Tab settings apply to the entire paragraph. If you are removing them from
one "line," and they still appear on the next "line," then what you have is
separate paragraphs. Display nonprinting characters to see whether you have
paragraph marks at the ends of the "lines." To remove tabs from multiple
paragraphs at once, you must select them before either dragging tabs off the
ruler or using Format | Tabs | Clear All.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://word.mvps.org
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all may benefit.

"charleykay" wrote in message
...
I'm using Office XP, and have used Word for a few years
now. It seems in a previous version of Word or
Wordperfect, I could remove all tabs from a paragraph or
document in one step, then re-set tabs to new settings. I
think this was a "default ruler" option. Now, I try to
re-set or remove tabs on the first line of a paragraph,
and find each following line stull has the unwanted tab.
This drives me crazy when I cut and paste from other
documents, as I often must do. This seems fundamental,
but all I get from the idiot paper clip is to manually
remove tabs from the ruler. Thanks, Clippy.

Does a carbon-based life form have a simple solution to
this? Thank you in advance for any help.