Word start of line

• The First Line Indent indicates the first line of the paragraph.

  Instead of using the first-line indents, a
  space between paragraphs
  or even an empty line is often used. In modern word-processing, it is not
  recommended to use the first-line indents and the
  spaces between paragraphs in the same document.

  Notes:

  • The first-line indent in the first paragraph of any text
    is optional, since it is obvious where the paragraph begins.
    However, the
    Drop caps
    may apply for such paragraphs.
  • Do not use spaces or tabs to indent the first line — when you
    change the style of different paragraphs, it will be difficult
    to reconcile them.

  

• Professionally printed material in English typically does not indent the first
  paragraph, but indents those that follow. So, a negative indent or
  hanging indent is used, as an indent that indents all text except the
  first line:

  

  The hanging indents used in Bibliographies, References pages, and
  sometimes in scripts, dictionary entries, and footnotes.

• Another common modern English style is the lack of indentation, and the addition
  of vertical white space to create «block paragraphs»:

  

  The block paragraphs commonly used for block quotations.

Customize the paragraph format

   1.   Click the paragraph you want to format or select
multiple paragraphs.

   2.   Do one of the following:

• On the Home tab, in the Paragraph group, click the dialog box
  launcher:

  

• Choose Paragraph… from the shortcut menu (right-click or press
  Shift+F10), to display the Paragraph dialog box:

  

   3.   In the Paragraph dialog box, choose or
type the appropriate values for Left, Right or Special
(First line or Hanging) indents:

Use the ruler

To do so, click in the paragraph you want to format or select multiple paragraphs, and
then drag the First Line Indent marker left or right to the desired location.

Use shortcuts

You can press Ctrl+T to create a hanging indent that aligns body text with the
first tab marker. (By default, tabs are set every 0.5 inch.)

You can press Ctrl+Shift+T to «unhang» an indent, regardless of how the hanging
indent was created.

Press Ctrl+Shift+M to decrease a paragraph’s indent by one tab stop. By default,
tab stops are set every 0.5 inch.

Press Ctrl+M to increase a paragraph’s indent by one tab stop. By default, tab
stops are set every 0.5 inch.

You can instantly add a full line space before a paragraph by selecting the paragraph(s)
you want to format and pressing Ctrl+0 (zero). If you select multiple paragraphs,
pressing Ctrl+0 adds a blank line space before each paragraph in the selection.

See also this tip in French:
Comment créer un retrait négatif de première ligne.

This is a quick reference round-up how to and how not to covering how to stat a new line, how to start a new paragraph, how to start a new page and how to indent a paragraph in Word for Windows.

I have covered all of these in detail in various longer articles which I’ll link to as we go along.

Why all the fuss? Why can’t I do it my way?

If you are formatting a document to be used by someone else, edited and changed or, especially, printed, it’s vital that you use the standard ways to lay out your document to prevent it getting into a mess or someone else having to reformat it (which could be expensive if you’re paying them). In addition, certain methods, especially using Enter to start a new line, can make your document messy as soon as you enter extra text before that line break (see the relevant article for details and examples).

How to start a new line in Word

Don’t use the space bar to move the cursor along until it finally gets to the next line

Do use a soft line return or a hard paragraph return:

• Pressing the shift key and enter key at the same time at the end of your line will move the cursor to the next line without any paragraph breaks, spaces between the lines, etc. (this is very useful if you’re creating two-line captions)
• Pressing the enter key at the end of your line will move the cursor to the start of the new line (this will give you a space between the two lines if you have your paragraphs set up like that

How to start a new paragraph in Word

Don’t use the space bar to move the cursor to a new line, then create a new line of spaces

Do use a hard paragraph return: hit the Enter key on your keyboard

How to put a space between paragraphs in Word

Don’t use the Enter key to add a line of white space

Do use the Line Space icon in your Home tab or the Paragraph menu to add a space after each paragraph

How to indent a paragraph in Word

Really don’t use the space key to line up the paragraphs

Don’t use the Tab key to indent the paragraph

Do either highlight the whole text and set the rulers at the top of the page OR set the Normal style to have an indent at the start of a paragraph

How to start a new page in Word

Don’t use the Enter key to move the cursor down to the next page

Do use the Enter and Control keys at the same time to force a page break

This article has summarised how to start a new line, paragraph and page and indent a paragraph correctly in Word.

Related articles in this blog

Line space icon

Paragraph menu

Indenting paragraphs

Page breaks

What is a first-line indent?

The first-line indent is as it sounds; the first line of a paragraph is slightly indented in comparison to the remainder of the text in the paragraph.

Adding the first-line indent makes it easy for your reader to identify where a new paragraph or topic starts. They are not ‘required’ but are commonly used in Microsoft Word Documents to provide readers with a user-friendly layout.

There are two ways to insert the first-line indent, manually, by pressing ‘Tab’. Using the Tab button to insert an indent will move your text to the right by 1/2 and inch.

If you are looking to customise or change the size of your first-line indent, continue reading the steps below.

Adding or Changing the first-line indent in Word

1. Open Word
2. Place your cursor where you would like the insert or edit the first-line indent
3. Right Click
4. Click Paragraph

1. Select First Line under ‘Special’

1. Customise the indentation you would like on the first line

1. Press OK

You have now successfully inserted and customised the first line indent in your Microsoft Word Document.

Need a simple solution to your collaboration problems?

Collaborating together in a Microsoft Word document is something most of us will do during our working careers. Some more than others, some may even collaborate daily, which is why collaborating with ease is so important.

When it’s your turn to review and edit a shared Word Document you usually received an email in your inbox ‘for your review’, you open the email, click the attachment and a Word Document pops up.

You start reading the text, making some edits, add a few comments and then press save.

Where do you save the document? Does this live deep in your company shared drive somewhere, under Client>2020>reports>Q3Report>Draft>Final? Your guess is as good as anyone else’s, so you save it here hoping that’s the right spot and move on.

Without realising it you have accidentally saved your find in the wrong spot, making it near impossible to source later. You also forgot to turn on tracked changes when you made your edits (don’t worry, you’re not alone, most of us do this monthly). With no tracked changes, there is no way of knowing what edits you made, to then re-do them or highlight them for your manager. So you are forced to start all over again.

It’s painful and time-consuming and happens to the majority of people collaborating in Word.

Luckily, there are some new purpose built tools on the market that were built with seamless collaboration in mind. Tools such as Simul Docs.

Simul Docs was built to ensure you never forget to turn on tracked changes again, in fact, Simul will track your changes automatically. Open a document, start making changes and Simul will begin tracking them. It sounds simple, and it is, but it is something that makes a huge difference when collaborating in Word.

Not sure where to save your document?

Simul has you covered.

Simul will keep track of every, single version your team creates. If the document is opened and a change made, Simul will automatically save this as a new version. Because, if there are new edits or changes you probably don’t want to miss them.

Automatically saving new versions is one thing, but Simul thought they would take it one step further, just to make sure you never have to stress about where your files are again. Simul manages version control on your behalf. When a new version is created, Simul will save it and give it a new version number such as 0.0.2 or 0.0.3, depending on how many versions of the document currently exist.

As your team continues collaborating, Simul will continue saving and managing your version control. Keeping track of every change and every file, while storing them neatly in a Versions List for you to review at any time.

If you want to pull a document out of Simul and save it or forward it on in an email, no worries, you can do that directly from Simul as well.

Simul allows you to access your documents from anywhere, anytime. without the need for shared drive or server access. If you have an internet connection (or not, because Simul is happy for you to work offline too), you can access all of your files.

Is there honestly anything Simul Docs can’t do?

We haven’t found it yet.