Indent and spacing in word

1. Select the text you want to adjust.

2. Go to Home and select Line and Paragraph Spacing > Line Spacing Options at the bottom of the menu.

   

   The Paragraph dialog box opens.

   

3. On the Indents and Spacing tab, select the options you want, and click OK.

   The Paragraph dialog box options are described in Adjust indents and spacing.

You can quickly adjust indents and spacing in Word for the web.

1. If you’re not already in Editing View, select Edit Document > Edit in Word for the web. The doc will switch from Reading View to Editing View.

   

2. Select Page Layout and notice the Indent left and right and Spacing before and after options.

   

3. Place your cursor at the beginning of the paragraph you want to adjust.

4. To indent the paragraph, type the distance you want in the Left or Right box under Page Layout.

   For example, type 0.1 to indent the paragraph one tenth of an inch.

5. To change the amount of space before or after the paragraph, type a number in the Before or After box.

Tip: To change the indents for an entire document, it’s much faster to adjust the margins. Under Page Layout, select Margins, and choose the margin settings you want.

Select the paragraph to be indented; From the Home tab, Paragraph group, select the dialog box launcher; Check that the Indents and Spacing tab is selected; In the Indentation section set the indent value you require.

How do you indent 0.5 in Word?

One simple way to indent text is to place the cursor at the start of a paragraph and hit the tab key on your keyboard. In Microsoft Word, this adds a 0.5” (1.27cm) indent at the left margin. It also automatically formats the text so that subsequent paragraphs have a first-line indent.

How do I indent the second line in Word?

Select OK.

1. Select the paragraph where you want to add a hanging indent.
2. Go to Format > Paragraph.
3. Under Special, select one of the following indent styles: Hanging. First Line. None. On Hanging and First Line indents, you can adjust the depth of the indent with the By field.
4. Select OK.

What is the shortcut key for 1.5 line spacing?

Ctrl+5
Pressing Ctrl+5 changes to 1.5 line spacing.

How will you use indent commands?

To use the Indent commands:

1. Select the text you want to indent.
2. Make sure you are on the Home tab.
3. Click the Increase Indent command to increase the indent by increments of 1/2 inch. Increasing the indent.
4. Click the Decrease Indent command to decrease the indent by increments of 1/2 inch.

How do I put spaces before paragraphs in Word?

To format paragraph spacing:

1. Select the paragraph or paragraphs you want to format.
2. On the Home tab, click the Line and Paragraph Spacing command. Click Add Space Before Paragraph or Remove Space After Paragraph from the drop-down menu.
3. The paragraph spacing will change in the document.

How do I do 1.5 spacing on Word?

To format line spacing:

1. Click Format on the menu bar.
2. Select Paragraph. The Paragraph dialog box appears.
3. Click the Indents and Spacing tab.
4. In the line spacing drop-down menu, you can select single, 1.5, or double spacing. The default is single spacing.
5. Click OK.

How do you do 1.5 spacing on Microsoft Word?

Change the line spacing in a portion of the document

1. Select one or more paragraphs to update.
2. Go to Home > Line and Paragraph Spacing.
3. Select Line Spacing Options and choose an option in the Line spacing box.
4. Adjust the Before and After settings to change spacing between paragraphs.
5. Select OK.

What is L Ctrl?

Alternatively referred to as Control+L and C-l, Ctrl+L is a keyboard shortcut whose function differs depending on the program being. For example, in Microsoft Word, Ctrl+L is used to align text with the left edge of a document (margin).Ctrl+L in Excel and other spreadsheet programs.

How do I indent tab in Word?

To indent using the Tab key:

1. Place the insertion point at the very beginning of the paragraph you want to indent.
2. Press the Tab key. On the Ruler, you should see the first-line indent marker move to the right by 1/2 inch.
3. The first line of the paragraph will be indented.

How do you make a 0.2 hanging indent?

