Microsoft KB Archive/149944

= WD: How to Create an F4/F7 Hanging Indent Paragraph in Word =

Article ID: 149944

Article Last Modified on 8/17/2005

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APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Word 6.0 for Macintosh
 * Microsoft Word 6.01 for Macintosh
 * Microsoft Word 6.01 for Macintosh
 * Microsoft Word 95 Standard Edition
 * Microsoft Word 95a
 * Microsoft Word 6.0 Standard Edition
 * Microsoft Word 6.0 Standard Edition
 * Microsoft Word 6.0a
 * Microsoft Word 6.0c
 * Microsoft Word 98 for Macintosh

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This article was previously published under Q149944





SUMMARY
This article describes how to create a hanging indent (often described as an "F4 indent" or "F7 indent" by WordPerfect users). A hanging indent is a paragraph that has a little text at the left, and the rest of the paragraph is indented, as in the following example:  1.  text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text

Education:  text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text In Microsoft Word 6.x and 7.x, Help for WordPerfect Users indicates that you cannot indent a single line of a paragraph in Microsoft Word, and that a hanging indent is created by pressing CTRL+M (Windows) or COMMAND+M (Macintosh). This is incorrect.

Actually, you can create a hanging indent by pressing CTRL+T (Windows) or COMMAND+T (Macintosh).

The "More Information" section below includes the following parts:
 * Apply This Formatting Now
 * Customizing a Hanging Indent
 * Tips
 * Formatting Methods to Avoid



Apply This Formatting Now
If you have already applied paragraph formatting to your text, remove it by selecting the paragraphs and pressing CTRL+Q (Windows) or OPTION+COMMAND+Q (Macintosh). Then use any of the following methods:
 * If you want numbers to appear at the left of your text, use the automatic numbering feature in Word. Select the text and click the Numbering button on the Formatting toolbar. If you already had numbers applied to some or all of your text, Word may remove them. Click the Numbering button again to make the numbers come back.
 * If you want bullets to appear at the beginning of each paragraph, use the same method as above, but click the Bullets button instead.
 * If you have different text that you want to use along the left margin, select all the paragraphs, and press CTRL+T (Windows) or COMMAND+T (Macintosh). Then press the TAB key after the left-most text at the beginning of each line. This method is described in greater detail below.

Customizing a Hanging Indent
If the default settings aren't in the right place for your document, you can customize where the bulk of the text lines up. You can do this with the mouse and the ruler, or with the Format menus.

With the Mouse and Ruler:
 * 1) In a sample paragraph, press CTRL+Q (Windows) or OPTION+COMMAND+Q (Macintosh).
 * 2) Move the mouse to the ruler. Drag the bottom triangle and square to where you want the text to line up.
 * 3) Between the text at the left and the rest of the paragraph, press the TAB key.

With the Format Menus:
 * 1) On the Format menu, click Paragraph.
 * 2) Select the Indents and Spacing tab.
 * 3) In the Special box (under Indentation), click Hanging. In the By box, type the amount you want the text to move from the left margin and then click OK.
 * 4) Move the insertion point between the text on the left, and press the TAB key.

Tips

 * If the paragraph already has custom tabs, when you press CTRL+T, the second and subsequent lines move to the first tab stop.
 * If you indent too many times and want to go back one tab stop, press CTRL+SHIFT+T (Windows) or COMMAND+SHIFT+T (Macintosh).

Formatting Methods to Avoid

 * Do not use spaces to line up text. Using multiple spaces causes text to wrap at odd points.
 * If you have more than one line of text that you want to appear at the left, don't use a hanging indent. A hanging indent only allows one line to appear by itself on the left. A table is better suited for this task; to create a table, click Insert Table on the Table menu.

Example of a Table
  Educational         text text text text text text text text text text Background         text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text

Additional query words: tab indentation indent rest beneath line up wp word perfect displaywrite display write control align alignment sentence numeric number bullet list portion

Keywords: kbhowto kbhelp kbformat kb3rdparty KB149944

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