multiple align inside the same line

[kalos]

hello

I wrote this line in MS Word: "one two"

now, I want the "one" to appear in the left margin of the page (left align) and the "two" to appear in the right margin of the page (right align)

how do I do this?

thanks

[Renegade]

hello

I wrote this line in MS Word: "one two"

now, I want the "one" to appear in the left margin of the page (left align) and the "two" to appear in the right margin of the page (right align)

how do I do this?

thanks

-kalos (May 05, 2011, 06:19 PM)

Use a table. In the left cell, left align, and in the right cell, right align.

It's messy, but it works and it's easy.

Alignment is a block level operation.

[kalos]

I thought it can be done this way, with columns as well

but I wanted a more easy and straight way

[Renegade]

Columns work, but then the text is:

one
two

Either way, it's a messy proposition in Word. Word just isn't meant for layout.

Another way is to use text boxes... Yuck.

[AndyM]

Put a left tab stop in the ruler at the top, all the way to the left.
Put a right tab stop all the way to the right.

Put an actual tab character before the "one" and another before the "two".

The first will align the "one" to the left and the second will align the "two" to the right.



(second image shows formatting marks)

If you are doing multiple lines, when you hit the Return key to start a new line (paragraph), the tab stops will be created in the subsequent line (paragraph).

This is one way to do columns in Word, handy for short ones.

[Renegade]

I find tabs and all that gooey goodness are almost futile in Office 2010:



The behavior seems random, and display is never correct.

Could just be me though.

[AndyM]

When tabs act like that, it's often because one is using tabs two different ways at the same time.

If you don't put tab stops in the ruler, the tabs default to a certain number of spaces.

If you use the tab stops, the tabs will align accordingly.

If you use the tab stops but put in extra tab characters, things don't appear as expected.

When setting things up with tabs, I always display formatting marks so I can see where the tab characters are (the little arrows).

The other thing that can affect tabs is where the right and left margins are, but if you display formatting all tab behavior should be, well, well behaved.

[eleman]

I wrote this line in MS Word: "one two"

now, I want the "one" to appear in the left margin of the page (left align) and the "two" to appear in the right margin of the page (right align)

how do I do this?

-kalos (May 05, 2011, 06:19 PM)

Select justify as the alignment mode.
use shift-enter to end the line.
Yes, I know this is a weird way, but it works.

[Renegade]

I wrote this line in MS Word: "one two"

now, I want the "one" to appear in the left margin of the page (left align) and the "two" to appear in the right margin of the page (right align)

how do I do this?

-kalos (May 05, 2011, 06:19 PM)

Select justify as the alignment mode.
use shift-enter to end the line.
Yes, I know this is a weird way, but it works.

-eleman (May 06, 2011, 01:50 AM)

Hahahah~! Nice one~!

[nudone]

Select justify as the alignment mode.
use shift-enter to end the line.
Yes, I know this is a weird way, but it works.

-eleman (May 06, 2011, 01:50 AM)

cool tip. now the problem is how to remember this next time i need it.

[eleman]

cool tip.

-nudone (May 06, 2011, 03:44 AM)

Not so much. It only works for two words, and kinda works for three (second word gets middle aligned). So this is one of the niche exploits which look cool, but are not very useful.

[Stoic Joker]

cool tip.

-nudone (May 06, 2011, 03:44 AM)

Not so much. It only works for two words, and kinda works for three (second word gets middle aligned). So this is one of the niche exploits which look cool, but are not very useful.

-eleman (May 06, 2011, 03:47 AM)

Most cool, gotta jot that one down. But now that you mention it (reminded me of something), is there a way to stop/modify that behavior?

I used to frequently use full justify because I like the look of the evenly blocked text. But in seems lately that it always wants to smear the last short line of a paragraph across the whole page (much like your tip above). It never did that before...and it's really annoying. The last line if only a few words should stay left aligned(ish) as it's a much cleaner look, and is what Word used to do (for the most part) by default.

[AndyM]

... the last short line of a paragraph across the whole page...

-Stoic Joker (May 06, 2011, 06:39 AM)

There's a setting to prevent the last line in a fully justified paragraph from doing that.  I could find it in Word 2002 if that would help.

Is there really an end-paragraph marker (pilcrow) at the end of the paragraph, or is it a manual line-break, which brings different behavior?

[Stoic Joker]

... the last short line of a paragraph across the whole page...

-Stoic Joker (May 06, 2011, 06:39 AM)

There's a setting to prevent the last line in a fully justified paragraph from doing that.  I could find it in Word 2002 if that would help.

-AndyM (May 06, 2011, 10:15 AM)

It couldn't hurt, at least I'd know what I was looking for. I've actually had the problem before in anything from 2007 down. But I got 2010 now and it's giving me fits.

Is there really an end-paragraph marker (pilcrow) at the end of the paragraph, or is it a manual line-break, which brings different behavior?

-AndyM (May 06, 2011, 10:15 AM)

I've tried it both ways and more to no avail. Line break, paragraph break, page break, make no difference ... It just broke.

[AndyM]

All I could find was a setting in Options>Compatibilty tab:

               Don't expand character spaces on the line ending Shift-Return

which is only for lines ending in a manual line return.  Lines ending in an EndParagraph mark should automatically not full justify.

This is actually a trick to force full justification of the last line (use a manual line end).  Doesn't address your problem at all, sorry.