Formatting tab controls

You can format tab control borders, and the position and appearance of the tab names. You can set the width of tabs in a tab control. You can format the background of a tab panel and change the appearance of tab borders.

You can also format objects on tab controls.

To format a tab control:

1.	In Layout mode, do one of the following.

Do this

Change style and color of the border

Select the tab control or a tab panel.

•	Click Inspector in the layout bar, click Appearance, then choose line options in the Graphic area.

•	Or, choose Line options in the formatting bar. If you don’t see the formatting bar, click Formatting in the layout bar.

For more information, see Setting the fill, line style, and borders on objects.

Note You can’t set individual borders on tab controls.

Change the shape of tab control corners

Select the tab control or a tab panel, click Inspector

in the layout bar, then click Appearance. In the Graphic area, for Corner radius, choose each corner that you want to have a rounded appearance, and specify a value in points. The larger the value, the more a corner is rounded.

Place all tabs on tab panels to the far left, center, far right, or spread them out over the tab panels

Double-click a tab control. In the Tab Control Setup dialog box, choose Left, Center, Right, or Full from the Tab Justification drop-down list.

Change the format of the tab panel name

Select the tab control or a tab panel.

•	Click Inspector in the layout bar, then click Appearance. Choose options in the Text area.

•	Or, use the text options in the formatting bar. If you don’t see the formatting bar, click Formatting in the layout bar.

For more information, see Formatting text.

Change the width of all tabs in a tab control

Select the tab control. In the Tab Control Setup dialog box, choose Label Width, Label Width + Margin, Width of Widest Label, Minimum of, Fixed Width of from the Tab Width list.

For Label Width + Margin, Minimum of, or Fixed Width of, choose a units option: Inches, Centimeter or Points, then enter a value.

To change the fill of a tab panel or objects in the tab panel:

1.	In Layout mode, select the tab panels and objects you want to change.

For more information, see Selecting and working with objects in tab panels.

2.	Click Inspector in the layout bar, then click Appearance. Choose a fill in the Graphic area.

You can choose a solid color, a gradient, an image, or no fill. For more information, see Setting the fill, line style, and borders on objects, Filling an object or a layout part with a color gradient, or Filling an object or a layout part with an image.

Notes

•	You can’t format a locked object. For more information, see Protecting objects from change.

•	Format changes applied to tab controls do not affect the objects on the tab panels, unless you have selected the objects. For more information, see Selecting objects.

•	You can place a graphic under a transparent tab panel for a customized look. Press the tab key to move through transparent tab panels. For information on making a tab panel transparent, see Setting the fill, line style, and borders on objects.

•	You can format the appearance of one or more tab panels to be conditional (for example, format a tab panel to appear red when a certain condition is met). See Defining conditional formatting for layout objects.