Please note that other Pearson websites and online products and services have their own separate privacy policies. This privacy notice provides an overview of our commitment to privacy and describes how we collect, protect, use and share personal information collected through this site. Wider text blocks should have bigger indents.Pearson Education, Inc., 221 River Street, Hoboken, New Jersey 07030, (Pearson) presents this site to provide information about products and services that can be purchased through this site. For instance, narrow text blocks (3″ or less) should have first-line indents toward the low end of this range. (Recall that there are 72 points to an inch, so this works out to 0.17–0.67″.)īut use your judgment-consider the width of the text block when setting the first-line indent. So a paragraph set in 12 point should have a first-line indent of 12–48 points. It should be no bigger than four times the point size, or else the first line will seem disconnected from the left edge. Typically, a first-line indent should be no smaller than the current point size, or else it’ll be hard to notice. And vice versa.Ī first-line indent on the first paragraph of any text is optional, because it’s obvious where the paragraph starts.

If you use a first-line indent on a paragraph, don’t use space between. The other common way is with space between paragraphs.įirst-line indents and space between paragraphs have the same relationship as belts and suspenders. First-line indents Between one and four times the point sizeĪ first-line indent is the most common way to signal the start of a new paragraph.

How to put a first line indent in word