How to Make a Hanging Indent in Word
Set a hanging indent in Word with the ruler, the Paragraph dialog, or a shortcut — on Windows, Mac, and the web, plus how to remove one for citations.
A hanging indent pushes every line of a paragraph except the first one to the right, which is exactly what a works-cited page needs. The quickest route is the Paragraph dialog: select your text, open the dialog from the Home tab, and set Special to Hanging. You can also drag a marker on the ruler or use a keyboard shortcut.
Drag the ruler marker
If the ruler isn’t showing, open the View tab and check Ruler. At the left end of the horizontal ruler, the top triangle is the first-line indent and the bottom triangle (pointing up) is the hanging-indent marker. Select your paragraph, then drag that bottom triangle to the right; the first line stays at the margin while the rest of the text shifts in. Half an inch is the standard distance. Dragging is fast but imprecise, so switch to the dialog when you need an exact measurement.
Use the Paragraph dialog
Select your text, go to the Home tab, and click the small arrow in the corner of the Paragraph group to open the Paragraph dialog — the same launcher sits on the Layout tab. On the Indents and Spacing tab, open the Special drop-down, choose Hanging, and check the By value, which Word fills in as 0.5" by default. Click OK.
| Method | Where to find it | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Ruler drag | View tab > Ruler | Quick visual tweaks |
| Paragraph dialog | Home or Layout tab | Exact 0.5” indents |
Keyboard Ctrl+T | Anywhere in the text | Speed on Windows |
On Windows, Ctrl+T applies a hanging indent and Ctrl+Shift+T reduces it; on a Mac, use Command+T and Command+Shift+T.
Word for the web and Mac
The steps track the desktop closely. In Word for the web, select the text, open the Paragraph dialog from the Home tab, set Special to Hanging, and click OK; the draggable ruler isn’t reliably available online, so the dialog is your best option. On a Mac, use the Home tab dialog or go to Format > Paragraph, then choose Hanging under Special.
Bibliographies and removing the indent
Hanging indents are the standard format for MLA, APA, and Chicago reference entries, so select the whole list and apply the indent once instead of line by line. If your paper also needs particular page edges or a running title, our guides on how to change margins in Word and how to add a header in Word cover those. To remove a hanging indent, click in the paragraph, reopen the Paragraph dialog, set Special back to (none), and click OK — or drag the ruler marker back to the margin.
Once it’s applied, the hanging indent stays attached to those paragraphs even if you edit the text inside them, so you can reword or add a citation later without setting the format up again.