Explore paragraph dialog box options

There are general, indentation, and spacing options available in the Paragraph dialog box options. At the bottom of the dialog box, you can see a Preview of how the options will look before you apply them.

General    

Alignment

Choose Left to align text to the left with a ragged right edge (or use the keyboard shortcut, Ctrl+L).

Choose Center to center text with a ragged left and right edge (Ctrl+E).

Choose Right to align text to the right with a ragged left edge (Ctrl+R).

Choose Justify to align text both left and right, adding space between words (Ctrl+J).

Outline level

The level at which the paragraph appears in Outline view. 

Choose Collapsed by default if you want the document to open with headings collapsed by default. See Collapse or expand parts of a document to learn more.

Indentation

Left

Indents the paragraph on the left by the amount you choose.

Right

Indents the paragraph on the right by the amount you choose.

Special

Choose First line > By to indent the first line of a paragraph. To quickly create a first line indent using the ruler, see Create a first line indent.

Choose Hanging > By to create a hanging indent. To quickly create a hanging indent using the ruler, see Create a hanging indent.

Mirror indents

When you choose this, Left and Right become Inside and Outside. This is for book style printing.

Spacing    

Before

Adjusts the amount of space before a paragraph.

After

Adjusts the amount of space after a paragraph.

Line spacing

Choose Single to single-space text. To quickly single space your entire document, see Single space lines in a document.

Choose 1.5 lines to space text one-and-one-half times that of single spacing.

Choose Double to double-space text. To quickly double space your entire document, see Double space lines in a document.

Choose At least > At to set the minimum amount of spacing needed to fit the largest font or graphic on the line.

Choose Exactly > At to set fixed line spacing, expressed in points. For example, if the text is in 10-point font, you can specify 12 points as the line spacing.

Choose Multiple > At to set line spacing as a multiple expressed in numbers greater than 1. For example, setting line spacing to 1.15 will increase the space by 15 percent, and setting line spacing to 3 increases the space by 300 percent (triple spacing).

Don’t add

Choose Don’t add space between paragraphs when you don’t want extra space between paragraphs.

If you want to save the settings you chose as your default, select Set as Default.

Paragraph dialog box options

Choose from these options in the Paragraph dialog box. At the bottom of the dialog box, the Preview box shows you how the options look before you apply them.

General    

Alignment

Select Left to align text to the left with a ragged right edge (or use the keyboard shortcut, The Command button on macOS. + L).

Select Centered to center text with a ragged left and right edge (The Command button on macOS. + E).

Select Right to align text to the right with a ragged left edge (The Command button on macOS. + R).

Select Justified to align text both left and right, adding space between words (The Command button on macOS. + J).

Outline level

Select the level at which the paragraph appears in Outline view.

Indentation

Left

Moves in the left side of the paragraph by the amount you choose.

Right

Moves in the right side of the paragraph by the amount you choose.

Special

Select First line to indent the first line of a paragraph, and then specify the size of the indent in By.

Select Hanging to create a hanging indent, and then specify the size of the indent in By.

Automatically adjust

When you select Automatically adjust right indent when document grid is defined, the right indent is automatically adjusted for the paragraph when a document grid is defined.

Spacing    

Before

Adjusts the amount of space before a paragraph.

After

Adjusts the amount of space after a paragraph.

Line spacing

Select Single to single-space text.

Select 1.5 lines to space text one-and-one-half times that of single spacing.

Select Double to double-space text.

Select At least > At to set the minimum amount of spacing needed to fit the largest font or graphic on the line.

Select Exactly > At to set fixed line spacing, expressed in points. For example, if the text is in 10-point font, you can specify 12 points as the line spacing.

Select Multiple > At to set line spacing as a multiple expressed in numbers greater than 1. For example, setting line spacing to 1.15 will increase the space by 15 percent, and setting line spacing to 3 increases the space by 300 percent (triple spacing).

Don’t add

Select Don’t add space between paragraphs of the same style when you want to exclude some paragraphs, such as paragraphs in a bulleted list, from the spacing set by Before and After.

Snap to

Select Snap to grid when document grid is defined to more easily align text with the document grid.

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