Discussion on:

How do I delete all tab stops in a Word document?

Well done again Susan. Being the "keyboard queen" I would use Ctrl + Q. This may cause some problems if you have other paragraph formats you wish to keep, such as line spacing, indenting, etc, as Ctrl + Q clears ALL paragraph formats. But, it has enabled me to help others get out of some extremely mysterious Word quirks.

Having a full bag of tricks is what makes us really efficient -- having options and choosing the one that fits the circumstances the best!

Once we take out the intentional tab stops, the line goes back to the default tabs (either half-inch or in my case 1cm)?

The biggest problem I have with the ruler approach (which I use, generally) is that in trying to remove oneb, inadvertantly I set a new one nearby, meaning I now have more than one to remove, in which case, I might give up and go to the tab dialog box.

Grab your mouse, point to the Tab stop, press the left button, and hold it tight pressed . Then move down away from the ruler.

If you are using multiple styles but want to reset only a particular style you can select "Styles and Formatting", select the style to reset and "Select All". Anything you do will affect all of the selected text.

You would want to define the tab stops in a style in the first place - no need to use direct formatting throughout a document as that unnecessarily bloats your document. You can find and replace the offending styles or select all and apply your tab-less style to the paragraphs. If you need to update them, just update the single style.