How to add paragraph indentation and create your own style in Word. How to indent paragraphs in Word

When a document is structured and has a good overall presentation, it is easy for the reader to navigate the text, which makes reading easier. When a document is pleasant to read, it means that the text is well formatted. There are quite a lot of formatting elements in Word, but in this article the only one that will be touched upon is the paragraph. It is also called the red line, which will be done periodically in this text.

Unfortunately, few people know how paragraphs are made in Word, or they know, but they still do it incorrectly. The article will discuss all three methods: using the ruler, tabulation and the "Paragraph" menu. They perform the same role, but the approach to each of them is different. Therefore, read the article to the end to choose a method for yourself.

Paragraph using a ruler

As mentioned above, paragraphs in Word can be made in three ways. Now we will consider the first of them - using a ruler. This method is quite easy to use, but it is still not popular enough. Most likely, this is due to its inaccuracy - the length of the paragraph is determined by eye, but if this is not important to you, then you can safely use it.

So, first you need to figure out where that ruler is. The fact is that sometimes it is removed by default and needs to be enabled. To do this, follow three simple steps:

Go to the "View" tab in the program.
Find the area called "Show".
Place a checkmark next to the "Ruler" line.

If you use Word 2003, then you need to click “View” and select “Ruler” from the list.

Defining sliders on a ruler

So, how to turn on the ruler has now become clear, but few people know how to use it. In order to correctly make paragraphs in Word, you should define each slider on it in detail.

As you might guess, you need to use the ruler, which is located on top. There are only 4 sliders on it - 1 on the left, 3 on the right. We are interested in those sliders that are located on the right side. They can be seen in the picture below.

Let's start from the bottom. The slider in the form of a small rectangle affects the indentation of all text from the left edge. It is recommended to check it yourself right now by moving it left or right. Just remember to select all the text or the necessary part of the text.

The middle slider is responsible for the protrusion. This means that if you move it to the right, all but the first lines in the paragraph will be shifted. You can also check this yourself.

Making a paragraph using a ruler

And now we have reached the top slider. That's exactly what we need. By moving it, you will indent the first line of the paragraph - determine the size of the red line. You can move the paragraph either to the right or to the left, depending on your preference.

As mentioned above, this method does not allow you to accurately determine the red line. Using a ruler, you can only roughly set the indentation. But for clarity, divisions are marked on it. Each number equals one centimeter.

Paragraph using tabs

We have already looked at the first method of making paragraphs in Word, now we move on to the next one - tabulation.

This method, like the previous one, does not provide 100% accuracy and is inferior in many respects to rulers, but it cannot be ignored. With its help, you can instantly indent from the left edge, thereby indicating a red line. Well, now let's get down to business.

Tabulation is carried out by pressing the corresponding key - TAB. You can click it and see for yourself. Roughly speaking, when pressed, one large space is placed. But if such a space is placed before the first line of a paragraph, then visually it will look like a red line.

As for the disadvantages of this method, it is the only one, but quite decisive. If the text you typed is quite voluminous, then you won’t be able to make a red line in every paragraph at once. You will have to methodically do this in each of them. Therefore, it is easier to use the ruler or the “Paragraph” menu, which we will talk about now.

Paragraph using the Paragraph menu

Now we will do the 2007 version, but this does not mean that this method will not work for other versions, there may only be some differences.

So, first we need to get into the “Paragraph” menu itself. This can be done in several ways by clicking the corresponding icon, the location of which you can see in the picture below.

Or by right-clicking on the text and selecting “Paragraph” from the menu.

In the "Paragraph" menu, on the first tab, there is a field called "Indentation", which is exactly what you need. Notice the drop-down list with "first line:" above it. Clicking on it will show the options: "(none)", "indent" and "overhang". When you select no, nothing will happen, a protrusion will shift all lines except the first in the paragraph, but an indent will shift the first line, which is what we need. Select it and enter your value in the field on the right. This way you can accurately set the parameters of the red line.

