Docs tower · floor

How to do a hanging indent on Word, and how deep it should be

Almost everybody working out how to do a hanging indent on word is formatting a reference list, because that is the one place the shape is required. So this floor gives the steps, and then the number to type into the box — which the pages ranking for this question mostly leave you to guess.

“A hanging indent, also known as a second line indent, sets off the first line of a paragraph by positioning it at the margin, and then indenting each subsequent line of the paragraph.”

Microsoft’s own definition, read 21 August 2026. Worth reading once because the name is backwards from what it does — nothing hangs; the first line stays put and everything below it moves right. That is the shape a reference list takes, which is why almost everybody searching for this is formatting one.

The five steps, from Microsoft

The dialog is behind a small arrow at the corner of the Paragraph group, which is why people look for it online rather than finding it.

“Select the text where you want to add a hanging indent.”
“Go to Home → Paragraph Settings dialog launcher → Indents and Spacing.”
“Under Special, select Hanging.”
“You can adjust the depth of the indent using the By field.”
“Select OK.”

Microsoft gives separate instructions for Windows, macOS and the web version on the same page, so if the menu in front of you does not match, that is the tab to check. What almost nobody tells you is what to type into the By field — and for the most common reason you are here, the number is published.

The number, and the rest of the requirement

APA Style’s own reference list instructions, read 21 August 2026.

“Apply a 0.5-in. hanging indent to the whole reference list.” That is what goes in the By field.
“Type each reference as a single paragraph, justified to the left margin.” One paragraph per reference — not lines broken by hand, which is what defeats the indent.
“Write the label References at the top of the page in bold and centered.”
“Do not use the labels ‘Works Cited,’ ‘Bibliography,’ or ‘Reference List.’” APA is explicit about the words as well as the format.
“Alphabetize references according to the first word of the reference (usually the last name of the first author).”

The habit that defeats it, and it is extremely common. If you have pressed Return or Shift Return part-way through a reference to make the lines break where you want, the indent will not work as expected — because Word is now looking at several paragraphs rather than one, and a hanging indent applies to a paragraph. APA states the requirement directly: each reference is “a single paragraph”. Let the text wrap by itself, and set the indent once.

The same is true of spaces and tabs. Pushing the second line across with the space bar looks identical on your screen and falls apart on somebody else’s, at a different font size, or when the document is exported. A hanging indent is a property of the paragraph rather than an arrangement of characters, and that is exactly why it survives being reformatted.

Doing it once for the whole list. Select the entire reference list before opening the dialog. Better still, if your document uses styles, set the hanging indent on the style rather than on the selection — then every reference you add later arrives already correct, and a change of mind is one edit rather than forty.

In Google Docs, which is the other half of the searches. The same setting exists under Format → Align & indent → Indentation options, with a Special indent menu offering Hanging. The principle is identical and so are the traps: one paragraph per reference, no manual line breaks, and the same half-inch depth if you are following APA. Where the interfaces differ is only in where the dialog lives.

If your brief names a different style. The half inch quoted here is APA’s published figure for an APA reference list. MLA and Chicago have their own conventions for their own lists, and this floor does not repeat numbers it has not read in the relevant manual. The floor on bibliographies covers which list you have been asked for in the first place, which is worth settling before you format anything.

Everything in quotation marks here is from Microsoft’s support documentation or from APA Style, each read on 21 August 2026. The points about manual line breaks, spaces and setting the indent on a style are ours.

Where to start

Four ways in.

“I just need the steps.”: Above — then the depth in the reference list
“It will not indent properly.”: Manual line breaks — see the reference list
“I am in Google Docs.”: Same setting, different menu — other editors
“Which list am I even making?”: Go to the reference list

The reference list

The hanging indent is a formatting requirement of a document whose contents are governed by a style. Getting the contents right matters more than the indent.

How to write a bibliographyThe three lists have different names for a reason, and two style bodies define the difference.Open this floor → APA in-text citationThe author–date pattern, and what changes when there is no author or no date.Open this floor → MLA formatWhat the style actually requires, and the parts people invent because a template told them to.Open this floor →

The rest of the formatting

Spacing, headings and contents pages are marked alongside the indent, and they all break in the same way — by being done by hand.

Double spacing in WordTwo routes from Microsoft, and the paragraph setting that makes a correctly spaced document still fail.Open this floor → Table of contents in WordThe automatic one, which also fixes your headings.Open this floor → Deleting a page in WordThe blank page that will not go away, and what is actually causing it.Open this floor →

Other editors

The same paragraph property exists in every word processor, under a different menu and the same name.

Google Docs marginsThe settings people go looking for in the other common editor.Open this floor → Word processors without the cloudWhat still works entirely on your own machine, and what it costs.Open this floor → Combining Word documentsThe built-in feature hidden behind a small arrow, and what happens to your formatting.Open this floor →

Handing it in

Formatting that was done properly survives export. Formatting done with spaces does not.

Word to PDFExporting the finished thing without a converter site.Open this floor → Track changesWorking on a document somebody else will review.Open this floor → How plagiarism checkers workWhy a correctly cited quotation still counts as a match.Open this floor →

What this tower will not do

It will not leave the By field blank. The reason most people are here is an APA reference list, and APA publishes the figure — half an inch, quoted above.

It will not suggest lining it up with spaces or tabs. It looks the same on your screen and collapses on anybody else’s.

And it will not give a depth for a style it has not read. Where the number comes from APA, the page says so; for another style, its own manual is the source. What holds instead is simple: the definition and steps are quoted from Microsoft’s support documentation and the reference list requirements from APA Style, each with the date it was read.

Where this page got its facts

Microsoft Support — Create a hanging indent in Word, including the definition and the Windows, macOS and web instructions — support.microsoft.com, read 21 August 2026.
APA Style — Reference list setup, including the half-inch hanging indent, the single-paragraph requirement and the label to use — apastyle.apa.org, read 21 August 2026.

Written by Alberto Gulotta

Founder and editor of AI Tools Primer, writing from Palermo, Italy. Thirty-five years of taking computers apart, starting with a Commodore 64 — the long version is on the about page.

Something wrong on this page? Write to aitoolsprimer@gmail.com and it gets fixed.

Written on 21 August 2026.

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