Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021. If you are using an earlier version (Word 2003 or earlier), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for earlier versions of Word, click here: Paragraph Formatting Shortcuts.

Paragraph Formatting Shortcuts

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated April 17, 2021)
This tip applies to Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021


Many people find it easier to use keyboard commands than to constantly stop and use the mouse. Word accommodates these people by providing several shortcuts you can use to format paragraphs. The following table lists several keyboard shortcuts you can use for your paragraph formatting:

Shortcut Meaning
Ctrl+1 Single-spaced paragraph
Ctrl+5 1 1/2-line paragraph spacing
Ctrl+2 Double-spaced paragraph
Ctrl+L Left-aligned paragraph
Ctrl+E Centered paragraph
Ctrl+R Right-aligned paragraph
Ctrl+J Justified paragraph
Ctrl+0 Add or remove one line of space before the paragraph
Ctrl+M Increase indent one tab stop
Shift+Ctrl+M Decrease indent one tab stop
Ctrl+T Increase hanging indent by one tab stop
Shift+Ctrl+T Decrease hanging indent by one tab stop

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (5953) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Word here: Paragraph Formatting Shortcuts.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. ...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Rounding Time

Need to round the time in a cell to a certain value? There are a couple of ways you can do this with a formula.

Discover More

Automatically Inserting Tomorrow's Date

Do you routinely need to work with tomorrow's date? Why not create a template that automatically adds tomorrow's date to ...

Discover More

Updating Many Template References

Documents rely on templates. If you change the location of those templates (on purpose or by accident), Word can take a ...

Discover More

Learning Made Easy! Quickly teach yourself how to format, publish, and share your content using Word 2021 or Microsoft 365. With Step by Step, you set the pace, building and practicing the skills you need, just when you need them! Check out Microsoft Word Step by Step today!

More WordTips (ribbon)

Spacing Before and After Lists

When formatting a document that uses lists, you may want to adjust the space that appears just before and just after the ...

Discover More

Understanding Justification

Paragraphs can be aligned in four different ways. This tip examines those alignment methods.

Discover More

Understanding At Least Line Spacing

Line spacing is used to control how close lines are to each other within a paragraph. Word allows you to specify several ...

Discover More
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

View most recent newsletter.

Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] (all 7 characters, in the sequence shown) in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

What is 6 + 9?

There are currently no comments for this tip. (Be the first to leave your comment—just use the simple form above!)


This Site

Got a version of Word that uses the ribbon interface (Word 2007 or later)? This site is for you! If you use an earlier version of Word, visit our WordTips site focusing on the menu interface.

Videos
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)

View the most recent newsletter.