What is a hanging indent in Word?
A hanging indent, also known as a second-line indent, is when all the lines in a paragraph are indented except for the first line. Hanging indents are normally used for numbered and bulleted lists, where the numbers or bullets are not indented but the rest of the lines are.
The screenshot below illustrates an example of a hanging indent:

Now, how do you create or remove a hanging indent in Word?
The remaining sections below will show you how.
How to do hanging indent in Word
The keyboard shortcut to create a hanging indent in Word is Ctrl+T. This shortcut will give you a ½-inch hanging indent. However, if you want a more detailed navigation on how to create hanging indent in Word, keep reading.
Obey the instructions below for detailed steps to perform this task:
- Select the paragraph or paragraphs for the hanging indent.
- Under the Home tab, in the Paragraph group, click on the Paragraph Settings launcher.

The Paragraph dialog box will appear.
See screenshot below:

- Under the Indents and Spacing tab, in the Indentation category, click the Special drop-down list and select Hanging.
- By default, the By: field will change to ½ inch. You can adjust it further by indicating how much you want each line in the paragraph indented except the first line.

- Click the OK button.
Upon clicking the OK button, the first line of the paragraph won’t change, but the rest of the paragraph will be indented by the default length which is 0.5 inch or by the value you set.
How to remove a hanging indent or second-line indent in Word
Maybe you happen to stumble on a document that already has hanging indent which you don’t like.
In Word, removing second line or hanging indents is just as easy as creating them.
Without further ado, obey the below steps to remove a hanging indent in Word:
- Select the paragraph or paragraphs that has the hanging indent.
- Under the Home tab, in the Paragraph group, click on the Paragraph Settings launcher.

The Paragraph dialog box will appear.
- Select (none) from the Special drop down-list.

- Click OK.
As soon as you hit the OK button, the hanging ident will be removed leaving you with a normal paragraph without any indentation.