Changing the spacing between paragraphs

The spacing between paragraphs in Word is done in the same “Paragraph” menu, so don’t rush to leave it. Pay attention to the "Interval" field, or more precisely, to its left side. There are two counters: "Before" and "After". By specifying values, you will determine the amount of space between paragraphs.

By the way, all of the above methods create 100% paragraphs in Word 2010. The spacing between paragraphs is set in exactly the same way.

Creating a paragraph indent, for all its simplicity and prosaicness, often raises many questions. They concern how to indent paragraphs, how to eliminate design errors, and what traditions need to be followed for different purposes.

Why do you need paragraph indentation?

A red line, or paragraph indentation, greatly facilitates the perception of text, as it visually separates one paragraph from another, structuring the printed page and emphasizing the logical composition of the text.

In paper publications, paragraphs are distinguished by the fact that the beginning of each of them is moved several characters either to the right (in regular texts) or to the left (in presentation texts, booklets, or if the design idea requires it).

On browser pages (in Internet texts), paragraphs do not contain indentations, but are separated from each other by an additional line (or increased spacing).

These two design options should not be confused. When laying out a paper publication, you should use paragraph indents and not separate fragments of text with increased spacing, and when preparing text for publication on the Internet, it is better to use a blank line or increased spacing - it is in this form that both paper and online text will be convenient for reading.

Create a red line using the Paragraph dialog box

Paragraph indentation in Word can be created in several ways.

Select the text (the “Select All” tool or Alt and A(F)) and call the “Paragraph” dialog box: the “Page Layout” tab, click on the dialog box call button (the small icon to the right of the word “Paragraph” - a triangle inscribed squared). In the window that appears, select the “Indents and Spacing” tab, find the “Indentation” option and in the “Indents” group set the “First Line” parameter. The Paragraph dialog box can also be accessed from the Home tab, Paragraph group.

Creating a red line using a ruler

Select the text and adjust the indentation using the slider on the ruler. There are two sliders on the right - upper and lower. The bottom one is for aligning regular lines, the top one is for aligning red lines. As you move the top slider, the paragraph indents will change.

Erroneous formatting using spaces

Editors and proofreaders of book publishing houses, as well as university teachers, very often have to deal with errors in the design of paragraph indents in manuscripts.

The most common of them is paragraph indents created using spaces. For some reason, many people prefer to align text, headings, and verses using spaces. Often there are even empty lines and text moving to the next line using this sign. Of course, this makes the work of creating the text time-consuming and the text unruly. When formatting and layout, lines “go”, paragraph indents may turn out to be of unequal length, etc. Layout of such text is very problematic: first you need to get rid of numerous spaces. As for the design of student qualifying papers, unfortunately, the use of spaces damages the student’s reputation, since he looks very “dense” and inept.

Inappropriate formatting using tabs

The second mistake is the inappropriate use of the Tab key. Not only does the text contain unnecessary characters that interfere with the final processing and preparation of the text for printing, they significantly complicate the work on creating the text, obliging the author to endlessly press the key. In addition, the design of paragraph indents using tabulation entails errors: firstly, according to statistics, the author regularly forgets to press a key when starting a new paragraph, and secondly, errors appear when the author decides to break an existing paragraph into two or more.

It is better to use tabulation only when formatting such fragments of text that differ from the main block: these can be poems, statements of rules, laws, conclusions, etc. It is quite advisable to format each such fragment using the paragraph indentation created by tabulation.

How to quickly fix errors

If paragraph indentations in the text are already incorrectly formatted, the text is full of unnecessary non-printable characters, they must be eliminated before preparing the text for printing. You can check your text for such errors using the “Show all characters” tool (Home tab, Paragraph group).

You can eliminate unnecessary characters using the Replace tool (Home tab, Editing group). In the "Find" field, enter two spaces, and in the "Replace" field, enter one space. Click the Replace All button. All double spaces will be replaced with single spaces. Click “Replace All” until the post-replacement report shows “Number of replacements made - 0.”

