The ruler is used to set indentation and tab stops. When dragging an indent marker or tabstop, it aligns on a 1/8th inch interval (the tick marks shown on the ruler). You can avoid this automatic alignment by holding the ALT key down while dragging.
Setting a paragraph's left indentation:
You can set paragraph indention, including hanging indentation, using the indentation control that is part of the ruler. By default, the indentation setting applies to the current paragraph where the text cursor sits. You can apply the setting to multiple paragraphs by first selecting at least a portion of the text in each paragraph that you want the indentation to apply to and then making your adjustments.
The indentation control contains three components: the top inverted triangular component controls the indentation of the first line of a paragraph. The lower (middle) triangular component controls the indentation of all wrapped lines of the paragraph (i.e. all lines other than the first line), which is also referred to as a hanging indent. The bottom rectangular component allows you to move both of the upper indentation components simultaneously.
Note: depending on the state of the indentation control, it might be necessary to first click on the control and then click and drag the specific component of the control.
Setting a paragraph's right indentation
On the right side of the ruler is a control which contains only the upper component, and which controls the point where the paragraph should wrap any lines that would extend past that marker. As with the left indentation control, the right indentation setting adjustment defaults to the current paragraph where the text cursor sits. You can apply the setting to multiple paragraphs by first selecting at least a portion of the text in each paragraph that you want the indentation to apply to and then making your adjustments.
Setting tab stops
Tab stops can be set by simply clicking on the ruler at the desired point. Note that the tab stop will be applied exactly at the point where you clicked the mouse and not on a 1/8th inch increment; however, this might not be desired if you will be trying to align additional text later. Dragging a tab stop aligns the tab stop on the 1/8th inch increment, so it is suggested that whenever adding a tab stop, just click on the toolbar to add the tab stop, and then drag it to where you want it; thus keeping the tab stop aligned on a 1/8th inch increment. As mentioned above, you can hold the ALT key down while dragging a tabstop to avoid the auto alignment of a tabstop on this 1/8th inch increment.
There are four types of tab stops that can be inserted: left aligned, right aligned, center aligned and decimal point aligned. By clicking on the tab stop style icon just to the left of the ruler, you can toggle through each of these styles to select the style you want to add next.
Left Align
A tab character that is left of this tab stop will left align subsequent text under this tab stop where the left most character will be under this tab stop.
Right Align
A tab character that is left of this tab stop will right align subsequent text under this tab stop where the right most character will be under the tab stop.
Center Align
A tab character that is left of this tab stop will center align subsequent text under this tab stop where the entire line of text (or up to the next tab character) will be centered under this tab stop.
Decimal Point Align
A tab character that is left of this tab stop will decimal point align subsequent text under this tab stop where the entire line of text (or up to the next tab character) will be aligned to the decimal point under this tab stop. This is useful for aligning currency values in a column.