Tabs can be left-, right-, center-, or decimal-aligned. You can usually set tabs in the ruler bar of your word processor or in a dialog box. You will need to determine if you are setting tabs for the whole document or only for a portion of the text.
Use tabs rather than the spacebar for aligning text precisely. If you use tabs, your document not only will look better but will be easier to revise on screen or to open in a different application.
In a business letter, you can use tabs to right-align your address at the top and your signature at the bottom of the page.
In tables, tabs let you control precisely where you want to place columns of text. You can set a tab within each column to control the data in the cells in the column.
In tables of contents, tabs allow you to automatically insert a row of periods leading to the page numbers. The fill is called a leader. Your word processor lets you choose what kind of leader you want to use.
Sample business memo with tabs
Sample table using tabbed columns of data
Sample table of contents using right-aligned leaders