ARCHIVED: In WordPerfect 6.1 for Windows, how do I make dot leaders (e.g., for a table of contents)?

Note: The software discussed here is no longer in common use at Indiana University, and UITS may no longer be able to verify the document's accuracy. The UITS Support Center may no longer have the manuals and other materials required to support this software adequately.

In most word processing programs, including WordPerfect 6.1, you can insert dot leaders using special dot leader tabs. To do this, you have to set up a tab stop where you would like, for example, the page numbers in a table of contents to appear. This tab will have to be a dot leader tab.

The steps below show how to set up a table of contents where the page numbers will be aligned on the right side, 6" from the left margin:

1. Put the cursor at the beginning of the table of contents. The changes to the tab settings will take place after this cursor position, not before.
   
   
2. Select the Format menu item, then Line, then Tab Set. The Tab Set dialog box will appear.
   
   
3. You must first get rid of all the unnecessary tab stops. By default, WordPerfect applies tab stops every 1/2". To clear the tab stops, click the Clear All button.
   
   
4. Then, you must set a Dot Right tab stop 6" to the right of the left margin. To do this, click the Type button, and, from the list, select Dot Right. In the "Position" box, type  6 . Make sure that the "Position From" is set to Left Margin (Relative).
   
   
5. Make sure "Dot Leader Character" is set to  . , and that "Spaces Between Characters" is set to  1 . Click the Set button.
   
   
6. At this point, you will have to decide whether or not you want your table of contents to have indented entries. If you do, set up one or more left tab stops at, for instance, 0.5", 1.0", etc.
   
   
7. Set "Type:" back to Left, and set "Position" to, say, 0.5". Then click Set.
   
   
8. When you are done setting tab stops, select OK.
   
   
9. You can now start typing text. Type an entry, press the Tab key (you will see the dot leaders appear), and then type the page number.

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