XL97: CTRL+ALT+TAB Does Not Insert Tab into Active Cell (156164)


The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Excel 97 for Windows
This article was previously published under Q156164

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, to indent text in a cell. This keystroke inserts eight spaces in the active cell rather than a tab character.

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 cell that contains the text you want to indent.
  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.
NOTE: If you click Increase Indent several times and the cell to the right of the active cell is blank, the text you are aligning may be positioned over the blank cell or over columns to the right of the active cell.

REFERENCES

For more information about the Indent feature, click the Index tab in Microsoft Excel Help, type the following text 
   indenting data
and then double-click the selected text to go to the "Center, align, indent, or rotate data in a cell" topic.
Modification Type:MajorLast Reviewed:10/21/2000
Keywords:KB156164
©2002 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.