Variable width spacing (springs?)

[ffutures]

Using Word 2003 I want to set up some text - a series of story titles on the left and dates on the right - so that the list of stories is left justified and the dates are right justified.

Normally the way to do this would be to create a table, of course, with titles in the left hand column and dates in the right, right justified. The snag is that the space is a bit limited - it's ten point type and needs to fit inside a column 6cm wide - and while none of the title / date combinations fill this width as they are, it's very difficult to get a table to fit so that none of the titles or dates wraps. Here's the list if anyone wants to try this for themselves:

A Martian Odyssey (July 1934)
Valley of Dreams (November 1934)
Flight on Titan (January 1935)
Parasite Planet (February 1935)
The Lotus Eaters (April 1935)
The Planet of Doubt (October 1935)
The Red Peri (November 1935)
The Mad Moon (December 1935)
Redemption Cairn (March 1936)
Tidal Moon (December 1938)

What I would like, and have seen on some other WP programs, is the ability to put in a "stretchy" space between the title and date, so that each line consists of the title on the left, the date on the right, and enough space between them to make the line left and right justified.

Is there any way to do this in Word 2003?

Now sorted

Comments

[elementalv.livejournal.com]

I would just put a right tab stop in on the right side of the column. That way, the titles are left justified and the dates are right justified. Or am I misunderstanding what you want?

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

That's exactly what I want. I don't quite get how you do it though, I haven't made much use of tab stops in Word.

[elementalv.livejournal.com]

Take a look at the ruler at the top of your document. On the far left corner, you'll see what looks like a bold-face L. Click on that twice (once will change it to a center tab, twice to a right tab, thrice to a decimal tag, four times to a vertical line and five times back to the left tab). Once you do that, click in the ruler where you want the right justification to be. After that, type the title, press tab, type the date, press return.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

OK, got it in the end. Many thanks!

[gbsteve.livejournal.com]

You can put the titles in a table and make the gridlines invisible.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

Not very easily - each row needs the column break at a different place.

[timill]

Yes. Trivial, in fact.

HTH, HAND, &c...

[timill]

It's putting a right tab at the 6cm mark. Works fine in my copy of Word 2003.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

I'm obviously missing something - I should have said that this is in a text box, which may make a difference.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

Never mind, sussed it.

[mkillingworth.livejournal.com]

Well, are you going to share? Inquiring minds, and all of that...

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

Tim had it right, I just wasn't doing it right!