Formatting a paragraph

You can format a paragraph in several ways:

Change an existing paragraph. With the insertion pointer in a paragraph, use a paragraph-formatting command. Only the current paragraph format is changed.

Change a block of paragraphs. Select one or more paragraphs and then use the formatting command to affect the lot.

Just start typing. Choose a paragraph-formatting command, and then type a paragraph. The chosen format is applied to the new text.

• To format all paragraphs in a document, press Ctrl+A to select all text in the document and then apply the format.

• If your desire is to apply the same format to multiple paragraphs in your document, consider creating a style. See Chapter 15.

Locating the paragraph-formatting commands

In a vain effort to confuse you, Word uses not one but two locations on the Ribbon to house paragraph-formatting commands. The first Paragraph group is found on the Home tab. The second is located on the Layout tab. Both groups are illustrated in Figure 11-1.

But wait! There’s more.

To conjure the Paragraph dialog box, shown in Figure 11-2, click the Dialog Box Launcher button in either of the Paragraph groups. (Refer to Figure 11-1.) In it, you find controls and settings not offered by the command buttons on the Ribbon.

The obnoxious keyboard shortcut to summon the Paragraph dialog box is Alt+H, P, G. Don’t mock me! Memorizing this keyboard shortcut saves you time.

A smattering of paragraph-formatting commands are also found on the mini toolbar, which appears after you select text.

Line up on the left!

Left alignment is considered standard, probably thanks to the mechanical typewriter and, before that, generations of grammar school teachers who preferred text lined up on the left side of a page. The right side of the page? Who cares!

To left-align a paragraph, press Ctrl+L or click the Align Left command button, found in the Home tab’s Paragraph group.

• This type of alignment is also known as ragged right.

• Left-aligning a paragraph is how you undo the other types of paragraph alignment.

Everyone center!

Centering a paragraph places each line in that paragraph in the middle of the page, with an equal amount of space to the line's right and left.

To center a paragraph, press Ctrl+E or use the Center command button, found on the Home tab’s Paragraph group.

• Centering is ideal for titles and single lines of text. It's ugly for longer paragraphs and makes reading the text more difficult.
• Use a center tab stop to center a single word in the middle of a line. See Chapter 12.

Line up on the right!

The mirror image of left alignment, right alignment keeps the right edge of a paragraph even. The left margin, however, is jagged. When do you use this type of formatting? I have no idea, but it sure feels funky typing a right-aligned paragraph.

To flush text along the right side of the page, press Ctrl+R or click the Align Right command button.

• This type of alignment is also known as ragged left or flush right.
• To right-justify text on a single line, use a right tab stop. See Chapter 12 for more info.

Line up on both sides!

Lining up both sides of a paragraph is full justification: Both the left and right sides of a paragraph are neat and tidy, flush with the margins.

To give your paragraph full justification, press Ctrl+J or click the Justify command button located, as you might guess, on the Home tab’s Paragraph group.

• Fully justified paragraph formatting is often used in newspapers and magazines, which makes the narrow columns of text easier to read.
• Word makes each side of the paragraph line up by inserting tiny slivers of extra space between words in a paragraph. The extra space is recycled from government computers designed to look impressive, but which merely create extra space.

Setting the line spacing

To set the space between all lines in a paragraph, follow these steps:

1. Click the Home tab.

2. In the Paragraph group, click the Line Spacing command button.

   A menu appears.

3. Choose a new line spacing value.

The line spacing is set for the current paragraph or all selected paragraphs. Word adds the extra space below each line of text.

Three keyboard shortcuts are available for the most common line-spacing values:

• To single-space, press Ctrl+1. Use this command to remove other line-spacing styles.
• To double-space, press Ctrl+2. This setting formats the paragraph with one blank line below each line of text.
• To use 1½-space lines, press Ctrl+5. Yes, this keyboard shortcut is for 1.5 lines, not 5 lines. Use the 5 key in the typewriter area of the computer keyboard. Pressing Ctrl+5 using the 5 key on the numeric keypad activates the Select All command.

The Ctrl+0 (zero) keyboard shortcut applies Word’s default line spacing, which is 1.15. According to experts in white lab coats, that extra 0.15-size chunk of space below each line adds to readability.

When you want text to stack up one line atop another line, such as when typing a return address, use the soft return at the end of a line: Press Shift+Enter. See the section in Chapter 4 about soft and hard returns.

Making space between paragraphs

To help separate one paragraph from another, you add space either before or after the paragraph. What you don’t do is to press Enter twice to end a paragraph. That’s extremely unprofessional, and doing so causes rooms full of educated people to frown at you.

To add space before or after a paragraph, follow these steps:

1. Click the Layout tab.

2. In the Paragraph group, use the Before gizmo to add space before a paragraph of text or use the After gizmo to add space after the paragraph.

   Measurements are made in points, the same measurement used for font size.

To create the effect of pressing the Enter key twice to end a paragraph, set the After value to a point size about two-thirds the size of the current font. As an example, for a 12-point font, an After value of 8 looks good.

• Most of the time, space is added after a paragraph. You can add space before a paragraph, for example, to further separate text from a document heading or subhead.

