Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, and 2016. 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: Indenting a Paragraph.

Indenting a Paragraph

by Allen Wyatt
(last updated April 2, 2013)

1

If you want to quickly indent a paragraph from the left margin, you can do so by any of these means:

  • Display the Home tab of the ribbon and click the Increase Indent tool in the Paragraph group. This moves the left margin to the position of the next tab stop.
  • Press Ctrl+M. Each time you press it, the left margin is moved to the position of the next tab stop.
  • Use the mouse to drag the indent markers on the Ruler. Release the mouse button where you want the paragraph indented.
  • Use the Paragraph dialog box by displaying the Home tab of the ribbon and clicking the small icon at the lower-right corner of the Paragraph group; make sure the Indents and Spacing tab is selected. You can then precisely set the indent in the Left field.

This final method of setting the indent is the most precise, and is also a great way to precisely indent a paragraph from the right margin. If you want to do this, simply enter the desired indent in the Right field. You can double-indent a paragraph by entering values in both the Left and Right fields.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (7874) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, 2013, and 2016. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Word here: Indenting a Paragraph.

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

Improper Index References

When indexing a document, you may get some funny results once in a while. If you get single index entries when you were ...

Discover More

Printing Comments

Comments are a great way to share, well, comments with other people looking through your documents. If you want to print ...

Discover More

Freezing Top Rows and Bottom Rows

Freezing the top rows in a worksheet so that they are always visible is easy to do. Freezing the bottom rows is not so ...

Discover More

Create Custom Apps with VBA! Discover how to extend the capabilities of Office 2013 (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Access) with VBA programming, using it for writing macros, automating Office applications, and creating custom applications. Check out Mastering VBA for Office 2013 today!

More WordTips (ribbon)

Understanding Justification

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

Discover More

Quickly Adjusting Paragraph Spacing

Need to easily adjust the vertical spacing that follows a paragraph? You can do it using dialog boxes or you can create ...

Discover More

Eliminating "Before Spacing" at the Top of a Page

When formatting paragraphs in Word, you have several options to adjust the spacing before, within, and at the end of each ...

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.

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

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}] 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 five less than 7?

2016-06-19 04:59:04

Shishpal Singh

Respected Allen

Thanks for the valuable Word Tips.

Best Regards

Shishpal Singh

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.

Newest Tips
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.

Links and Sharing
OUR COMPANY
OUR PRODUCTS
OUR AUTHORS
OUR SITES
 

Copyright © 2018 Sharon Parq Associates, Inc.