Some document situations will call for you to indent the second line in a document. Use these steps to indent the second line in Google Docs.
- Open the document in Google Docs.
- Click the View tab at the top of the window.
- Select the Show Ruler option if it’s not already selected.
- Select the text to indent.
- Drag the left indent triangle on the ruler to the desired location.
- Drag the first line indent marker back to the left margin.
Our article continues below with additional information and pictures for these steps.
Occasionally when you are working with a document you will encounter an unusual situation where you need to make formatting changes that are difficult to do.
One such situation can arise when you are creating a bibliography or works cited page and you need to indent the second line rather than the first.
This is often referred to as a hanging indent, but there isn’t a setting on any of the menus in Google Docs that lets you apply that formatting.
However, there are a couple of controls on the ruler that allow you to accomplish what you are trying to do. Our guide below will show you how to indent the second line in Google Docs.
How to Indent the Second Line on Google Docs
These steps were performed in the desktop version of the Google Chrome Web browser but will work in other desktop browsers as well.
Step 1: Sign into Google Drive and open your document.
Step 2: Click the View tab at the top of the window.
Step 3: Click the Show ruler option if it’s not already checked.
Step 4: Highlight the paragraph for which you wish to indent the second line.
Step 5: Click on the blue triangle in the ruler and drag it to the desired location for the second line indent. Note that the whole paragraph is going to indent while we do this, but we will fix it in a second.
Step 6: Click the on the blue rectangle above the triangle and drag it back to the left margin.
You should now have a paragraph where the second line and the rest of the lines are indented, while the top line is at the left margin.
See also
- How to change margins in Google Docs
- How to add strikethrough in Google Docs
- How to add a row to a table in Google Docs
- How to insert a horizontal line in Google Docs
- How to change to landscape orientation in Google Docs
Matthew Burleigh has been writing tech tutorials since 2008. His writing has appeared on dozens of different websites and been read over 50 million times.
After receiving his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Computer Science he spent several years working in IT management for small businesses. However, he now works full time writing content online and creating websites.
His main writing topics include iPhones, Microsoft Office, Google Apps, Android, and Photoshop, but he has also written about many other tech topics as well.
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