Create a hanging indent

1. Select the text where you want to add a hanging indent.
2. Go to Home > Paragraph dialog launcher. > Indents and Spacing.
3. Under Special, select Hanging. You can adjust the depth of the indent using the By field.
4. Select OK.

What is indent example?

When you press the “Tab” button in a word processing program so the first line of your text starts further inward than the second, this is an example of indent.A space left when you “tab” to move text inward in a word processing program is an example of an indent.

How do I add a space between words in Word?

Change the spacing between characters

1. Select the text that you want to change.
2. On the Home tab, click the Font Dialog Box Launcher, and then click the Advanced tab.
3. In the Spacing box, click Expanded or Condensed, and then specify how much space you want in the By box.

How do I make no space between lines in Word?

Change the line spacing in Word

1. Select Design > Paragraph Spacing.
2. Hover the cursor over each option to see a preview, and then select the option you want. For single spacing, select No Paragraph Space.

Is 1.0 single-spacing?

Line spacing is the distance between lines. In earlier versions of Word, the default line spacing distance is “1.0,” or single-spacing, which stacks lines closely together with minimal space between. The amount of that space varies depending on the font used.

Where is the spacing in Microsoft Word?

Go to Home > Line and Paragraph Spacing. Select Line Spacing Options, and then choose the options you want under Spacing. To change the spacing before or after the selected paragraphs, select the arrow next to Before or After and enter the amount of space that you want. Select Set as Default.

How do you set 1 inch margins on Microsoft Word?

To set the top margin of all other pages to 1 inch:

1. At least one line down from the top of Page 1, place cursor before or after any text in the order.
2. Click Page Layout > Margins > Custom Margins.
3. In the Page Setup Window, change the top margin to 1 inch.
4. Select “This point forward” from the Apply to selection box.
5. Click Ok.

What does Ctrl Shift E?

Ctrl-Shift-E. Turn revision tracking on or off. Ctrl-A. Select everything in the document.

What is Ctrl E in word?

Ctrl+E. Align the text to the left. Ctrl+L. Align the text to the right. Ctrl+R.

What does Ctrl k do in word?

In Microsoft Word and other word processors, pressing Ctrl + K inserts a hyperlink at the text cursor’s current location.

Why can I not indent on word?

To fix this, click the Microsoft Office button, select Word Options . Under Proofing , click AutoCorrect Options… . Under AutoFormat As You Type tab (in the Automatically as you type section), make sure that the “Set left- and first-indent with tabs and backspaces” option is checked.

1. Context & Overview

In this post I tackle paragraph formatting which covers paragraph alignment, positioning, indentation, line spacing, paragraph spacing and hanging text. 

2. Setting the paragraph alignment in Word

The text of your paragraph may be lined up with:

To align your paragraph:

1.  Place your cursor anywhere in a paragraph.

2.  Select the Home tab, if necessary.

3.  Click one of the alignment icons in the Paragraph group.

3. How to set the indent distance in Word

To indent a paragraph:

1.  Place the cursor anywhere in the paragraph.

2.  Select the Home tab, if necessary.

3.  Click the Indent icon in the Paragraph group to increase the indent distance.

4.  Click the Outdent icon in the Paragraph group to decrease the indent distance.

Standard indents occur at 1.27cm increments (1.27cm = ½ inch), so with every click of the icon, the indent increases by 1.27cm.

You can also change the indent manually by clicking-and-dragging the indent marker (upward-pointing marker) on the ruler to a new position. 

4. How to space out the lines in a paragraph

You may also space out the lines within a paragraph. You don’t specify a measurement here, just a unit.