If the number of spaces before each first line was odd, then you will need to remove the single remaining space. In the "Find" field, insert a paragraph mark ("More" - "Special" - "Paragraph Mark") and a space, and in the "Replace" field - only a paragraph mark. The Replace All command will eliminate spaces after paragraphs.

In a similar way, you can remove tabs and many bizarre combinations of unnecessary characters (for example, sometimes, especially when working on a text for a long time and returning to it multiple times, spaces are duplicated by tabs).

After cleaning the file from such errors, you can correctly format paragraph indents.

This article will talk about setting up paragraphs. If you need to format documents correctly and beautifully, you cannot do without knowing how paragraphs are set up. The basic ways to format paragraphs will be described here.

Paragraph Format

A paragraph is a structural component of the text, usually connected logically and highlighted graphically, for example, in the form of indents. When you type text, pressing the Enter key each time creates a new paragraph. Setting the paragraph appearance determines its format, which is responsible for placing text on the page.

Setting up (formatting) a paragraph implies:

distance to the right or left of the paragraph;
paragraph line spacing;
aligning paragraph lines relative to the left and right margins;
indentation or indentation of the first line of a paragraph;
spacing before and after paragraphs;
breaking paragraphs into pages.

First of all, when starting to set up a paragraph, you need to be able to highlight it. To do this, do the following:

1 way:

Triple-click the left mouse button on any word in the paragraph;

Method 2:

Use keyboard shortcuts:

– selection from the location of the text input cursor to the beginning of the paragraph;
– selection from the location of the text input cursor to the end of the paragraph.

Aligning Paragraph Lines

By default, paragraph text is left aligned. But documents are different, and the alignment may also require different. For example, for test work at universities, width alignment is accepted.

To set the desired alignment method for paragraph lines, use one of the following methods:

1 way:

Go to the "Home" tab, and then select the paragraphs you need (the order does not matter).

In the Paragraph group, click one of the four available alignment buttons:

“Left” – aligns paragraph lines to the left;
“Centered” – aligns paragraph lines to the center (proportionally equidistant from the right and left edges);
“Right” – aligns paragraph lines to the right;
“Justified” – aligns paragraph lines simultaneously to both the left and right margins. In this case, the text will visually “stretch” (fill the space of the lines), and additional space will appear between words.

Method 2:

Select the paragraphs you need, and then use the keyboard shortcuts:

– left alignment;
– center alignment;
– right alignment;
– width alignment.

Figure 1 - Paragraph line alignment

Indent the first line of a paragraph

The most common use when formatting paragraphs is to indent the first line. How many times have I seen how “experienced secretarial assistants” and representatives of other professions associated with the creation of text electronic documents have no idea how to set a paragraph using the Word 2010 interface. They usually use double or triple pressing the spacebar for this purpose , or, at best, a key . And although clicking this key visually sets an indent of 1.25 cm (0.5 inches) and everything looks “correct” on the surface, in general, this approach is irrational. There is no need to do the work for which the program for editing text documents was created. Plus, by using "correct" paragraph formatting, you'll save time later on a lot of unnecessary spacebar (or ). When you subsequently edit the document, you will avoid the routine associated with rearranging the general appearance of the document.

Now let's look at how to adjust indents, and this can be done visually (by eye) or precisely (by setting a certain value in the "Paragraph" window). Visual adjustment involves using a horizontal ruler, where you can quickly change the size of the indentation, guided by the feeling of the desired size “by eye”. Fine tuning allows you to set the indent value in the units of measurement used in the document - it is worth using it when you know the size of the indent value.

Visually adjusting the first line indentation

To indent the first line of a paragraph, do the following:

1 way:

Select the required paragraphs;
On the horizontal ruler, move the cursor to the “First line indent” icon;
Click and hold the left mouse button, and then drag the icon along the ruler to the desired location.

Method 2:

Click the tab indicator button until the First Line Indent icon appears;
Click the horizontal ruler where you want the first line indent to be.

Fine-tuning the first line indentation

1 way:

Select the required paragraphs;
Right-click on the selected fragment;
In the context menu (Fig. 1), select “Paragraph” (you will be taken to the “Paragraph” window);
On the “Indents and Spacing” tab, in the “Indentation” group, in the “First Line” column, set the desired indentation value (default 1.25 cm).

