Indent the Second Line of a Paragraph in a Microsoft Word Document
by Avantix Learning Team | Updated May 19, 2023
Applies to: Microsoft® Word® 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021 and 365 (Windows)
You can indent the second line of a paragraph in Microsoft Word using the Ruler, the Paragraph dialog box or a keyboard shortcut. You can indent or outdent the second line of a paragraph.
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Word users may want to indent the second line of a paragraph for nested paragraphs, bulleted and numbered paragraphs, citations and bibliographies.
A paragraph in Word is anything with a hard return after it (you have pressed Enter or Return). If you want to change indents in a multi-line paragraph, there should not be hard returns at the end of each line of text.
To view hard returns or paragraph marks and other non-printing characters in Microsoft Word:
- Click the Home tab in the Ribbon.
- Click Show/Hide ¶ in the Paragraph group. Paragraph marks, tabs, spacing and manual page breaks will display but will not print.
Indent the second line of a paragraph using the Ruler
A common way to indent is to use the Ruler. If the Ruler is not displayed at the top of the document, click the View tab in the Ribbon and select the Ruler checkbox. It's best to display the Ruler for all Word documents.
To indent the second line of a paragraph using the Ruler:
- Select the paragraph(s) you want to indent. If you are indenting one paragraph, click in it.
- On the Ruler, drag the bottom triangle marker to the position where you want the second line and all subsequent lines in the selected paragraph(s) to start (the box below will move with it).
- If necessary, on the Ruler, drag the First Line Indent marker (top triangle marker) to the position where you want the first line of text in the selected paragraph(s) to start.
- If you want the triangle markers to move at the same time, drag the box below the bottom marker. If the top and bottom markers are at the same location, this is called a nested indent.
In the following example, the second line of a paragraph is indented at the location of the bottom triangle:
Indent the second line of a paragraph using the Paragraph dialog box
To indent the second line of a paragraph using the Paragraph dialog box:
- Select the paragraph(s) you want to indent. If you are indenting one paragraph, click in it.
- Click the Home tab in the Ribbon.
- Click the dialog box launcher on the bottom right of the Paragraph group. The Paragraph dialog box appears. You can also right-click in a selected paragraph and select Paragraph from the drop-down menu.
- Enter the desired amount for the left indent (which will affect all lines in the paragraph except the first one (enter in inches or centimeters depending on your measurement system units).
- If necessary, under Special, select Hanging or First Line from the drop-down menu and then in the By box, enter the desired amount for the hanging indent.
- Click OK.
In the following example, an indent has been entered for Left (which affects the second line and all following lines) under Indentation in the Paragraph dialog box (in this case, entered in inches):
Indent the first and second lines of a paragraph using a keyboard shortcut
You can press Ctrl + T to indent a paragraph. This shortcut will move the second line and all lines below to the next tab stop. If there are no user-defined tab stops in the paragraph, Word indents to the first default tab stop. If you keep pressing Ctrl + T, Word will keep indenting by tab stop to the right.
Press Ctrl + Shift + T to decrease or remove the indent (move to the left).
If you click at the beginning of a paragraph and press Tab, Word will indent the first line to the first user-defined tab stop or the first default tab stop.
Indent a paragraph using bullets, numbering or styles
When you apply bullets or numbering (typically using the Bullets or Numbering commands on the Home tab in the Ribbon), Word changes the indents of the first and following lines in a paragraph or paragraphs automatically.
You can also apply, modify or create styles that set indents at different locations. This strategy works well in long documents.
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