The Paragraph Dialog Box

The Paragraph dialog box represents a place where almost all of your paragraph formatting can occur in one a single dialog box. This dialog box is not for the timid, but does offer you many things if you dare! Note that the dialog box consists of two “tabs”, Indents and Spacing and Line and Page Breaks

To display this box, choose Format Paragraph …

What follows is a detailed explanation of this dialog box. To help you navigate quickly to a given section, follow this outline:

What Do You Want to Do?	Where is This Found in the Dialog Box?
adjust text alignment within a paragraph	Indents and Spacing tab
set indentation for paragraphs	Indents and Spacing tab
set the line spacing for the text within a paragraph	Indents and Spacing tab
set tabs	Indents and Spacing tab -or- Line and Page Breaks tab
set and/or control page breaks	Line and Page Breaks tab
turn off line numbering for selected paragraph(s)	Line and Page Breaks tab
turn off hyphenation for selected paragraph(s)	Line and Page Breaks tab

The Options for the Indents and Spacing Tab

Format Paragraph Dialog Box Indents and Spacing Tab Selected Word XP	Format Paragraph Dialog Box Indents and Spacing Tab Selected Word X

• [Alignment]
  • is a dropdown list used to set the text alignment of the current paragraph or of each selected paragraph
  • select the type of justification required to one of the following choices
    • [Left] left justified or left aligned
      • means that the text at the left margin is “smooth”, that at the right is ragged
      • this is the default setting
    • [Right] right justified or right aligned
      • means that the text at the right margin is “smooth”, that at the left is ragged
    • [Centered] each line of the paragraph is centered
    • [Justified]
      • means that Microsoft Word randomly adds extra spaces between words so that the text at each margin is “smooth”
  • you may also set alignment by clicking on the text alignment buttons on the Formatting Toolbar
• [Outline level]: set the style for the desired outline level or leave it set to body text

• [Indentation] is used to set the indentation of the paragraph
  • [Left] is used to set the indentation of the left margin of the paragraph relative to the left margin of the page
    • to set the value enter a number or click the up or down arrows
    • although this option offers more precision, the end result is the same as adjusting the left indent marker on the ruler
  • [Right] is used to set the indentation of the right margin of the paragraph relative to the right margin of the page
    • to set the value enter a number or click the up or down arrows
    • although this option offers more precision, the end result is the same as adjusting the right indent marker on the ruler
  • [Special] allows you to select between a block style paragraph “(none)”, a first line indented paragraph, or a hanging paragraph
    • the default indentation for either a first line indented paragraph or a hanging paragraph is 0.5"
    • you may adjust the default indentation by entering a number or clicking the up or down arrows to set the value in the [By:] box
    • although this option offers more precision, the end result is the same as adjusting the left indent and first line markers on the ruler relative to one another

• [Spacing] indicates the amount of extra space to place between paragraphs
  • [Before]
    • indicates the amount of extra space you want above the first line of the current paragraph or of each selected paragraph
    • to set the value enter the amount in points (pt) or by clicking the up or down arrows
  • [After]
    • indicates the amount of extra space you want after the last line of the current paragraph or of each selected paragraph
    • to set the value enter the amount in points (pt) or by clicking the up or down arrows
  • [Line Spacing] is a dropdown list used to determine the amount of vertical space between lines of text
    • [Single]
      • sets the line spacing for each line to accommodate the largest font in that line
      • for example, in 10-point text, the line spacing is a little more than 10 points, the actual size of the characters plus a small amount of extra space; the amount of extra space will vary depending on the font that is used
    • [1.5 Lines] sets the line spacing for each line to one-and-a-half times that of single line spacing
    • [Double] sets the line spacing for each line to twice that of single line spacing
    • [At Least]
      • sets a minimum line spacing that Microsoft Word can adjust
      • any adjustment is used to accommodate larger font sizes or graphics that would not otherwise fit within the specified spacing
    • [Exactly]
      • sets a fixed line spacing that Microsoft Word does not adjust
      • if you use this setting and portions of characters or graphics appear to be clipped, increase the spacing specified in the minimum or fixed line spacing
      • this option makes all lines evenly spaced.
    • [Multiple]
      • allows line spacing to be increased or decreased by any percentage
        • for example, setting line spacing to a multiple of 1.2 will increase the space by 20 percent, while setting line spacing to a multiple of 0.8 will decrease the space by 20 percent
        • setting the line spacing at a multiple of 2 is equivalent to setting the line spacing at Double.
  • [At]
    • type or select the amount of line spacing you want
    • this option is available only if you select [At Least], [Exactly], or [Multiple] in the [Line Spacing] box

• clicking on thebutton will take you to the Tab Dialog Box

the options for the Line and Page Breaks tab

Format Paragraph Dialog Box Line and Page Breaks Tab Selected Word XP	Format Paragraph Dialog Box Line and Page Breaks Tab Selected Word X

• [Pagination]
  • sets rules for how Microsoft Word handles line breaks and page breaks for a selected paragraph
  • click one or more of the following “on” (item with ) or “off”
    • [Page Break Before]
      • inserts a hard page break before the current paragraph
      • keyboard shortcut is Cmd + Enter (Macintosh) or Ctrl + Enter (Windows)
      • you may also select the Insert -» Break command and select “Page Break” in the dialog box
    • [Keep With Next]
      • prevents a soft page break between a paragraph and the following paragraph
    • [Keep Lines Together]
      • prevents a soft page break within a paragraph.
    • [Widow/Orphan Control]
      • prevents Microsoft Word from printing the last line of a paragraph by itself at the top of a page (“widow”) or the first line of a paragraph by itself at the bottom of a page (“orphan”).

• line numbers [Suppress Line Numbers]
  • keeps line numbers from appearing next to lines in the current paragraph or in selected paragraphs in sections of a document that have line numbering turned “on”
  • Microsoft Word omits these suppressed lines from the numbering sequence

• hyphenate [Don't Hyphenate]
  • excludes the paragraph from automatic hyphenation
  • see Tools Hyphenation to tell Microsoft Word to automatically hyphenate as you type

• clicking on thebutton will take you to the Tab Dialog Box

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Copyright©2003
last updated August 12, 2003