Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated August 20, 2022)
This tip applies to Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003
"Hanging indent" is the typographical term for a paragraph in which the first line is not indented, but subsequent lines in the paragraph are. Typically, hanging indents are used for numbered and bulleted lists. To create a hanging indent in Word, use the following steps:
Figure 1. The Paragraph dialog box.
Of course, Word provides shortcuts to create the most common application of hanging indents—numbered and bulleted lists. To apply these, you can simply use the appropriate Numbering or Bullets tools on the Formatting toolbar.
WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (267) applies to Microsoft Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. You can find a version of this tip for the ribbon interface of Word (Word 2007 and later) here: Creating a Hanging Indent.
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Need to indent an entire paragraph from the left margin? It's easy to do using the tool described in this tip.
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