Using tabs in keynote?

Question

Using tabs in keynote?

I'm feeling frustrated because I feel like I am just missing a simple picture here but no matter how I try, I can't see it. I'm trying to use tabs in the Keynote ruler.

I can add tabs all day but they don't seem to have any effect on my document. If I press the tab key, the text will move but seemingly to a random spot. The tabs that I've inserted seem to have no effect. And if I delete all my tabs, the text stays indented with no apparent way to reset things. I know I can command z back to my starting point but I'd really like to get a handle on how tabs work in Keynote.

So am I being incredibly dense on a simple task or is there something fundamentally different in how Keynote handles these tools?

Thanks so much for any help.

MacBook Pro, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.2)

Posted on Jan 30, 2013 11:21 PM

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Answer 1

Best reply

David Schwartz5

Level 1

4 points

Jun 24, 2017 4:07 PM in response to Gary Scotland

The <Tab> key is operating the same as the Format->Text->Increase Level command (command+right-bracket).

Keynote Help states:

With tab stops in place, pressing the Tab key, (or Option-Tab in a table cell), moves the insertion point (and any text after it) to the next tab stop.

But that's not what's happening. Option-Tab is required for _any_ text block, not just table cells. It's bad enough to have non-standard behavior; but for the help description to be wrong is even worse.

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Answer 2

Apr 19, 2017 1:17 PM in response to Gary Scotland

GReat that you have solved this... As a note to APPLE... what a reaaallly stooopid way to set this up. They are called TABS for a reason. you press the TAB button and it pushes out to a set place. Alt/option TAB - that's nuts. Come on.

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Answer 3

Jan 30, 2013 11:44 PM in response to Bruce Bridges

Ok, I think I've got this figured out but it doesn't make much sense to me. Evidently the tabs function only works in the TITLE text box. It doesn't work in a bulleted box, which I guess makes sense to some degree although it seems they'd just not allow you to set tabs for that either. When you tab, it instead advances the bullet indentation.

Same with the subtitle text box. The tabs don't work. But in the TITLE box it appears to function as expected.

So I guess the answer is to reposition and reduce the text for the Title box when you want to use the tabs.

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Answer 4

Jan 31, 2013 4:09 AM in response to Bruce Bridges

use; alt / option tab

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Answer 5

Jan 31, 2013 6:22 PM in response to Gary Scotland

Aha! Thanks so much for that. I never saw this quick fix anywhere.

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