diff --git a/spec/app/edit-session-spec.coffee b/spec/app/edit-session-spec.coffee
index 17d6f78a0..b708e32b8 100644
--- a/spec/app/edit-session-spec.coffee
+++ b/spec/app/edit-session-spec.coffee
@@ -1096,24 +1096,46 @@ describe "EditSession", ->
           editSession.deleteToEndOfWord()
           expect(buffer.lineForRow(1)).toBe '  var sort = function(it) {'
 
-    describe ".insertTab()", ->
-      describe "if 'softTabs' is true (the default)", ->
-        it "inserts the value of 'tabText' into the buffer", ->
-          tabRegex = new RegExp("^#{editSession.tabText}")
-          expect(buffer.lineForRow(0)).not.toMatch(tabRegex)
-          editSession.insertTab()
-          expect(buffer.lineForRow(0)).toMatch(tabRegex)
+    describe ".indent()", ->
+      describe "when nothing is selected", ->
+        describe "if 'softTabs' is true (the default)", ->
+          it "inserts the value of 'tabText' into the buffer", ->
+            tabRegex = new RegExp("^#{editSession.tabText}")
+            expect(buffer.lineForRow(0)).not.toMatch(tabRegex)
+            editSession.indent()
+            expect(buffer.lineForRow(0)).toMatch(tabRegex)
+
+        describe "when auto-indent is on and there is no text after the cursor", ->
+          it "properly indents the line", ->
+            buffer.insert([7, 0], "  \n")
+            editSession.tabText = "  "
+            editSession.setCursorBufferPosition [7, 2]
+            editSession.setAutoIndent(true)
+            editSession.indent()
+            expect(buffer.lineForRow(7)).toMatch /^\s+$/
+            expect(buffer.lineForRow(7).length).toBe 6
+            expect(editSession.getCursorBufferPosition()).toEqual [7, 6]
+
+          it "allows for additional indentation if the cursor is beyond the proper indentation point", ->
+            buffer.insert([7, 0], "      \n")
+            editSession.tabText = "  "
+            editSession.setCursorBufferPosition [7, 6]
+            editSession.setAutoIndent(true)
+            editSession.indent()
+            expect(buffer.lineForRow(7)).toMatch /^\s+$/
+            expect(buffer.lineForRow(7).length).toBe 8
+            expect(editSession.getCursorBufferPosition()).toEqual [7, 8]
 
       describe "if editSession.softTabs is false", ->
         it "inserts a tab character into the buffer", ->
           editSession.setSoftTabs(false)
           expect(buffer.lineForRow(0)).not.toMatch(/^\t/)
-          editSession.insertTab()
+          editSession.indent()
           expect(buffer.lineForRow(0)).toMatch(/^\t/)
           expect(editSession.getCursorBufferPosition()).toEqual [0, 1]
           expect(editSession.getCursorScreenPosition()).toEqual [0, editSession.tabText.length]
 
-          editSession.insertTab()
+          editSession.indent()
           expect(buffer.lineForRow(0)).toMatch(/^\t\t/)
           expect(editSession.getCursorBufferPosition()).toEqual [0, 2]
           expect(editSession.getCursorScreenPosition()).toEqual [0, editSession.tabText.length * 2]
diff --git a/spec/extensions/snippets-spec.coffee b/spec/extensions/snippets-spec.coffee
index f56cf7a2e..68d9e0ed7 100644
--- a/spec/extensions/snippets-spec.coffee
+++ b/spec/extensions/snippets-spec.coffee
@@ -145,7 +145,7 @@ describe "Snippets extension", ->
         editor.insertText("xte")
         expect(editor.getCursorScreenPosition()).toEqual [0, 3]
 
