Claire Romero's dashboard

Lubos,

Click at the end of the line above where you want to insert the new entry. Press the return key to insert a blank line, and type in the new entry. The tabs and leaders will be in place for the new line.

There are other ways of alphabetizing a list, but this would be the simplest. Remember, your document is in one column, and you are separating the names from the telephone numbers with tabs.

A table would also work; if you have quite a few names, say more than 20, you could use Microsoft Word mail merge to create a catalog or list merge. I have used this before for phone lists, and for directories.

Claire

Here is the easiest way to create a phone directory using Pages (or any other word-processing application). Instead of using columns, try arranging your list by setting tabs. Here’s how:

Select Show Rulers from the View menu.

Set a tab stop by clicking on the ruler (on the right side, somewhere around the 5" or 6" position) where you want the telephone number to end. Control-click the tab stop icon on the ruler and select Right Tab from the contextual menu. Click the Inspector icon in the toolbar, and then click on the Text Inspector button. For the leader, select the Tab Stop that was set, then choose a line style from the Leader pop-up menu. The third choice will produce a dot leader for your list. (You can also set the tab in the Tabs section of the Inspector.)

Type in the first name for your list and press the tab key. The cursor will move to the right-aligned tab that you set. As you enter in the telephone number, the text will move to the left. You will also see the dots that make up the leader. There are variations on this; you can set a left tab at 1" and the the right-aligned tab with the leader around the 6" - 7" location on the ruler. This way you can adjust the position of your list relative to the margins.

This also works for creating lines on a printed form; if you set the leader on the right-aligned tab to line (the fourth choice) you can create lines that are inline with your text and end on the right at exactly the same place. Using underscores will never work correctly because we are almost always using proportional fonts.

This method of using tab leaders also works in Word; both on Mac and Windows.

The OVR button in the status bar works with Mac 2004. However, it was was removed in Word 2008. Another option for Word 2008 is to click Customize Toolbars and Menus on the View menu. Click the Commands tab and select Overtype from the All Commands category. Then you can either add the OVR command to a toolbar or create a keyboard shortcut.

Since there isn't an insert key on the Mac keyboard, the quickest fix for this problem is to open Microsoft Word and select Preferences from the Word Application menu. In Preferences turn off overtype mode in the Edit category.