Align on a character other than a decimal point

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jfrench1@flash.net
Posts: 1
Joined: 2021-07-07 08:37:25

Align on a character other than a decimal point

Post by jfrench1@flash.net »

I have not been able to determine if Nisus Writer Pro has the capability to redefine the character on which a decimal tab aligns to be something other than a period. For example, if I have a series of elements containing a hyphen and wish to align them line-by-line on the hyphen, I would get this result
Hyphen-aligned text.png
Hyphen-aligned text.png (48.07 KiB) Viewed 4541 times
.

Apple Pages has the facility and Microsoft Word has a constrained version. Is it missing from Nisus Writer Pro, or have I just overlooked it?
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martin
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Re: Align on a character other than a decimal point

Post by martin »

Unfortunately Nisus Writer Pro does not have this capability. Currently the app is limited to using decimal points (periods) to tab-align text. We do have an open feature request in our issue tracker for what you described. I'll be sure to add your vote. Hopefully we can add this feature for some future software update. Thanks for your feedback!
adryan
Posts: 561
Joined: 2014-02-08 12:57:03
Location: Australia

Re: Align on a character other than a decimal point

Post by adryan »

G'day, jfrench1@flash.net et al

You can create the illusion that a hyphen (or any other character) is aligned to a tab by preceding the character with a decimal point of minimal size (eg, 1 pt) and using a decimal tab. The decimal point will be invisible at all but very large page zoom settings. If you wish it to be invisible entirely, you can set its color to the background color (eg, white).

In practice, you would use ".-" instead of "-" where appropriate, then use Find to find all the decimal points that are followed by hyphens, and then change the text characteristics of these decimal points, either directly or via the Replace mechanism. A macro could be useful.

I hope this helps.

Cheers,
Adrian
MacBook Pro (M1 Pro, 2021)
macOS Ventura
Nisus Writer user since 1996
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