What to Know
- Go to Home, select the Paragraph dialog box launcher. Go to Indents and Spacing, select the Special drop-down box, choose Hanging.
- Or, go to the View tab, select Ruler, highlight the paragraph, then move the bottom slider on the ruler.
- Apply to a style: Select the indented text. In the Styles group, right-click Normal and select Modify to create a custom hanging indent.
This article explains three ways to set up a hanging indent in Word. Instructions apply to Word for Microsoft 365, Word 2019, Word 2016, and Word 2013.
How to Set up a Hanging Indent
Here are the basic steps for setting up a hanging indent.
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Open the document, select the paragraph you want to format as a hanging indent, then go to the Home tab.
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In the Paragraph group, select the dialog box launcher.
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In the Paragraph dialog box, select the Indents and Spacing tab.
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In the Indentation section, select the Special drop-down arrow and choose Hanging.
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In the By text box, enter a positive value using quarter-inch increments.
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The Preview section at the bottom of the dialog box shows how the text will look.
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Select OK.
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The paragraph you selected has a hanging indent.
Place the cursor at the end of the paragraph and press Enter to create a new paragraph with a hanging indent.
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Alternatively, you can set a hanging indent using the ruler (located under the Ribbon). If you don't see it, go to the View tab.
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In the Show group, select Ruler.
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Select the paragraph that will have the hanging indent. Move the bottom (up-arrow) slider on the ruler to shift the text in the second row and below.
Use a Hanging Indent for References, Works Cited, or Bibliography List
Indenting all but the first line of a paragraph is a common style for bibliographical references and other citations. Here's how to create it.
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Highlight one or more entries that you want to have a hanging indent.
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Right-click the highlighted text, then select Paragraph.
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In the Paragraph dialog box, go to the Indentation section, select the Special drop-down arrow, then choose Hanging.
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In the By text box, enter a positive number in quarter-inch increments.
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Select OK.
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The entries you selected reflect the hanging indentation.
Apply a Hanging Indent to a Style
A style is a collection of formatting properties, such as bold, italics, double spacing, color, and size. You can add a hanging indent to a style, which you can later use instead of going through the process above each time you want to create a hanging indent. Here's how to do it:
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Open the document, then go to the Ribbon and select Home.
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In the Styles group, right-click the Normal style.
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From the menu, choose Modify.
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In the Modify Style dialog box, go to the Name text box and enter a new name for the style.
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Select the Format drop-down arrow and choose Paragraph.
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In the Paragraph dialog box, select the Special drop-down arrow and choose Hanging. Then, set the distance for the indentation.
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Select OK in each open dialog box to save your changes and close the dialog boxes.
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The hanging indent is applied to all text that uses the selected style.