Method 2:

In the open document window, go to the “Home” tab;
Select the required paragraphs;
Next, in the “Paragraph” window, proceed in the same way as in the first case.

Figure 2 - Using the context menu to go to the “Paragraph” window

Setting the first line overhang

In rare cases, in addition to the usual indentation of the first line of a paragraph, a protrusion is used. This technique is often used to design poetic prose and a number of artistic works, in particular, magazine articles.

To create a ledge, do the following:

1 way:

Select the required paragraphs;
Click the tab indicator button (Figure 3) until the Tab icon appears;
Click the horizontal ruler where you want the first line tab to end, and then type the text for the first line of the paragraph. Now, starting from the second line, the text will begin below the tab position on the horizontal ruler.

Figure 3 Tab indicator button

Method 2:

In the document, select the paragraphs you need, and then go to the “Home” tab;
In the “Paragraph” group, click the “Paragraph” button;
In the “Paragraph” window, on the “Indents and Spacing” tab, in the “Indentation” group, in the “First Line” column, select the “Indentation” value;
Set the desired value manually or using the controls.

Figure 4 - Indentation and indentation of the first line of a paragraph

Quickly adjust the left indent for a paragraph

Sometimes you need to quickly adjust the position of a paragraph relative to the edges of the document. In particular, when it seems to us that the indentation set for lists is too large, or the inserted images are too far from the left margin, and this spoils the overall appearance of the document. In this case, we can very quickly, “on the fly,” change the indentation value, selecting the optimal one. To set the left indent for all lines of a paragraph by a specified amount (a multiple of the standard), do the following:

1 way:

Select the required paragraphs, and then go to the “Home” tab;
In the “Paragraph” group, click on the “Decrease Indent” and “Increase Indent” buttons. All paragraph lines will indent (or move to the side) from the left margin by 1.25 cm.

Note. Please note that each repeated click on these buttons shifts the paragraph lines by 1.25cm. Don’t get carried away, if you click too much on the decrease indentation button, you will remove it altogether, and on the contrary, by constantly increasing the indentation, you will ensure that the words completely disappear from view (more precisely, they will go beyond the edges of the visible area). To remove the first line indent for a paragraph, use the “Paragraph” window and select “No” in the “First Line” field or enter a zero value in the “On” field. You can also use the Undo button on the Quick Access Toolbar to go back a few steps.

Method 2:

Select the necessary paragraphs;
On the horizontal ruler, hover your mouse over the Left Indent icon and, while holding down the left button, move it to the desired position.

If you get confused when setting up indents, you can easily fix this by removing them, to do this, do the following:

1 way:

Select the required paragraphs;
On the Home tab, in the Paragraph group, click the Decrease Indent button.

Method 2:

Select the required paragraphs;
On the horizontal ruler, left-click (and hold) the Left Indent icon;
Drag it to the starting position on the ruler, level with the left margin.

Quickly adjust the right indentation

It is also possible to quickly adjust the right indentation. This is needed when you are typing text that needs to look like a block, such as when you are writing poetry, tanka, or poetic prose. In these cases, right alignment gives the text a special look, also emphasizing its theme.

To quickly set the right indent, do the following:

Select the required paragraphs;
On the horizontal ruler, click and hold down the left mouse button on the “Right Indent” icon;
Drag it to the desired position on the ruler.

To remove the right indent, do the following:

Select the required paragraphs;
On the horizontal ruler, left-click (and hold) the “Right Indent” icon;
Drag it to the starting position on the ruler, at the level of the right margin.

Fine-tuning paragraph indentation

By default, paragraph lines begin immediately at the left margin and end at the right (if you fill a page with text in one large paragraph, it will look like a page-sized text block). Often you need to specify the exact distance from the left margin, or from the end of the lines to the right margin. In particular, this is necessary when you have clear requirements for the design of the work, in particular, the value of the indentation values. To do this, do the following:

1 way:

Select the required paragraphs;
Go to the “Home” tab and in the “Paragraph” group, click on the “Paragraph” button;
On the “Indents and Spacing” tab of the “Paragraph” window, in the “Indentation” group, in the “Right” and “Left” items, set the desired value.

