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About this lesson
Learn how and when to use specific indent types.
Lesson versions
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Exercise files
Download the ‘before’ and ‘after’ Word documents from the video tutorial and try the lesson yourself.
Indents.docx58.2 KB Indents - Solution.docx
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Quick reference
Indents
Learn how and when to use specific indent types.
Home Ribbon, Paragraph Group
When to use
Use the Indent buttons when you want to move a paragraph.
It is also useful to use the ruler “indent markers” to move indent location as desired.
Moves first line.
Moves the left indent.
Instructions
- First Line Indent: Press TAB on the keyboard.
- Left indent: Click the “increase indent” button.
- Hanging Indent: Generally used for numbers and bullets. To apply manually, click insert indent, but use the indent marker on the ruler and pull the top arrow to the left.
- Double Indent: used when formally quoting a person or text. To apply, click the “insert indent” button to move the paragraph from the left by 1 inch, then use the right-indent marker on the ruler to move the paragraph from the right by 1 inch.
Hints & tips
A double indent is traditionally used as a quote, along with double spaced text. To double space the text in a paragraph, press Ctrl 2.
Login to download- 00:05 This is a lesson on how to control indents.
- 00:07 So let's make sure that you are looking at your ruler at the top of your document.
- 00:11 If you are not, then please click on the View ribbon, and right over here,
- 00:15 please put a check mark in Ruler.
- 00:17 And you should see a ruler then showing up at the very top of your document.
- 00:21 I'll go ahead and click on the Home ribbon to get right back there.
- 00:23 Let's go ahead and start with our indent lesson.
- 00:26 The very first exercise is going to be creating a first line indent,
- 00:30 wanna draw your attention to the ruler.
- 00:32 Notice on the left-hand side, this sort of looks like an hourglass, but it is not.
- 00:37 It's actually three separate indent markers.
- 00:39 When I float the very point of my mouse into that top marker,
- 00:43 it says First Line Indent.
- 00:44 When I float it between them, it says Hanging Indent.
- 00:47 And when I float on the little square at the bottom, it says Left Indent.
- 00:50 Now I wanna bring your eyes over to the right-hand side of this ruler
- 00:54 where it says Right Indent.
- 00:56 We will be using these during this lesson, let's get started.
- 01:00 This first paragraph, I simply want to do the traditional half-inch indent.
- 01:05 So I'm not going to use the ruler at all, I'm just gonna hit Tab on my keyboard.
- 01:09 When I hit Tab, it pushes that first line in half an inch, and look at the ruler,
- 01:14 look what happened, it split that apart.
- 01:16 Now I'm gonna Ctrl+Z to undo that and
- 01:18 now I'm gonna do it manually by grabbing that top first line indent.
- 01:22 And I don't want it just half-inch, maybe I want it just a little more,
- 01:26 a little further.
- 01:27 See, I can totally control where that indent happens.
- 01:30 Now, traditionally, half an inch, but honestly, it's up to you.
- 01:33 It's your document, you can indent however far you desire.
- 01:36 All right, let's go in, head and go to the next one.
- 01:39 The left indent will move the entire paragraph.
- 01:42 Now in this case, I can grab this button on the ruler, and it says left indent.
- 01:48 And I can click and drag and
- 01:49 move the whole thing myself as far as I'd like to indent.
- 01:51 I'm gonna push it right back over here 'cause it's actually a faster way, and
- 01:54 that's kinda technical to float your mouse and move that thing.
- 01:57 Take a look on the Home ribbon, we have a couple buttons.
- 02:00 This is decrease indent and this is increase.
- 02:03 I'm gonna go ahead and click that, and
- 02:05 it pushes those indent markers over half an inch.
- 02:07 Hit it again, hit it again, hit, it was following the path I did earlier.
- 02:12 So now I can just hit the back, the decrease indent, and
- 02:15 it'll follow the path back, see?
- 02:17 So anyway, you have that option as well, to use this little button on the Home
- 02:21 ribbon, or to drag that bottom box and move it where you want.
- 02:24 All right, let's talk about the hanging indent.
- 02:26 Now the hanging indent, this is very common, especially for numbered lists.
- 02:29 The hanging indent simply means that we're going to hit the increase indent.
- 02:34 And then we're going to grab this top arrow, first line indent and
- 02:38 we're gonna drag it backwards, okay?
- 02:40 We're gonna kinda create what's called a hanging indent.
- 02:43 Now again, I said this is common with numbered list, so we're gonna go ahead and
- 02:48 number this list.
- 02:49 I select the entire list, my cute little Bullets and Numbering show up,
- 02:53 I'll click Numbering and look what happened on the ruler, all right?
- 02:58 I'm gonna select, I don't wanna mess this up.
- 03:00 Okay, I wanna select those again and look what happened.
- 03:02 Now I can determine the width of number 1, 2, or 3.
- 03:07 Let me highlight the entire set.
- 03:09 See, I don't like the computer telling me how far.
- 03:12 Sometimes I want my numbers right beside, just closer to the words.
- 03:16 I don't want the computer to tell that they have to be a quarter inch away.
- 03:19 I want to be able to control it and you can,
- 03:21 as long as you know about the hanging indent marker that can be moved around.
- 03:25 So that's the beauty of having total control, even of your numbered list.
- 03:29 All right, finally, we have the last one, the double indent.
- 03:31 This is when you're formally quoting a person or
- 03:35 text, you would traditionally do a full 1-inch left indent.
- 03:39 So I'll go ahead and hit this till it gets to the 1-inch mark.
- 03:43 And I'll do full 1-inch right indent, which means I have to float my mouse
- 03:46 on this right indent marker and drag it in a full inch, see?
- 03:51 And traditionally also, if you are quoting someone,
- 03:54 you will apply double spacing, which is Ctrl+2 for double spacing, okay?
- 03:59 So I better write that on there, Ctrl+2 will throw on double spacing.
- 04:04 Well, that's it for the indent lesson.
- 04:06 Please practice with that, you'll be a master in no time.
- 04:09 And you'll never feel at the mercy again of the indents as
- 04:14 long as you know about the ruler.
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