dot leaders with right tab after title

[Charlie329572228uvx]

I am trying to add dot leaders preserving the right tab, so that the line ends with "sq ft" as right aligned. I am not sure how to approach this.

Thanks.

[Peter Spier]

Are you having a problem with adding a right-aligned tab and specifying a leader? That should work.

[Charlie329572228uvx]

I'm not sure how to do that. Is it this tool?

I also have varying start points for the dot leaders that I am trying to preserve:

[James Gifford—NitroPress · Accepted solution]

This should be simple: set the right-aligned tab on the right margin, or wherever you want "sq ft" to line up. Specify a dot as the leader character. That will give you a leader from the room description to the start of the size data, aligned neatly to the right.

If you want to preserve the offset start of the leader, use two tabs (ROOM<tab><tab>SIZE). The first can be a conventional left tab with no special characteristics; position it as you like. Apply the leader to the second, right-aligned tab. Adjust all spacing to suit.

[Charlie329572228uvx]

i'm not sure how to get this result. I can't drag the text box extent any further to the left:

Is this part of the issue?

[James Gifford—NitroPress]

The right margin (which is usually the right edge of the text box) is only one factor in determining how far text will flow. If, as in these examples, the right alignment is set by a tab, the tab has to be moved over to move that lineup.

That is, you can have a right-aligned tab up against the right margin so that they are the same thing, but (1) you can't set a tab any further to the right than the margin, and (2) moving the margin does not move the tab. Does that make sense?

This is very basic stuff, more or less the same in any word or layout app. Maybe this ID help topic explains it more clearly:

https://helpx.adobe.com/indesign/using/tabs-indents.html

[Peter Spier]

I would do this with two tabs, the first with no leader after the initial text to set the start point for the dots, and the second with the dot leader. Just type the dot into the field where it says leader in the dialog.

And your example would be using only LEFT aligned tabs. With a right-aligned tab you are setting an end point and the text fills back from that point so the lines would all be the same length (but maybe that's what you are trying to achieve and the example doesn't show what you really want).

[James Gifford—NitroPress]

This, too — if you (OP) want the right-hand content to align on its start, use a left tab. If you want it to align along a right margin or line, use a right-align tab. Simple as that.