When you hit the “Tab” key, Gmail always jostles your cursor and focus around, never enters a tab character or spaces? Find out here how to insert tab and indent text with white space in Gmail ⤓ (or come imperceptibly close at least).
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How to Tab or Indent Text in Gmail (in the Email Body)
Using Indent in a Desktop Browser
Time needed: 2 minutes
To indent text in a manner similar to inserting a tab in Gmail using a desktop browser:
- Press Ctrl ] (Windows, Linux) or Command ] (Mac).
Mouse alternative: Click Format text, then click Indent more in the formatting toolbar.
Plain text mode: In Gmail plain text mode, this method of adding a tab does not work; see below for alternatives.
Repeat: You can indent more than once to increase the amount of indentation.
- Now insert the indented text.
No real TAB: Note that using this method of indentation is not a real tabulator, and you cannot enter text in columns this way.
- Press Ctrl [ (Windows, Linux) or Command [ (Mac) on a new line to outdent it.
Using Fixed-Width Text
The altarnative to using indentation is mimicking tabs using spaces and a proportional font.
To enter a tab in Gmail using whitespace:
- Position the text cursor where you want to start with the tab in a message you are writing in Gmail.
- Click Formatting options in a message.
- Open the font picker in the formatting toolbar.
- Select Fixed Width from the menu that has appeared.
- Enter 4–5 spaces to insert the first tab starting at the beginning of the line.
More tabs: Add further tab stops at multiples of your chosen number of whitespace characters.
Example: With 4 spaces for a tab, tab stops are at 4, 8, 12, 16, 20… characters from the beginning of the line.
Tabs ⇥ tamed?
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Alternative: Use PDF, an Image, or a Word Processing Document
To insert text with all formatting ensured intact, you can, of course,
- save the text to a PDF document (preferably)
- or an image format such as PNG
- and attach the PDF or insert the image inline in the message.
Using a Mobile Device
In the Gmail mobile browser interface and the Gmail apps for Android and iOS, you can
- neither indent text
- nor change the font to a fixed-width font.
So, to insert Tab in Gmail on a mobile device:
- Open full desktop Gmail in a mobile browser.
- Insert tab as above.
How to Insert Tab in Gmail: FAQ
Will fixed-width tabs display as tabs for every recipient?
No, but for most recipients they will.
Gmail sends emails that include
- both the formatted version that specifies the fixed-width font and
- a plain text version that includes the tabs (as whitespace) but not the font.
The plain text version looks fine if it is viewed using a fixed-width font (such as Courier), but not using a serif or sans-serif font (such as Helvetica). The font is wholly up to the recipient and their email program.
Can I insert the Unicode Tab character (U+0009) in Gmail?
No.
Adding the ASCII or Unicode tab characters (which do produce a tab indent with plain text) does, alas, not work with Gmail.
Can I insert tab in Basic HTML Gmail?
No, alas, no.
Basic HTML Gmail will send messages using plain-text email. So, on its composition screen, you
- can insert spaces manually to concoct tabs (but not enforce a fixed-width font that makes them work) but you
- cannot insert a tab character.
(Tested in a desktop browser; first published July 2021, last updated April 2026)