1.  Place the cursor anywhere in the paragraph.

2.  Select the Home tab, if necessary.

3.  Click the Line & Paragraph Spacing icon in the Paragraph group.

4.  Select a number option from the Line Spacing drop-down list.

5. How to control spacing between paragraphs

To increase the amount of space between your paragraphs:

1.  Place the cursor anywhere in the paragraph.

2.  Select the Home tab, if necessary.

3.  Click the Line & Paragraph Spcing icon in the Paragraph group

If the before or after paragraph spacing are zero, the available options are:

But if the before or after paragraph settings are not zero, the available options are:

6. How’s it hanging?

Back in the old days, a school essay would be written with the first line of each paragraph indented and the rest in line with the margin, like this …

To do this, set the first line indent:

1.  Click the little launcher symbol in the bottom-right of the Paragraph group.

2.  Choose the Indents and Spacing tab, if necessary.

3.  Locate the Indentation section:

4.  Choose First Line from the Special drop-down list.

5.  Set the size of the indent in the By box.

Sometimes you want the first line to be on the margin and all subsequent lines indented, like this …

This is called a hanging indent.

1.  Click the little launcher symbol in the bottom-right of the Paragraph group.

2.  Choose the Indents and Spacing tab, if necessary.

3.  Under the Indentation section,

4.  Choose Hanging from the Special drop-down list.

5.  Set the size of the indent in the By box.

7. Using the Paragraph Formatting dialog box

The paragraph alignment, indentation, line spacing, paragraph spacing and hanging settings can all be set from one single dialog box.

Click the little launcher symbol in the bottom-right of the Paragraph group to display the Paragraph dialog box. 

From here, all the paragraph settings can be changed in one place.

8. Key Takeaways

1. Select the text you want to adjust.

2. On the Home tab, click Line and Paragraph Spacing, and then click Line Spacing Options at the bottom of the menu.

   

   The Paragraph dialog box opens.

   

3. On the Indents and Spacing tab, select the options you want, and click OK.

   The Paragraph dialog box options are described in the following section.

Paragraph dialog box options

Choose from these options in the Paragraph dialog box. At the bottom of the dialog box, the Pre»view box shows you how the options look before you apply them.

General
Alignment	Select Left to align text to the left with a ragged right edge (or use the keyboard shortcut, + L).
	Select Centered to center text with a ragged left and right edge ( + E).
	Select Right to align text to the right with a ragged left edge ( + R).
	Select Justified to align text both left and right, adding space between words ( + J).
Outline level	Select the level at which the paragraph appears in Outline view.

Indentation
Left	Moves in the left side of the paragraph by the amount you choose.
Right	Moves in the right side of the paragraph by the amount you choose.
Special	Select First line to indent the first line of a paragraph, and then specify the size of the indent in By.
	Select Hanging to create a hanging indent, and then specify the size of the indent in By.
Automatically adjust	When you select Automatically adjust right indent when document grid is defined, the right indent is automatically adjusted for the paragraph when a document grid is defined.

Spacing
Before	Adjusts the amount of space before a paragraph.
After	Adjusts the amount of space after a paragraph.
Line spacing	Select Single to single-space text.
	Select 1.5 lines to space text one-and-one-half times that of single spacing.
	Select Double to double-space text.
	Select At least > At to set the minimum amount of spacing needed to fit the largest font or graphic on the line.
	Select Exactly > At to set fixed line spacing, expressed in points. For example, if the text is in 10-point font, you can specify 12 points as the line spacing.
	Select Multiple > At to set line spacing as a multiple expressed in numbers greater than 1. For example, setting line spacing to 1.15 will increase the space by 15 percent, and setting line spacing to 3 increases the space by 300 percent (triple spacing).
Don’t add	Select Don’t add space between paragraphs of the same style when you want to exclude some paragraphs, such as paragraphs in a bulleted list, from the spacing set by Before and After.
Snap to	Select Snap to grid when document grid is defined to more easily align text with the document grid.

Note: Click the Tabs button to precisely set tabs.

