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A dot leader tab fills the space between a text label and the next tab stop with dots—for example, between a section title and its page number in a table of contents. Word creates the dots across the tabbed gap, so you do not need to type a row of periods.
What a dot leader tab does
A tab moves text to a defined stop in a paragraph. When that stop has a dot leader, Word fills the gap leading to it with dots. The stop at the right edge of the dotted run determines where those dots end. This makes the label and its value easier to scan while keeping the value aligned.
Dot leaders are common in tables of contents and indexes, and they can also connect items in a tabbed list. They are formatting applied to a tab stop, not a special character sequence that you have to type by hand.
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How to add dot leaders in Word
The following procedure is documented for Word 2013; newer versions and other platforms may arrange the controls differently, but the key is to apply the leader to the tab stop at the end of the dotted run.
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Select the paragraph or tabbed text you want to format.
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Open the Tabs dialog. In Word 2013, this is available from the paragraph formatting controls.
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In the tab-stop position list, select the stop where the leader should end.
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Choose the dot leader option, click Set, and confirm the dialog.
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Word 2019/365 training material also describes custom tab stops and leaders through the Tabs dialog, though the exact route to that dialog can vary by platform and version. For a table of contents, Word’s automatic table-of-contents feature is another option.
Choosing a leader style
Dots suit navigation-style layouts such as contents pages and indexes. Word guidance also describes dash and underline leaders: dashes offer a different visual guide, while an underline can be useful for a fill-in line. The bar tab stop is an exception in the cited Word guidance and cannot have a leader.
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Fixing misplaced dots or page numbers
If the dots begin in the wrong place or the page number shifts, inspect the paragraph’s tab stops. The leader is assigned to the stop at the right edge of the dotted run; an earlier stop may be missing, or the tab before the label may be advancing to the later leader stop. Confirm that the paragraph has the intended stops and that the tab leading to the value reaches the stop with the dot leader.
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