Dear Simon,
I think there's only one left margin (head indent), and another
setting to set paragraph indentation (first line indent) plus the
right margin (tail indent). Apart from these ruler markers, there are
just the left tab markers. You can interact and move them. If you
don't want to use additional tab markers before the tab for your
return address, just move the additional tab markers to the end of the
page area (right margin). What happens when you turn formatting on to
"Wrap to Page" is that the head indent and tail indent move to give
you 1 inch margins. (This is for U.S. letter paper that is 8.5 x 11
inches.) If you want to move the margins further away from the right
and left edges, you can. You may need to do this if the margins are
not well matched for A4 paper.
If you want to keep the left tab markers in place, you'll need to
count the number of left tabs you place before your return address and
press the correct number of tabs. The key settings are for left and
right margin if you want to change these, and to move the tab you
want to set for the return address to the correct location.
Cheers,
Esther
On Dec 1, 2008, at 11:48 AM, Simon Cavendish wrote:
Dear Esther,
Thank you for these detailed and helpful instructions. I shall
follow them and report the outcome. I did think of using a left tab
and maybe right justifying the return address. My concern was with
the number of left margins in the ruler. I guess I just change the
value of the left margin and ignore the rest?
With many thanks again,
Simon
On 1 Dec 2008, at 17:14, Esther wrote:
Hi Simon,
There may be better ways to do this, but I took a letter in Word
and saved this as a Rich Text Format file. Then I opened this with
TextEdit and saved this as a style file that I called "letter".
In fact, examining this turns out to be pretty basic. In minimal
format, you use the page boundaries and a single left tab that is
placed to put your address on the right hand side. The page
boundaries here are the defaults you set "Wrap to page" (Command-
Shift-W) -- 1 inch in from the boundaries of the window. Since I
am using U.S. letter paper, this means that the head indent and
tail indent markers for the ruler are set to 1.0 inch and 7.5, and
these form the left and right margins of my page (which is 8.5
inches wide). My single left tab stop, which is used for my
address or the closing, is set for 5.9 inches.
By comparison, in the default setup for Rich Text Format, the mode
is "Wrap to window" (typing goes to the edge of the window instead
of starting or stopping at the "margins" of the page -- here, 1
inch to the left or right from the left and right limits of the
window). There are also
12 left tab stops (set every half inch from the left edge of the
window).
I don't think you need to use the right tab stop unless you are
typing in a language that flows from right to left, such as Hebrew.
For the letter template I describe, I simply tab to start typing
the return address (5.9 inches from the left edge of the window, or
4.9 inches from the left margin of the letter). The recipient's
address is set at the left margin, where typing automatically
starts, since I use "align left".
Hope this makes sense. To find out the margin and tab settings,
interact with the ruler. The head indent ruler marker will be 0 if
you are in the default setting of "Wrap to Window". Use the
Command-Shift-W shortcut to toggle this setting or else go to the
Format menu and choose the option "Wrap to Page". Now when you read
the position of the head indent ruler marker it should be 1 inch.
Your right margin (tail indent) may be set up for A4 paper and have
a different value from mine (7.5 inches). Similarly, you will want
to set the left tab stop for your return address to a different
value than 5.9 inches since A4 paper is narrower. You can interact
and move one of the existing left tab stops instead of setting a
new one.
Maybe Anne has recommendations.
Cheers,
Esther
On Dec 1, 2008, at 4:56 AM, Simon Cavendish wrote:
Dear Listers,
I am trying to work with tabs in Textedit. I have read as much as
I was able to in the Voiceover help file on tabs and in Textedit
help files. I can set the value of the right tab without a problem
but I am not sure how to activate that tab. When I press the tab
button, how do I know whether I activate the left tab or right
tab? Has anyone got any more experience on that? I'm trying to
create letter template so that my address is always on the right
handside and so that I may input the address of the recipient on
the left.
Your experience and help would be welcome.
With best wishes
Simon
