Frequently asked questions - Writer

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How do I create a hanging indent in my document?

Modifying the indent of the paragraphs.

Two different options are available, independently of the way you want the indents to be displayed.

open the Style and Formatting window (select: View ▸ Styles from the menus bar) (or F11);
put the cursor in the text to which you want to apply an indent (or in an empty area that you will fill with text later on); and
double-click the Hanging indent paragraph style in the Styles and Formatting window. This style has, by default, a left indent of 1cm and a first line indent of -0.50cm

open the Styles and Formatting window (as described above);
select a common paragraph style like Default Style;
right-click on the name to open the contextual menu and select New;
in the dialog box that opens, enter a name for your style;
click on the Indents & Spacing tab. Choose the setting under the Indent section. To get an indent of 1 cm, you need to enter 1cm^[1] in the field Before Text. Then click the First line field and enter the value -0.5cm^[1]; and
click OK. The new style appears now among the list of styles. You can use it now as a predefined style (see above).

There exists another solution, less common because not based on styles.

select the View ▸ Rulers ▸ Rulers and View ▸ Rulers ▸ Vertical Ruler menu to display (and hide) the rulers (the two graduated areas at the top and on the left);
slide the cursor at the bottom left of the horizontal ruler until the desired position of the indent (1cm for example);
slide the cursor at the top-left of the horizontal ruler to set the first line indent; and

You can adjust these values by selecting the Format ▸ Paragraph... ▸ Indents & Spacing.

↑ ^1.0 ^1.1 If the measurement unit is set to Inch (Tools ▸ Options ▸ LibreOffice Writer ▸ General ▸ Settings ▸ Measurement unit), then the centimiter value you just entered will automatically be converted to inch.