Method 2:

Select the required paragraphs;
Go to the “Page Layout” tab and in the “Paragraph” group, in the “Left Indent” and “Right Indent” lines, set the desired value.

Figure 5 - Setting paragraph indentation

Line spacing

Line spacing is very often used when formatting documents, and its most common values are single and one and a half. The spacing itself is determined based on the base lines of the lines that run through the center of the letters (this takes into account their upper and lower elements, such as superscript/subscript marks). Thus, single spacing corresponds to the font size of the text, and is the “default” spacing in Word 2010. One and a half spacing is used in most business documents, course papers and abstracts. To set line spacing, do the following:

1 way:

Select the required paragraphs and right-click on the selected area;
In the context menu, select “Paragraph”;
In the “Paragraph” window, “Indents and Spacing” tab, in the “Spacing” group, in the “Line Spacing” column, select the one you need from the list:

“Single” – the spacing corresponds to the font size of the paragraph text;
“1.5 lines” – the spacing is equal to one and a half font size of the paragraph text;
“Double” – the spacing is equal to double the font size of the paragraph text;
“Minimum” – the interval is not less than the size specified in points;
“Exactly” – the spacing exactly corresponds to the size specified in points (that is, if the font is 12pt, then the spacing will be exactly the same);
“Multiplier” – a multiplier for a spacing equal to the font size of the paragraph text (the larger the multiplier, the larger the spacing).

Method 2:

In the “Paragraph” group, click on the “Line Spacing” button (you will go to the “Paragraph” window to the “Indents and Spacing” tab);.
In the Interval group, in the Value box, enter the desired value and click OK.

3 way:

Select the required paragraphs;
Using keyboard shortcuts, set the required interval:

Ctrl+1 – single spacing;
Ctrl+5 – one and a half interval;
Ctrl+2 – double spacing.

Setting paragraph spacing

In most cases, when special accuracy in document design is not required, the vertical distance between paragraphs (spacing) is set by pressing a key at the end of the paragraph. At the same time, this distance can visually spoil the overall appearance of the document, and the more paragraphs, the more noticeable this is. In addition, it may be necessary to set a spacing independent of the size of the fonts used. To do this you need to do the following:

1 way:

Select the required paragraphs;
In the “Paragraph” window of the “Indents and Spacing” tab, in the “Spacing” group, in the “Before” (above the paragraph) and “After” (after the paragraph) items, use the sliders to set the desired value. Please note that each click on them corresponds to a step that is a multiple of 6pts (points). To enter a custom value, use the data entry area.

Method 2:

Select the paragraphs you need and go to the “Page Layout” tab;
In the “Paragraph” group, in the “Interval” column, set the desired value;

Figure 6 - Line spacing

Pagination of paragraphs

When working with large documents, you may need to set the proportional placement of paragraphs of text on pages. For example, you are writing a document with large paragraphs, and you need each new paragraph to start on a new page. To paginate paragraphs, do the following:

Select the necessary paragraphs;
Right-click on the selected fragment and in the context menu that appears, select “Paragraph”;
In the Paragraph window, go to the Page Position tab;
In the “Paging” group, select the items you need:

“Prohibition of dangling lines” – prohibition of one line from moving to the next page or the first line from moving to the previous one;
“Do not tear away from the next” – prohibits the transition of the next paragraph to the next page;
“Do not break paragraph” – prohibits the division of a paragraph into two pages;
“From a new page” – inserts a page break before a paragraph (each subsequent paragraph begins on a new page).

Figure 7 Breaking a paragraph using the “Page Position” tab tools

To quickly set the spacing at the top of a paragraph that matches the standard line font size (12pt), do the following:

Place the cursor on the desired paragraph;
Press the key combination .

Please note that pressing the keys again removes the interval.

