How to Use the Bar Tab in Word 2007

The bar tab isn’t a true tab stop in Word 2007. Instead, consider it as a text decoration. Setting a bar tab merely inserts a vertical line into a line of text. It's much better than using the pipe (|) character on the keyboard for drawing a vertical line in your document.

A bar tab is set like any other tab. But, rather than insert a tab, it inserts a black vertical line in the text.

You activate the bar tab feature by clicking the Tab gizmo until the Bar Tab icon appears. You can then insert bar tabs into your text.

The vertical line always appears, even when no text or tabs are used.

In this example, a left tab stop is set immediately after the bar tab to help organize text on a line. This is normally how bar tabs are used.