Paragraph Formatting in Word 2003

Microsoft Word paragraph formatting is the changes that will effects the entire paragraph in a document. What is the thing that you can change?

The format of a paragraph can be changed by setting tabs, indenting, aligning, changing line spacing between and within a paragraph, etc. All these features allow you to enhance the appearance of your document.

Follow the step-by-step guides below:

To apply the paragraph formatting

Select the paragraph you want to apply the format.

From the Format menu, click Paragraph.

From the Paragraph dialog box displayed, do the appropriate changes and click the OK button.

To align text

Select the text you wish to align (Recommended whole paragraph).

In the General section Alignment menu, select one of the option:

Align Left (Ctrl+L)	Aligns text flush with the left margin. This is the defaultsetting.
Center (Ctrl+E)	Centers text between the left and right margins.
Align Right (Ctrl+R)	Aligns text flush with the right margin.
Justify (Ctrl+J)	Spreads text evenly between the left and right margins by expanding or reducing the space between individual words.
Distributed (Ctrl+Shift+J)	Distributes text between the left and right margins. This is clear if your text is short (less than a line).

Paragraph Formatting - Indentation

Indentation determines the amount of horizontal space of the paragraphi.e. from where the starting typing point of a paragraph.

To indent a paragraph

Select the paragraph you wish to indent or place the insertion point in the paragraph you wish to indent.

From the Format menu, click Paragraph.

From the Paragraph dialog box, select the Indents and Spacing tab (if not ready displayed).

In the Indentation section, you can choose from the following options:

Left	Aligns the paragraph to the left-hand margin when you enter a positive number. Entering a negative number will align aparagraph to the left of the left-hand margin.
Right	Aligns the paragraph to the right-hand margin when you enter a positive number. Entering a negative number will align aparagraph to the right of the right-hand margin.
Special	Determines whether the indent is to be a First line or Hanging indent.
First Line	To indent the first line of the paragraph only.
Hanging	To create a Hanging indent.
None	No indentation.
By	To determines the distance of the indent from the margins, in tenths of an inch. To increase or decrease of the value, use the up and down arrows.

Paragraph Formatting - Line spacing

Line spacing determines the amount of vertical space between lines of text. The line spacing you select will affect all lines of text in the selectedparagraph or in the paragraph that contains the insertion point.

To adjust line spacing

Place the insertion point where you want to enter new text with new line spacing, or select the text you wish to modify the line spacing.

From the Format menu, click Paragraph.

From the Paragraph dialog box, the following options available:

Before	Adjusts the line spacing above selected lines, in point size.
After	Adjusts the line spacing below selected lines, in point size.
Line Spacing	The line spacing is automatically specified according to the tallest character on each line. The options for default line spacing include Single, 1.5 lines, Double, At least (current point size), Exactly, and Multiple lines
Single	The default setting. Specifies single spacing, does not add any additional space between lines.
1.5 Lines	Specifies one and a half line spacing, and adds half a line of additional spaces between lines.
Double	Specifies double spacing, and adds a single line of additional spaces between lines.
At least	Specifies the minimum amount of space between lines. MS Word for Windows will add any additional space required.
Exactly	Specifies a fixed amount of space between lines. MS Word for Windows will not add any additional space, even if it is required.
Multiple	Setting the line spacing to a multiple of 1.2 is equivalent to 20% and to a multiple of 0.8 is equivalent to -20%. Setting the linespacing at a multiple of 2 is equivalent to setting the linespacing at Double. In the At box, type or select the line spacing you want. The default is three lines.

Note: Proper adjust the paragraph formatting will have a big effect on the overall look of the entire paragraph and document itself.