Sorting paragraphs

Sometimes it is necessary to sort paragraphs, for example, when you have created a list of references (for a test or essay) and it needs to be sorted alphabetically. Another example is when you are generating a selection of news and you need to select articles and comments by date. To sort, do the following:

Go to the “Home” tab and select the required paragraphs;
In the “Paragraph” group, click on the “Sorting” button and in the “Sorting Text” window, in the “First by” column, select the “Paragraphs” value;
In the “Type” column, select the value “Text”, “Number” or “Date”, depending on where the paragraph begins (with a number, date or text);
Set the sorting direction – “Ascending” (from smallest to largest), or “Descending” (from largest to smallest);
Click OK.

Figure 8 - Sorting paragraphs

Highlight paragraphs with the same formatting

This technique can be used when you insert text fragments with different formatting, for example, you are preparing a review of a new car from Aston Martin and you need as much information as possible from various sites. In this case, you insert text fragments from sites as you download (read) the article. The sites are different and the formatting also varies, but, for example, you most trust a couple of sites that specialize in covering the automotive industry. Accordingly, you need to find all the articles from these sites that you copied into your document. You can do this by setting just one paragraph as an example - all other paragraphs with similar formatting will be highlighted, and you, for example, can rearrange them into a block for subsequent actions (editing, formatting).

To highlight paragraphs with identical formatting, do the following:

Select the paragraph with the desired formatting options;
Right-click on the selected fragment and in the context menu, move the cursor to the “Styles” item;
From the Styles pop-up menu, click Select Text That Has the Same Format.

Undo formatting in a paragraph

To remove changes you made when formatting paragraphs, do the following:

Select the desired paragraph;
Press the key combination

Set the default paragraph style

To use a specific default paragraph style other than the base one (the "Normal" style), do the following:

Click the File tab, then Word Options, Advanced;
In the “Editing Options” group, in the “Default Paragraph Style” item, select the desired style;
Click the OK button.

Figure 9 Setting paragraph style

This technique is useful if you are using a different paragraph style than usual in your work.

Conclusion

Paragraph settings allow you to completely change the look of your document. By changing the line spacing values, you can visually increase or decrease the size of the document. In this case, you can set completely standard values for the first line indentation, and at the same time, give the document a correct and complete look. This has a certain significance for the overall appearance of the document, because the lack of visual design of a paragraph impairs the “readability” of the document.

Knowing how to format paragraphs is necessary for anyone who works with documents that require at least minimal formatting.

The question of how to make a red line or, more simply, a paragraph in Microsoft Word, interests many, especially inexperienced users of this software product. The first thing that comes to mind is to press the spacebar several times until the indentation seems appropriate “by eye.” This decision is fundamentally wrong, so below we will talk about how to make a paragraph indent in Word, having examined in detail all possible and acceptable options.

Note: In office work, there is a standard for indenting the red line, its indicator is 1.27 cm.

Before proceeding with the topic, it is worth noting that the instructions described below will apply to all versions of MS Word. Using our recommendations, you can make a red line in Word 2003, 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, as well as in all intermediate versions of the office component. Some items may differ visually and have slightly different names, but in general everything is approximately the same and will be understandable to everyone, regardless of which Word you use for your work.

Having ruled out pressing the spacebar several times as a suitable option for creating a paragraph, we can safely use another button on the keyboard: "Tab". Actually, this is precisely why this key is needed, at least when it comes to working with programs like Word.

Place the cursor at the beginning of the piece of text you want to make red line and just press the key "Tab", an indentation will appear. The disadvantage of this method is that paragraph indentation is not set according to accepted standards, but according to the settings of your Microsoft Office Word, which can be either correct or incorrect, especially if you are not the only one using this product on a particular computer.

To avoid inconsistencies and make only the correct indents in your text, you need to make preliminary settings, which, in essence, are the second option for creating a red line.

Option two

Select with your mouse the piece of text that should come from the red line and right-click on it. In the context menu that appears, select "Paragraph".

In the window that appears, make the necessary settings.