• The space you add before or after a paragraph becomes part of the paragraph format. Like other formats, it sticks with subsequent paragraphs you type or can be applied to a block of paragraphs.

• Graphics designers prefer to insert more space between paragraphs when the first line of a paragraph isn’t indented, as in this book. When you indent the first line, it’s okay to have less spacing between paragraphs. See the next section.

Indenting the first line of a paragraph

Back in the old days, it was common to start each paragraph with a tab. The tab would indent the first line, helping the reader identify the new paragraph. Word can save you tab-typing energy by automatically formatting each paragraph with an indent on the first line. Here’s how:

1. Click the Home tab.

2. In the Paragraph group, click the dialog box launcher.

   The Paragraph dialog box appears.

3. Click the Special drop-down list and choose First Line.

4. Confirm that the By box lists the value 0.5”.

   The By box shows half an inch, which is the standard tab stop and a goodly distance to indent the first line of text.

5. Click OK.

   The first line of the current paragraph, or all paragraphs in a selected block, are indented per the amount specified in the By box.

To remove the first-line indent from a paragraph, repeat these steps but select (none) from the drop-down list in Step 3.

Word's AutoCorrect feature can automatically indent the first line of a paragraph, which is handy but also annoying. What AutoCorrect does is convert the tab character into the First Line Indent paragraph format, which may not be what you want. If so, click the AutoCorrect icon (shown in the margin), and choose the command Convert Back to Tab. I recommend using the steps in this section and not AutoCorrect to format first-line indents.

If you choose to indent the first line of a paragraph, you don’t really need to add space after it. See the earlier section “Making space between paragraphs.”

Making a hanging indent (an outdent)

A hanging indent isn’t in imminent peril. No, it’s a paragraph in which the first line breaks the left margin or, from another perspective, in which all lines but the first are indented. Here’s an example:

Dr. Cornelius: Never mind! The effects are only temporary. Eventually your sense of balance will be restored, the nausea will diminish, and your desire to continue spending on your credit card will be fully restored.

The simple way to create such a beast is to press Ctrl+T, the Hanging Indent keyboard shortcut. The command affects the current paragraph or all selected paragraphs.

The not-so-simple way to hang an indent is to use the Paragraph dialog box: In the Indentation area, click the Special menu and choose Hanging. Use the By text box to set the indent depth.

• Every time you press Ctrl+T, the paragraph is indented by another half-inch.

• To undo a hanging indent, press Ctrl+Shift+T. That’s the Unhang keyboard shortcut, the chiropractor that puts the paragraph’s neck back in shape.

Indenting a whole paragraph

To draw attention to a paragraph, its left side can be sucked in a notch. This presentation is often used for quoted material in a longer expanse of text.

To indent a paragraph, heed these steps:

1. Click the Home tab.

2. In the Paragraph group, click the Increase Indent command button.

   The paragraph’s left edge hops over one tab stop (half an inch).

To unindent an indented paragraph, click the Decrease Indent command button in Step 2.

When you want to get specific with indents, as well as indent the paragraph’s right side, click the Layout tab and use the Indent Left and Indent Right controls to set specific indentation values. Set both controls to the same value to set off a block quote or a nested paragraph.

• The keyboard shortcut to indent a paragraph is Ctrl+M. The shortcut to un-indent a paragraph is Shift+Ctrl+M.
• To undo any paragraph indenting, click the Layout tab and in the Paragraph group set both Left and Right indent values to 0.
• Indent only one paragraph or a small group of paragraphs. This format isn’t intended for long stretches of text.

• Do not try to mix left and right indenting with a first-line indent or a hanging indent while drowsy or while operating heavy equipment.

Using the ruler to adjust indents

The most visual way to adjust a paragraph’s indents is to use the ruler. This tip is helpful only when the ruler is visible, which it normally isn’t in Word. To unhide the ruler, follow these steps:

1. Click the View tab.

2. In the Show area, ensure that the Ruler option is active.

   Click to place a check mark by the Ruler option if it isn’t active.

The ruler appears above the document text. In Print Layout view, a vertical ruler also appears on the left side of the document.

On the ruler, you see the page margins left and right, and to the far left is something I call the tab gizmo (covered in Chapter 12). Figure 11-4 illustrates the important parts of the ruler with regard to paragraph formatting.

Four doojobbies on the ruler reflect the current paragraph indents. Use these controls to adjust the paragraph indents in a visual manner.

Drag the Left Indent control left or right to adjust a paragraph’s left margin. Moving this gizmo does not affect the first-line indent.

Drag the First Line Indent control left or right to set the first-line indent independently of the left margin.

Drag the Both control to adjust both the left indent and first-line indent together.

Drag the Right Indent control right or left to adjust the paragraph's right margin.

As you drag controls on the ruler, a vertical guide drops down into the document. Use that guide to help adjust indents for the current paragraph or any selected paragraphs.

• The ruler doesn’t appear in Read mode or Outline view.
• The ruler measures from the page’s left margin, not from the left edge of the page. The page’s left margin is set when you format a page of text. See Chapter 13.

• For more precise setting of indents, use the Paragraph dialog box instead of the gizmos on the ruler.