Abstract: An apparatus and method for tensioning a fabric in a paper machine, such as a press felt, a drying wire, or an equivalent fabric, including a tensioning roll arranged inside a loop of the fabric. Bearing supports of the roll are fixed, at the driving side and at the operating side of the machine, to sledges. These sledges are displaced by a motor, synchronously in relation to one another, so as to tighten the fabric that runs over the tensioning roll to a certain tension. The sledges are arranged in connection with the frame part of the machine on linear guides, which can be loaded in different directions transverse to the direction of movement of the sledges. In view of displacing the sledges, shafts operated by a motor are journalled on the sledges. The shafts are interconnected by a synchronization shaft between the driving side and the operating side.