Entering a "Tab" character into Google Docs, when your document has columns

Question

I am working with a two-column document in Google Docs. The 1st column is a field description. In the 2nd, wider column, I have free text to complete the field information. In this column, I have setup a left tab stop, so some information lines up near the far right of the column. However, I cannot enter a "tab" character to get the text to move to this new tab stop. If I hit the "Tab" key, I jump to the next column entry.

How can I insert a "tab" whitespace character? Ctrl-Tab/Shift-Tab/Ctrl-i - nothing I've tried to-date works.

Answer 1

I had the same problem..

The "fix" I found to help was to copy a tab from another program or from within the document, and paste it where I want it.

So select a tab character, copy it (Ctrl+C). Now your Tab key is Ctrl+V.

Answer 2

=CHAR(9) will produce the tab character as a function, so you'd have to concatenate it with your text values, like =CHAR(9) & "my text" or =CONCATENATE(CHAR(9), "my text").

But why not just format the column to align-right?