WD6X: Tabs Dialog Does Not Appear in Mail Label Setup

• Microsoft Word for Windows, version 6.0, 6.0a
• Microsoft Word for the Macintosh, version 6.0

SYMPTOMS

In Microsoft Word, if you click the right mouse button to open the shortcut menu in the Create Labels dialog box (which is displayed while you create mailing labels using the Mail Merge Helper), click Paragraph on the shortcut menu, and then click Tabs, the Tabs dialog box does not appear.

NOTE: For instructions on displaying the Create Labels dialog box, see the "More Information" section later in this article.

CAUSE

Word opens the Tabs dialog box but places it behind the other dialog boxes that are already open on the screen (namely the Create Labels and Mail Merge Helper dialog boxes). Therefore, you cannot see it. The Tabs dialog box appears when you close the Create Labels and Mail Merge Helper dialog boxes.

WORKAROUND

If you need to apply Tabs formatting to your mailing labels, do it after you complete the layout of your mailing labels page. Select your mailing labels document, then click Tabs on the Format menu. To insert tabs in a label page, press CTRL+TAB. Pressing the TAB key moves the insertion point to the next label.

STATUS

We are researching this problem and will post new information here in the Microsoft Knowledge Base as it becomes available.

MORE INFORMATION

To open the Create Labels dialog box, create a new Word document and then follow these steps:

1. On the Tools menu, click Mail Merge.

2. In the Mail Merge Helper dialog box, click Create. In the list that appears, click Mailing Labels.

3. Click Active Window.

4. In the Mail Merge Helper dialog box, click Get Data. In the list that appears, click Open Data Source. Click to select a data file and then click OK.

5. In the dialog box that appears, click Set Up Main Document.

6. In the Label Options dialog box, select a Product Number and then click OK. The Create Labels dialog box appears. If you click the right mouse button (CTRL+mouse button on the Macintosh), click Paragraph in the shortcut menu, and then click Tabs, the Format Paragraph dialog box disappears, and the Tabs dialog box does not appear. If you close the Create Labels dialog box and then close the Mail Merge Helper dialog box, the Tabs dialog box appears (it was behind the Mail Merge Helper dialog box).