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: Arranging Paragraphs.

Arranging Paragraphs

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated December 20, 2022)
This tip applies to Word 2007, 2010, 2013, and 2016

Sometimes you want to move a paragraph or two around in your document. For instance, you might want to move a paragraph from its current location to before the preceding paragraph. You can quickly move paragraphs by following these steps:

Position the insertion point in the paragraph you want to move.
While holding down the Shift and Alt keys, press the Up Arrow or Down Arrow to move the paragraph.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (10625) 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: Arranging Paragraphs.

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. Learn more about Allen...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Turning Off Line Numbering

Need to have line numbering turned off for a paragraph or two? You can accomplish the task by following these steps.

Discover More

Specifying the Default Printer

Windows allows you to define many printers that can be used with your system. Chances are good that one of those printers ...

Discover More

Repeating In a Macro

Macros are often used to process information stored in documents. Usually the processing involves some sort of iterative ...

Discover More

Comprehensive VBA Guide Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) is the language used for writing macros in all Office programs. This complete guide shows both professionals and novices how to master VBA in order to customize the entire Office suite for their needs. Check out Mastering VBA for Office 2010 today!

More WordTips (ribbon)

Overcoming Automatic Word Selection

When you select text with the mouse, Word usually selects entire words for you. If you don't want to do this, you can use ...

Discover More

Turning Off Automatic Capitalization in Lists

By default, Word capitalizes letters that it thinks designate the beginning of a sentence. This includes at the beginning ...

Discover More

Jumping to a Specific Page

Want to jump to a particular page in your document? Word makes it easy; just pull up the Go To tab of the Find and ...

Discover More

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.

Notify me about new comments ONLY FOR THIS TIP

Notify me about new comments ANYWHERE ON THIS SITE

Hide my email address

What is nine more than 7?

2022-12-20 12:03:29

Beej

I'll bet any subscriber to this site already knows this, but just in case: this also works with table rows. Select the row(s) to move and then use Alt+Shift+ arrow key to move the row(s) up or down.

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.