-        editor.trigger 'tab'
+        editor.trigger keydownEvent('tab', target: editor[0])
         expect(buffer.lineForRow(0)).toBe "xte  var quicksort = function () {"
         expect(editor.getCursorScreenPosition()).toEqual [0, 5]
 
diff --git a/src/app/edit-session.coffee b/src/app/edit-session.coffee
index 2d457b28b..7786b7ac1 100644
--- a/src/app/edit-session.coffee
+++ b/src/app/edit-session.coffee
@@ -124,9 +124,17 @@ class EditSession
     @moveCursorToEndOfLine()
     @insertNewline()
 
-  insertTab: ->
+  indent: ->
     if @getSelection().isEmpty()
-      if @softTabs
+      whitespaceMatch = @lineForBufferRow(@getCursorBufferPosition().row).match /^\s*$/
+      if @autoIndent and whitespaceMatch
+        indentation = @indentationForRow(@getCursorBufferPosition().row)
+        if indentation.length > whitespaceMatch[0].length
+          @getSelection().selectLine()
+          @insertText(indentation)
+        else
+          @insertText(@tabText)
+      else if @softTabs
         @insertText(@tabText)
       else
         @insertText('\t')
@@ -220,6 +228,9 @@ class EditSession
   largestFoldStartingAtScreenRow: (screenRow) ->
     @displayBuffer.largestFoldStartingAtScreenRow(screenRow)
 
+  indentationForRow: (row) ->
+    @tokenizedBuffer.indentationForRow(row)
+
   autoIndentTextAfterBufferPosition: (text, bufferPosition) ->
     return { text } unless @autoIndent
     @tokenizedBuffer.autoIndentTextAfterBufferPosition(text, bufferPosition)
diff --git a/src/app/editor.coffee b/src/app/editor.coffee
index e9a0b926d..e0ed5fa1d 100644
--- a/src/app/editor.coffee
+++ b/src/app/editor.coffee
@@ -105,7 +105,7 @@ class Editor extends View
       'select-down': @selectDown
       'select-word': @selectWord
       'newline': @insertNewline
-      'tab': @insertTab
+      'indent': @indent
       'indent-selected-rows': @indentSelectedRows
       'outdent-selected-rows': @outdentSelectedRows
       'backspace': @backspace
@@ -211,7 +211,7 @@ class Editor extends View
   insertText: (text) -> @activeEditSession.insertText(text)
   insertNewline: -> @activeEditSession.insertNewline()
   insertNewlineBelow: -> @activeEditSession.insertNewlineBelow()
-  insertTab: -> @activeEditSession.insertTab()
+  indent: -> @activeEditSession.indent()
   indentSelectedRows: -> @activeEditSession.indentSelectedRows()
   outdentSelectedRows: -> @activeEditSession.outdentSelectedRows()
   cutSelection: -> @activeEditSession.cutSelectedText()
diff --git a/src/app/keymaps/editor.coffee b/src/app/keymaps/editor.coffee
index 4ff9ca96a..6bdce72c3 100644
--- a/src/app/keymaps/editor.coffee
+++ b/src/app/keymaps/editor.coffee
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ window.keymap.bindKeys '.editor',
   'meta-a': 'select-all'
   'enter': 'newline'
   'meta-enter': 'newline-below'
-  'tab': 'tab'
+  'tab': 'indent'
   'backspace': 'backspace'
   'delete': 'delete'
   'meta-x': 'cut'
diff --git a/src/app/tokenized-buffer.coffee b/src/app/tokenized-buffer.coffee
index 80649b8e4..15dc42a02 100644
--- a/src/app/tokenized-buffer.coffee
+++ b/src/app/tokenized-buffer.coffee
@@ -48,6 +48,11 @@ class TokenizedBuffer
     else
       null
 
+  indentationForRow: (row) ->
+    state = @stateForRow(row)
+    previousRowText = @buffer.lineForRow(row - 1)
+    @aceMode.getNextLineIndent(state, previousRowText, @tabText)
+
   autoIndentTextAfterBufferPosition: (text, bufferPosition) ->
     { row, column} = bufferPosition
     state = @stateForRow(row)