If you want to apply either type of indent to your entire document, you’ll need to make sure that all text is selected first. Hanging indentation, in contrast, will indent everything except the first line. As we’ve seen above, a first-line indentation will indent the first line of each paragraph. There are two types of text indentation available. You can change the indentation for existing documents using a similar process to the above methods, although there are some variations, depending on the type of indentation you’re looking to use. Changing Indentation for an Entire Document If you wish to indent the right-hand side of the paragraph as well, repeat the process with the Indent Right box. You can also type a value (in centimeters) in the Left box itself until you achieve the size you desire. In the Layout tab on the ribbon bar, click the Indent Left upwards arrow, within the Paragraph section.Ĭontinue to click the up arrow to increase the depth of the indent on.

To do so, select the paragraph you want to indent. If you want to indent the whole paragraph, this is also possible in Word. With this saved, every new document you create will use the first-line indentation by default. In the Indentation section, select the First line option from the Special drop-down menu.Ĭlick OK to confirm, then press the New documents based on this template option.Ĭlick OK to save the option. You may need to click on the Styles button to find this if you can’t see it already.Īfter right-clicking Normal, click on the Modify option. In the Home tab of the ribbon bar, right-click on the Normal style. To do this, place the blinking cursor anywhere in a paragraph that has the formatting you want in place (e.g. If you want to use the same first line indentation for every document, you can set this as the default formatting option for your Microsoft Word documents. Setting First Line Indentation as the Default in Word This will apply to every new paragraph you create.

How to make a first line indent in word