When Tab no longer outlines in MS Word

I just felt a compelling reason to document one of those moments where a seemingly-simple problem took longer to resolve than it should have.

I was cleaning up a simple multi-level outline ("Outline Numbered", FAQ) in Microsoft Word 2003. (Let's not get into any debate about using Word or otherwise!)

While it may be a bad habit, I'm accustomed to using Tab/Shift+Tab to increase/decrease the outline level/indentation. (Same as the default keyboard shortcuts in Eclipse and many other editors.) This particular time, the only result was actual tabs being inserted between the bullet and the text.

The culprit? Nothing under Tools | Options, nothing with Normal.dot, and nothing within the defined keyboard shortcuts. Word's AutoCorrect is the owner of this round of frustration.

The steps to correct this vary a bit depending upon the version of Word being used:

• Word 2013 (15) or Word 2010 (14):
  1. Click the "File" tab, then "Options" from the left-hand navigation.
  2. Click "Proofing" from the left-hand navigation in the new window.
  3. Click the "AutoCorrect Options..." button from the right-hand panel.
  4. Click the "AutoFormat As You Type" tab.
  5. Under "Automatically as you type" at the bottom, check "Set left- and first-indent with tabs and backspaces."
• Word 2007 (12):
  1. Click the "Office" button (very top-left of Window), then Word Options.
  2. Click "Proofing" from the left-hand navigation.
  3. Click the "AutoCorrect Options..." button from the right-hand panel.
  4. Click the "AutoFormat As You Type" tab.
  5. Under "Automatically as you type" at the bottom, check "Set left- and first-indent with tabs and backspaces."
• Word 2003 (11) or 2002 (XP/10):
  1. Tools | AutoCorrect Options | AutoFormat As You Type.
  2. Near the bottom under "Automatically as you type" is an option "Set left- and first-indent with tabs and backspaces."
• Word 2000 (9) or 97 (8):
  1. Tools | Options | Edit | "Tabs and backspace set left indent."

Other options are to use Alt+Shift+Arrow, where Arrow is the left or right arrow key, or to display and use the "Outlining" toolbar.

While I'm thinking about Word, I've got a few other frustrations/tips to share:

• Default margins: I don't know why Word defaults to 1 ¼" (1.25") left/right margins, but 1" seems much more practical.
• Collapsible menus: This is changed by the "Ribbon" (a.k.a. Microsoft Office Fluent) in Office 2007, but in earlier versions, I like to see all my options. See Tools | Customize | Options, "Always show full menus". While you're here, I'd also check "Show Standard and Formatting toolbars on two rows".
• The "drawing canvas" - turn off under Tools | Options, "Automatically create drawing canvas when inserting AutoShapes".
• The "Reading Layout", most often seen when opening Word attachments from Outlook. Turn off under Tools | Options, "Allow starting in Reading Layout".
• If Microsoft is pushing their .Net Framework so hard, why not use it to replace VBA within Office? (The closest option at the moment is the Visual Studio Tools for Office (VSTO).)