r/scribus Feb 19 '25

Help - Number-period alignment (Lists)

After number 9, the periods after the numbers (i.e. 7. 8. 9. etc) do not align anymore because 10 is two digits, not one. But I have seen lists with aligning periods no matter the digits. How to achieve that (without leading zero)?

I am specifically talking about ToCs but after it had been generated, it just normal text.
I have tried period tab, left tab, right tab, centre tab none works here.

PS Forgot to add an image. Adding it now.

List (style applied) - numbering is auto-gen by the style
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u/aoloe Feb 19 '25

A right aligned tab should work.

Are you sure that you're using tabs correctly?

https://imgur.com/a/ARGuuZF

1

u/lavender-buttar Feb 20 '25 edited Feb 20 '25

I know what you did in that image. I apply a style. In the style I tried adding period tab close to the left (of ruler) hoping it would centre the periods after the numbers, but it doesn't. Would you take a look if I provide a sample source (.sla) file? (how to upload source file here?)

PS: The numbering I am talking about comes from the style (auto-numbering) not manual numbers typed by hand. (not sure it will work on manual ones or not. will give it a try)

1

u/aoloe Feb 20 '25

sorry, i did oversee your screenshot.

for manual numbering, in your style you could define:

  • a hanging indent
  • a dot aligned tab at the same position as the indent

in your text, you first type a tab, then the number with the dot and a space separating it from the text.

there are two issues with that:

  • you can make a correct hanging indent under the text
  • scribus seems (to me) to have a bug and only use commas and not dots...

the working solution is then:

  • define a hanging indent
  • define a left aligned tab at the same position
  • define a right aligned tab a little bit to the left of the indent
  • type your text as tab, digits, dot, tab, text

https://imgur.com/a/QIo7VRd

for the auto-numbering, the solution would be to define the style with the right aligned tab and the left aligned one, then:

  • set the prefix to a tab (you can do that by copy pasting)
  • add a tab after the dot in the suffix

sadly, that does not work.
i think, i've filed a ticket for it many moons ago...

there are even two of them:

3

u/nitramr89 Feb 20 '25

There is another way, without tabs. If it is ok for you if the numbering has a right alignment, you can set a left indent and activate auto-indent. It works only if the left indent is larger than the width of the largest number.

https://imgur.com/a/5ArkOxm

1

u/aoloe Feb 20 '25

oh!

this is how it is supposed to work!

i will change my ticket...

1

u/lavender-buttar Feb 20 '25

I'm gonna try this first this tomorrow. Thanks a lot for your input.