Paragraph Formatting

Paragraph formatting is applied to entire paragraphs of text. Word offers a variety of paragraph formatting options:

• Alignment (Figure 29) is the way lines of text line up between the indents.

  Figure 29. Examples of alignment options.

  
  
  

• Indentation (Figure 30) is the spacing between text and margins. Word allows you to set left and right margins, as well as special indentations for first line and hanging indents.

  Figure 30. Examples of indentation options. The ruler in this illustration shows the indent markers set for the first sample paragraph.

  
  
  

• Orientation determines whether text should read across or down the page.

• Bullets (Figure 31) combines hanging indentation and bullet characters.

  Figure 31. Example of bullet formatting.

  
  
  

• Numbering (Figure 32) combines hanging indentation and automatic numbering.

  Figure 32. Example of numbering format.

  
  
  

• Line spacing (Figure 33) is the amount of space between lines.

  Figure 33. Example of line spacing options.

  
  
  

• Paragraph spacing (Figure 34) is the amount of space before and after the paragraph.

  Figure 34. Example of paragraph spacing options.

  
  
  

• Pagination options, including Widow/ Orphan control, Keep lines together, Keep with next, and Page break before, determine how automatic page breaks occur in the document.

• Line numbering and hyphenation options determine whether the paragraph should be excluded from line numbering and hyphenation.

Tip

• Tabs are also a paragraph formatting option. Because of their relative complexity, however, I discuss them separately later in this chapter.