Dot leaders for menus and contents pages

A dot leader is the row of dots that connects a label to a number, as in a menu or table of contents. It guides the eye across the gap.

Espresso ........ $3.50

In Microsoft Word: tab leaders

1. Select the lines.
2. Home → Paragraph settings → Tabs…
3. Set a tab stop near the right margin (e.g. 15 cm), choose Right alignment and Leader 2 …….
4. Click Set → OK. Now type the label, press Tab, then the number. Word fills the gap with dots that always line up.

Word's automatic Table of Contents (References → Table of Contents) adds dot leaders for you.

In Google Docs

Insert → Table of contents and choose the style with dotted lines and page numbers. For your own lists (like a menu), Google Docs has no tab leaders, so use a two-column table or the plain-text method below.

In plain text (WhatsApp, Discord, code)

Plain text has no tab stops, so the dots must be counted. Our dot leader maker pads each row to the same width:

Espresso ........ $3.50
Cappuccino ...... $4.25
Cold Brew ....... $4.75

The columns line up exactly in monospace fonts (code blocks, Notepad, Discord ``` blocks). In normal fonts they line up roughly.

Which dot to use

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