Expand the menu under the item "first line" and select there "indent", and in the next cell indicate the desired distance for the red line. These may be standard in office work 1.27 cm, or there can be any other value convenient for you.

After confirming the changes made (by clicking "OK"), you will see a paragraph indentation in your text.

Option three

Word has a very convenient tool - the ruler, which may not be enabled by default. To activate it, you need to go to the tab "View" on the control panel and check the box next to the corresponding tool: "Ruler".

The same ruler will appear at the top and left of the sheet; using its sliders (triangles), you can change the page layout, including setting the required distance for the red line. To change it, just drag the upper triangle of the ruler, which is located above the sheet. The paragraph is ready and looks the way you need it.

Option four

We decided to leave for last the most effective method, thanks to which you can not only create paragraphs, but also significantly simplify and speed up all work with documents in MS Word. To implement this option, you only need to strain once, so that later you don’t have to think at all about how to improve the appearance of the text.

Create your own style. To do this, select the required fragment of text, set a red line in it using one of the methods described above, select the most suitable font and size, select the heading, and then right-click on the selected fragment.

Select an item "Styles" in the top right menu (capital letter A).

Give your style a name and click "OK". If necessary, you can perform more detailed settings by selecting "Change" in a small window that will be in front of you.

Now you can always use a template you created yourself, a ready-made style for formatting any text. As you probably already understand, you can create as many of these styles as you like, and then use them as needed, depending on the type of work and the text itself.

That's all, now you know how to put a red line in Word 2003, 2010 or 2016, as well as in other versions of this product. Thanks to proper design, the documents you work with will look more clear and attractive and, more importantly, in accordance with the requirements established in office work.

Formatting the typed information in a document is what the user spends most of the time when working with a finished file. Many users do not even know the basics of working with the office application during formatting.

How to indent in Word

The main categories that the user operates when formatting are indentation and protrusion. They are used to highlight fragments of information available in a file. Indentation is used to highlight the first line of a paragraph. In this way, it is possible to shift the first line to the right relative to the entire contents of the document. An overhang is when what is printed shifts to the left. It is natural to assume that the first is much more common than the second. In this regard, you need to focus special attention on how to indent. This skill will be useful for both experienced users and beginners. No matter how much you avoid it, sooner or later you will have to learn.

Forming paragraphs

There are several ways. To make it, select “Format” from the menu, then “Paragraph”, then determine how many units the first line will be indented. As a rule, this is 1.5 units. Save your changes. Now you can open Word and work in it, and paragraphs will be formed in accordance with the specified parameters.

Didn't like the result, do you think the paragraph was too big or small? Take advantage. It is worth saying that the user cannot always see it immediately, since it may be hidden. Click the icon in the upper right corner of the document. Please note that the ruler is graduated, that is, centimeters and millimeters are marked on it to form indents and protrusions.

Once the ruler appears, position the cursor at the first paragraph of your file, then drag the ruler slider the required number of points. Please note that this will only change the size of one paragraph. Naturally, they need to be made identical throughout the document. To do this, select the entire selection and move the ruler slider to the required number of units.

Perhaps these two methods are optimal when formatting a document and creating indentation A Word document itself does not exist without paragraphs as structural units, and indentation is the formative element of a paragraph.

There is another way to make a red line. However, it is not entirely correct, or rather non-academic, since it creates problems with further editing of the typed information. We are talking about the tab key, or Tab. It advances the first line of a paragraph by a certain number of units. Using tabs is not normative, although it is an easier, more convenient way.

However, if you want to learn correct academic formatting, then it is better to immediately get used to using the first two methods. Remember, it is always more difficult to relearn than to learn again. With Word, formatting cannot be avoided.

As for the different versions of “offices,” the basics of editing in them are not fundamentally different. Therefore, you can safely learn from an application of any year.

Sometimes when formatting a document, in addition to indents, other format categories are added, for example, styles, . Such a complex format is time-consuming and inconvenient to display every time. Word offers the ability to copy an existing format. To do this, use the Document Format function.