1. Select the paragraphs that you want to indent.

2. On the Format menu, click Paragraph, and then click the Indents and Spacing tab.

3. Under Indentation, do any of the following:

To insert a	Example	Do this
First-line indent		On the Special pop-up menu, click First line.
Hanging indent		On the Special pop-up menu, click Hanging.
Negative indent		In the Left or Right box, enter a negative number, and then on the Special pop-up menu, click Hanging.

Tip: To quickly indent an entire paragraph, click in the paragraph, and then on the Home tab, under Paragraph, click Increase Indent  .

In this course, we will learn the ways on how to indent paragraph in Microsoft Word. Meanwhile, this is the continuation of the previous tutorial on how to align text and their font cases, color and sizes in Microsoft Word which still part of formatting text in your documents. You can browse those guide if you having a hard time in exploring your documents.

Furthermore, we’ll learn how to indent paragraphs and available indentation we can used.

What is paragraph indent in MS Word?

Paragraph Indenting is a function that gives you the ability to move line breaks within paragraphs further away from the text’s margins. This function is located in the formatting section of the document.

What are the 4 types of indent paragraph in Word?

There are four types of indents: first line indent, hanging indent, right indent and left indent that can be applied to a paragraph.

1. First line indent

The first-line indent is the most common way to indicate the beginning of a new paragraph. In addition, the other common method is to leave space between paragraphs. Moreover, first-line indentation means indenting only the first line of a paragraph by a specified amount, leaving all other lines unaltered.

2. Hanging indent

A hanging indent, also called a second line indent, makes the first line of a paragraph stand out by putting it at the edge of the page. Each line after that is indented.

3. Right indent

The right line indent moves all the lines of a paragraph away from the right margin by a certain amount.

4. Left indent

The left indent is the space between the paragraph and the left margin. To change it, click on the rectangle at the bottom of the indentation marker and drag it to a different place. Moreover, a left-line indent moves all the lines of a paragraph away from the left margin by a certain amount.

Indent Paragraph in MS Word: Why indent paragraphs?

We need to indent paragraphs because it is often criticized as a way to format and gives readers a sense of continuity. When a reader sees an indentation, they know she’s about to start on a new topic or a new part of a book. It helps present information in a way that makes sense.

What is the default indent spacing in word?

The default indent spacing of Microsoft Word is 1.08 line spacing between lines. It gives each paragraph an extra 8 points of space after a hard return. Moreover, it is standard size which is 1/2 in inches.

Quick way to Indent Paragraphs in Word

To quickly indent paragraphs Use the Tab key to make a line break. Moreover, this will leave a 1/2-inch space before the first line. Just put the insertion point at the start of the paragraph you want to move to the side. Then hit the Tab button.

Shortcut Keys for Formatting Paragraphs

Shortcut Keys for Formatting Paragraphs	Controls
Hanging indent	CTRL+T
Increase paragraph indent	CTRL+M
Justify paragraph	CTRL+J
Left-align paragraph	CTRL+L
Indent the paragraph.	Ctrl+M
Remove a paragraph indent.	Ctrl+Shift+M
Create a hanging indent.	Ctrl+T
Remove a hanging indent.	Ctrl+Shift+T

• To increase indent of the selected paragraph, press Ctrl + M. To decrease indent, press Ctrl + Shift + M.
• A complete paragraph can be indented with the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + M and pressing the keyboard shortcut more than once will indent the paragraph further. To reverse the indent, you can also press Ctrl + Shift + M .

Summary

In summary, we’ve talked about how to indent paragraphs in Microsoft Word, as well as how to apply those indentation in a document and what those terms mean. In addition, we know the available indentation in Microsoft Word. We also know how to use shortcuts that will make our formatting documents easy.

We hope this tutorial helps you as you format your documents in MS Word.

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Asked by: Brandy Krajcik

Score: 4.7/5
(23 votes)

Go to Home and select Line and Paragraph Spacing > Line Spacing Options at the bottom of the menu. The Paragraph dialog box opens. On the Indents and Spacing tab, select the options you want, and click OK. The Paragraph dialog box options are described in Adjust indents and spacing.

