# How to do a hanging indent on Google Docs

A hanging indent is paragraph formatting where the first line sits flush with the left margin and every line after it is indented. It is the usual layout for bibliographies, works-cited pages and reference lists, because the first word of each entry stands out and the list is easier to scan, as in the example below.

![A bibliography formatted with hanging indents: each entry's first line, starting with the author's surname, sits at the left margin and any following lines are indented](https://workover.io/api/proxy-image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwp.wpdocsync.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2026%2F09%2F9008f646-f9c3-4c75-9f52-8e450b871b48-how-to-do-a-hanging-indent-on-google-docs.png)

This guide shows how to create a hanging indent in Google Docs in a desktop browser, how to adjust it, and how to make it part of a paragraph style. It does not cover Microsoft Word or the Google Docs mobile apps.

**Before you start:** you need edit access to the document.

## How to create a hanging indent in Google Docs

1. Click anywhere in the paragraph you want to format. To format several paragraphs at once, for example a whole reference list, select them all first.
2. Open the **Format** menu and point to **Align & indent**.
3. In the submenu, click **Indentation options**.

![Google Docs Format menu open with Align & indent highlighted and its submenu showing Indentation options highlighted at the bottom](https://workover.io/api/proxy-image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwp.wpdocsync.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2026%2F09%2F56134865-6742-4c30-8426-2007e6d1a020-how-to-do-a-hanging-indent-on-google-docs.png)

1. In the **Indentation options** dialog, open the **Special indent** dropdown and select **Hanging**.
2. In the box next to the dropdown, you can change how far the second and later lines are indented, for example `0.5`. The dialog shows the unit it uses under **Indentation**, such as inches.
3. Click **Apply**.

![Indentation options dialog showing Indentation (inches) with Left and Right set to 0, and Special indent set to Hanging with 0.25 in the box beside it, above the Cancel and Apply buttons](https://workover.io/api/proxy-image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwp.wpdocsync.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2026%2F09%2F75bbb9d6-2044-4e64-bfaf-4b765349c8bc-how-to-do-a-hanging-indent-on-google-docs.png)

The first line of each selected paragraph stays at the left margin and the remaining lines move in by the amount you entered.

## Adjusting the indent

To change the indent later, click in the paragraph and reopen **Format** > **Align & indent** > **Indentation options**. To make the hanging indent deeper or shallower, change the value in the box next to **Hanging**, then click **Apply**.

## Making a hanging indent part of a paragraph style

If every paragraph of a certain style should carry the same hanging indent, save the indent into that style. The example below uses **Normal text**.

1. Apply a hanging indent to one paragraph that uses the **Normal text** style, using the steps above, and leave your cursor in that paragraph.
2. Open **Format** > **Paragraph styles** > **Normal text**.
3. Click **Update ‘Normal text’ to match**.

All text in this document that uses **Normal text** is updated to match, so it picks up the hanging indent. Text that uses other styles, such as headings, does not change.

> **Note:** to reuse your updated styles in other documents, open **Format** > **Paragraph styles** > **Options** and click **Save as my default styles**. In another document, the same **Options** menu has **Use my default styles**.

If you only want the hanging indent on a reference list, and not on the body text, format the list’s paragraphs directly with the dialog instead of updating **Normal text**.

## Summary

- Create a hanging indent with **Format** > **Align & indent** > **Indentation options** > **Special indent** > **Hanging**, then **Apply**.
- Change the hanging depth with the value next to **Hanging**.
- Reuse the formatting by updating a paragraph style, and save it as your default to carry it into new documents.