Alternatively called a negative indent, a hanging indent is an indent that indents all text except the first line. Below is an example of a hanging indent, which is often used in a bibliography.

How to create a hanging indent

To create a hanging indent in Microsoft Word, follow the steps below.

  • Highlight the paragraph that you want to have formatted as a hanging indented paragraph.
  • Right-click the highlighted paragraph and select Paragraph.
  • In the Indentation section, in the Special box, select Hanging.

First-line indent, Indent, Tab, Typography terms

  • How to adjust the indents and tabs in Microsoft Word.
  • How to indent or tab text on a web page or in HTML.
  • Do you need to indent when writing HTML code?