Where are indent and spacing found?

From the Home tab, Paragraph group, select the dialog box launcher; Check that the Indents and Spacing tab is selected; In the Indentation section set the indent value you require.

Where is the indent setting in Word?

What are Indents and spacing?

Indents and line spacing are two important features you can use to change the way text appears on a slide. Indents can be used to create multilevel lists or to visually set paragraphs apart from one another. Line spacing can be adjusted to improve readability or to fit more lines on a slide.

What is indent in Microsoft Word?

Indenting text adds structure to your document by allowing you to separate information. Whether you’d like to move a single line or an entire paragraph, you can use the tab selector and the horizontal ruler to set tabs and indents. … Watch the video below to learn more about how to use indents and tabs in Word.

29 related questions found

The Tab Key

One simple way to indent text is to place the cursor at the start of a paragraph and hit the tab key on your keyboard. In Microsoft Word, this adds a 0.5” (1.27cm) indent at the left margin. It also automatically formats the text so that subsequent paragraphs have a first-line indent.

If all you want to do is begin each paragraph with a half-inch indent, this is fine. But for more control over text indentation in your document, read on.

How to Indent Text

You can find the basic indentation options in Microsoft Word on the main ribbon. This includes the Paragraph section of the Home tab, where you will find Increase Indent and Decrease Indent buttons.

The Increase Indent button adds a 0.5” (1.27cm) indent at the left margin for the entire paragraph (not just the first line). The Decrease Indent button, meanwhile, does the exact opposite.

Alternatively, go to Layout > Paragraph on the ribbon and adjust the values in the left and right indent boxes as required. This has the added bonus of letting you indent text by a custom amount.

Special Indentations

For even more control over the indentation in your document, you can open the main Paragraph menu. This can be accessed by going to Home > Paragraph, clicking the Line and Paragraph Spacing button, and then selecting Line Spacing Options… from the dropdown menu.

In the new window, you will find an Indentation section. The left and right indent options here work the same as in the Layout tab on the ribbon.

The other settings here can be used to add special indentations to your document. These include:

• First line – This option indents the first line of each paragraph to a custom value. Typically, this type of indent would be used as an alternative to paragraph spacing.
• Hanging – This will indent each line after the first in a paragraph. The most common use for this is to add a hanging indent in a reference list (e.g., as required in APA referencing).
• Mirror indents – Clicking this will change the left and right indent options to say Inside and Outside This will mean that indents are “mirrored” on odd and even pages, which helps ensure consistent formatting when printing something in a book format.

To use these options, simply select the text you want to format with the cursor, open the paragraph menu, choose the type and size of indent you want to apply, and click OK to change the indentation for the selected text.

Microsoft Word is a graphical word processing program used to create text-based documents. It’s included in all of the Microsoft Office application suites and is one of the most widely-used word processors.

The importance of indenting

When creating a body of text in a Word document, indenting the first line adds structure and is the most common way to signal the start of a new paragraph or topic. 

Block paragraphs are the default in Word, meaning that each line within a paragraph is aligned with the left margin, and the paragraphs only visually separated by line spaces. As a general rule, block paragraphs are more common when writing for an online platform, and indented paragraphs are more common in print publishing and academic research. 
The images featured in this article are from Microsoft 365 (formerly Office 365), which is the same as Word 2019. The steps are the same for Word 2016, Word 2013, and Word 2010.

Aside from indenting the first line, it’s also possible to indent every line except for the first line, known as a hanging indent or second line indent. Hanging indents are typically used in bibliography or reference sections. 

6 ways to indent in Microsoft Word

There are multiple ways to indent in Microsoft Word depending on the style of document you’re creating and your preferences. But first, ensure the Ruler feature is displayed. This allows you to better position and customize your text spacing. To display the Ruler:

1. Click the View tab 
2. Click the checkbox next to Ruler in the left hand corner