible only by using a mouse.

Microsoft increased the functionality of the ruler in Word 6.0 as the result of customer feedback. The additional mouse functionality required a loss of keyboard functionality to prevent too much complexity. As a result, there is no longer a ruler mode you can activate to allow setting tabs and indents directly from the keyboard.

MORE INFORMATION

New functions and changes to the ruler in Word 6.0 and later include:

• The indent and margin modes were combined.
• You automatically switch to table mode when in a table.
• Page layout view now has a vertical ruler.
• You can set all indents using the mouse without keyboard intervention. (Previously you had to hold down the SHIFT key to drag the body indent triangle.)
• You can choose the type of tab from the ruler.
• The visual style has been improved to make it easier to use.