How to do a hanging indent on Word on Mac: Learn to “Hang” with style

When you’re dealing with academic or legal documents, chances are you’ll need to pay close attention to formatting. 

Hanging indents are one of the most common formatting styles, where the first line of a section or paragraph will stay to the left, and other lines after that are indented and aligned — just like this:

Tucker, S., & Williams, M. (2021). Formatting Styles and When To Use Them. Capybara Press.

If you’re a Microsoft Word user, creating a hanging indent is a super simple task, whether you prefer adjusting the Paragraph settings or using the Ruler. I’m going to give you a rundown on how to do both and how to fix a few potential issues if they pop up.

How to create a hanging indent on Word for Mac

Let’s say we’ve got a paper we’ve written about marine life in Microsoft Word, and we’re trying to format our citations. Here’s how you’d input a hanging indent:

1. Open the Word document and highlight the paragraph(s) where you want to apply the hanging indent.



2. Click Format > Paragraph in the menu bar.

3. Open the drop-down menu under Indentation > Special and select Hanging.



4. Under Indentation, adjust the indent size in the By field if needed (the default is 1.27 cm).

5. Click OK to apply the hanging indent.

While you likely won’t have to deal with hanging indents throughout your entire document, it can still feel tedious going through the multi-step process every time. Luckily, there’s a nice keyboard shortcut for hanging indents: Command + T.

Personal experience: While Microsoft Word has a Focus option, it essentially just hides the formatting items and makes the document full-screen. Especially when I’m trying to write creatively, I prefer a quieter digital environment with a clean interface. Ulysses provides a distraction-free environment that acts as a focused workspace. 

But Ulysses isn’t just a place for writing — it also comes with plenty of features, including built-in grammar and style checks, beautiful export options, and a useful markdown editor. You can even publish directly to WordPress or Medium and sync all your documents across all your devices.

Using the Ruler to create a hanging indent

Another handy way to create a hanging indent on a Mac in Word is by using the Ruler tool. Nowadays, it’s not always visible by default, so you’ll have to start by enabling it. Here’s how to use the Ruler tool to create a hanging indent:

1. Open the Word document in Microsoft Word.

2. Click View > Select the Ruler box.



3. Highlight the text to which you want to apply a hanging indent.

4. Drag the hanging indent marker (bottom triangle) on the ruler to adjust the indentation level.

Troubleshooting common issues with hanging indents

Hanging indents aren’t hard to implement, but it’s not always smooth sailing. If you’re not accustomed to the process just yet, you might come across these common issues:

• Indent applied incorrectly: If the indent doesn’t appear as expected, ensure you aren’t applying both left and first-line indents simultaneously. When you go into the Paragraph formatting settings, ensure the Left and Right indentation numbers are 0. With the ruler, be sure you didn’t drag the slider using the rectangle at the bottom of the slider and have only dragged the bottom arrow.
• Indent not applying to lists: If you use a numbered or bulleted list, check the List settings to adjust the indent separately. Lists are usually separated from other paragraphs and lines.

Leave those margins behind: How to create hanging indent on Mac

Creating hanging indents is easy. A few approaches include using the Ruler, Paragraph settings, and simply pressing a shortcut on your keyboard. These methods are simple, allowing you to format any document with ease. Looking for more specific text editors for your digital workflow? Ulysses and MonsterWriter each present their own benefits, whether distraction-free or feature-rich.

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