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One of the most common paragraph formatting tasks is aligning paragraphs within a document. As you know, you can set margins to specify overall page and document alignment. But alignment matters don't stop there. You can also control alignment at the paragraph level by specifying text alignment and indentation. You can configure paragraph alignment settings using these familiar methods:
In this section, we'll examine the intricacies of each of these techniques.
For more information about setting margins and configuring overall page setup parameters, see Chapter 21, "Mastering Page Setup and Pagination."
The quickest way to apply paragraph formatting is to click within a paragraph or select a few paragraphs and then click a button on the Formatting toolbar or press a keyboard shortcut. Of course, these processes are limited by their default settings, but in many cases, the easiest route proves to be the best when it comes to paragraph formatting. To review which Formatting buttons and keyboard shortcuts can assist you in formatting paragraphs, see Table 7-1.
Numbered and bulleted lists also use paragraph formatting settings. For more information about lists, see Chapter 8, "Enumerating with Lists, Lists, and More Lists."
Formatting toolbar buttons and keyboard shortcuts supply quick access to paragraph formatting options, but the Word ruler offers visually oriented people an intuitive and more precise method for controlling paragraph alignment. The trick to effectively using the ruler is to become comfortable with the ruler's markers. To get up to speed, have a look at Figure 7-2, which shows the latest incarnation of the Word ruler (which looks extremely similar to the ruler used in earlier versions of Word). The next few sections describe how to use the ruler markers to format paragraphs.
Table 7-1. Formatting Toolbar Buttons and Keyboard Shortcuts for Aligning and Formatting Paragraphs
Format | Toolbar button | Keyboard shortcut | Description |
---|---|---|---|
Align Left |
| Ctrl+L | Aligns information along the left margin of the page or specified area, with a jagged right edge. |
Align Center |
| Ctrl+E | Aligns the midpoint of each line with the horizontal center of the page or area. |
Align Right |
| Ctrl+R | Aligns information along the right margin of the page or specified area, with a jagged left edge. |
Justify |
| Ctrl+J | Aligns text flush with both the left and right margins of the page or specified area. |
Line Spacing |
| Ctrl+1 (single space), Ctrl+2 (double-space), or Ctrl+5 (1.5 space) | Controls the vertical spacing between lines of text. The Line Spacing tab includes a drop-down list of line spacing options. |
Decrease Indent |
| Ctrl+Shift+M | Decreases a paragraph's indent by one tab stop. By default, tab stops are set every 0.5 inch. |
Increase Indent |
| Ctrl+M | Increases a paragraph's indent by one tab stop. By default, tab stops are set every 0.5 inch. |
Border |
| None | Applies a border to specified text. Clicking the Borders down arrow opens a drop- down menu of common border options. |
By default, Word displays the ruler in all views except Outline view. If you don't see the ruler, you can display it by choosing View, Ruler.
As you can see in Figure 7-2, the 0 spot on the ruler corresponds to the left margin setting. By default, the left and right margins are set to 1.25 inches on 8.5–by-11-inch paper. Thus, the default setup provides 6 inches between the margins for content (see Figure 7-1).
Figure 7-2. You can use the Word ruler to quickly and accurately align document information.
You've probably noticed that the ruler measurements are displayed in inches. If you prefer to use other units of measurement, you can change the default measurement unit setting as follows:
To adjust left and right indents using the ruler, click within the paragraph or select the paragraphs you want to adjust, or select the entire document (press Ctrl+A). Then click and drag the Left Indent or Right Indent marker on the ruler.
Tip
When you're working with tables, the ruler offers additional alignment markers, as shown in Figure 7-3. Namely, you can drag column markers to alter margin widths and row height markers to adjust row height; the margin markers move to correspond to the currently selected row and column. You can also indent table cell contents or entire columns.
Figure 7-3. When you're working with tables in Print Layout view, you can use the vertical and horizontal rulers to adjust row heights and column widths.
For more information about resizing and aligning tables and table contents, see Chapter 18, "Organizing Concepts in Tables."
You can use the ruler to create a hanging indent or a first-line indent, as illustrated in Figure 7-4. To do so, click in the paragraph you want to format or select multiple paragraphs, and then drag the First Line Indent marker left or right to the desired location.
Tip
Using toolbar buttons, keyboard shortcuts, and ruler markers to align paragraphs can be quick, but aligning paragraphs by using the Paragraph dialog box offers its own advantages. By configuring settings in the Paragraph dialog box, you can align paragraphs precisely as well as apply a number of paragraph formatting settings at one time.
To open the Paragraph dialog box, shown in Figure 7-5, choose Format, Paragraph, or right-click a paragraph (or selected paragraphs) and choose Paragraph on the shortcut menu.
Figure 7-4. You can drag the First Line Indent marker to create a hanging indent or a first-line indent.
Tip
Figure 7-5. The Paragraph dialog box provides precise and complete control of paragraph formatting.
The Indents And Spacing tab offers the following paragraph alignment options:
You can configure other paragraph settings in the Paragraph dialog box, including paragraph spacing parameters, as you'll see next.