King Abdulaziz University

The Applied College

Computer and Information Technology Department

Chapter 1: Microsoft Office Word

Module 1: Managing Documents
and Options
Lesson 5: Formatting
paragraphs
In this lesson, you'll guide the students in applying different formatting techniques
to paragraphs. Specifically, students will learn how to set line and paragraph
spacing, indentation, and alignment. You'll also instruct them in how to improve
readability by applying spacing between paragraphs and lines.

Lesson Learning Outcomes

By the end of this lesson, you will be able to:
1. Adjust the spacing between lines in a paragraph and spacing between
paragraphs.
2. Adjust the indentation of lines and paragraphs.

Topic 1: Set line and paragraph

spacing
In this topic, you'll learn how to make your document readable with no issue. One
of the key ways to ensure readability is by structuring a document with
paragraphs. When you have more separation via line spacing, the text is much
more readable.
Line spacing is the amount of white space between two lines of text, compared to
paragraph spacing, which is the amount of white space between two paragraphs.
Managing the white space, and therefore the readability and design of the
document, is an important concept to understand for managing your document
formatting overall.

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King Abdulaziz University
The Applied College
Computer and Information Technology Department

Line and paragraph spacing

While working with content, you can apply spacing to increase or decrease the
amount of space between lines and paragraphs.
To apply line spacing, you can apply Single, 1.5, Double, At least, Exactly, or
Multiple. To apply one of these settings, select your content, and then from the
Line and Paragraph Spacing command, select the spacing size you want. You
can also access these settings by opening the Paragraph Settings dialog box of
the Paragraph group (refer to Figure 1).

Figure 1: Accessing the Paragraph Settings dialog box

Figure 2: The Paragraph dialog box with a focus on the Spacing options

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King Abdulaziz University
The Applied College
Computer and Information Technology Department

To apply spacing to a paragraph, you can customize the intended amount in the
Before or After spacing option available from the Paragraph Setting dialog
box. The Before option allows you to customize the spacing before the active
paragraph, whereas After applies to the spacing after the active paragraph. You
can also manage these spacings in the Paragraph group on the Layout tab.

Shading and borders

Other common paragraph formatting features include shading and borders. These
are two features to use when you want to dress up your paragraphs. With a single
character selected in a paragraph, you can apply either or both—shading and
borders—to create more depth to your document. To fully customize either the
borders or the shading, select the Borders command in the Paragraph group,
and then select Borders and Shading:
Borders. A border provides a way to bring attention to your paragraph by
applying a black line by default around the background of your paragraph. You
can modify where the line appears for your paragraph by using the Borders
command.
Shading. This provides a way to apply color around the background of your
paragraph.

Show/Hide (Reveal Formatting)

Another helpful tool available in the Paragraph group is the Reveal Formatting
command. When you select this command, you can observe all the hidden
formatting applied in the document, including in tables. It might be difficult to
observe what's happening underneath if you don’t use this command. You'll make
a closer examination of this command in other modules, when you learn how to
insert and delete page, column, and section breaks.

Try-it: Set line and paragraph spacing

In this levelled try-it, you'll modify the line spacing and the paragraph spacing
within a document to improve its readability.

Try-it 1
In this try-it, you'll work with an existing document and adjust the line spacing of
the paragraphs in the document.

Resources
You'll need the following resource for this try-it:

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King Abdulaziz University
The Applied College
Computer and Information Technology Department

 L5_T1_try1_concord_grapes_lines_starter.docx in this lesson’s Learning

Activity Resources folder

Instructions
You'll perform the following general tasks during this try-it:
1. Select all the content in the document.
2. Apply double line spacing to all the paragraphs in the document.
3. Note that the Concord Grapes title text needs to stand out a bit more. Apply
3.0 line spacing to this title.
4. Take note of the readability of the document.
5. Save your document as My_concord_grapes_lines.docx.

Try-it 2
In this try-it, you'll work with an existing document and adjust the paragraph
spacing in the document.

Resources
You'll need the following resource for this try-it:
 L5_T1_try2_concord_grapes_paragraphs_starter.docx in this lesson’s
Learning Activity Resources folder

Instructions
You'll perform the following general tasks during this try-it:
1. Apply 12-point spacing before all paragraphs and 24-point spacing after all
paragraphs.
2. The Concord Grapes title text needs to stand out a bit more. Apply 30-point
spacing before the paragraph and 42-point spacing after the paragraph.
3. Apply a new font color and bold and italic formatting to the Concord Grapes
title.
4. Take note of the readability of the document.
5. Save your document as My_concord_grapes_paragraphs.docx.

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King Abdulaziz University
The Applied College
Computer and Information Technology Department

Topic 2: Set paragraph and line

indentation
In this topic, you'll learn how to apply a line indentation to a paragraph. Also, the
line and paragraph spacing, the arrangement and placement of the content—that
is, the alignment—also impacts the document’s readability. For example, have
you noticed that in some books, the first word in the first paragraph is placed
differently?

Format the alignment

You can format the alignment of a single character, word, sentence, or paragraph
to place content on the page at specific locations. One approach is to select
Increase Indent or Decrease Indent in the Paragraph group (refer to Figure
3). You can find this group on both the Home tab and the Layout tab, with the
easier way being via the Home tab. You can also use select the Tab key on your
keyboard to apply a default indent.

Figure 3: The Decrease Indent and Increase Indent commands

Another way to modify the alignment of paragraphs is by using the text alignment
commands—that is, Left, Center, Right, and Justify. These four commands are
located in the Paragraph dialog box (refer to Figure 4), and you can apply them
by placing your cursor inside the specified paragraph.

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King Abdulaziz University
The Applied College
Computer and Information Technology Department

Figure 4: Alignment commands in the Paragraph dialog box

This is how the text alignment commands are used:

 Left and Right. When you apply each of these alignment options, the
content aligns to the corresponding edge of the page margin.
 Centered. This alignment option centers the content with respect to the
left and right page margins.
 Justified. This option also aligns your paragraph equally between the left
and right margins but spaces out the words on each line so that both the
left and right edges of the paragraph are in a straight line.
Using the Paragraph dialog box allows you to apply the majority of the
commands available in the Paragraph group but provides you with a few hidden
gems, as well. The following section reveals a few of these gems.

Add indent markers

If you’ve taken a writing class in school, you’re likely familiar with the concept of
indenting for paragraphs, quotations, and specific letter guidelines. To apply a few
of these specific indents, you’ll want to investigate the Paragraph dialog box and
learn how to apply the first line indent and the hanging indent (refer to Figure 5).
These options allow you to manage the indent level for one or both sides of your
document.

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King Abdulaziz University
The Applied College
Computer and Information Technology Department

Figure 5: Special indents and the preview

The Preview box demonstrates how a paragraph will be affected by the

selections of the indent options. A Special box also exists and contains the First
line and Hanging indent options:
 First line. Manages the indent level from the left side of your document for
the first line of a paragraph.
 Hanging. Applies the indent to all lines of the paragraph except the first
line. When you apply the hanging indent, you’ll notice all of the paragraph
content indenting while the first line remains aligned to the left margin.
The Paragraph group has many other features to explore that will assist you in
managing your content on your pages. Take some time to explore the other
commands to discover how they can assist you.

Activity: Show me how

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King Abdulaziz University
The Applied College
Computer and Information Technology Department

The teacher will demonstrate how to format the alignment of content by

modifying the indentation of paragraphs, including special, left, and right indents.

Activity instructions
Participate in the activity by following these instructions:
1. Observe as the teacher guides the class through the location and use of
paragraph alignment options.
2. Take special notice of where to access the paragraph indent options by
activating the Paragraph dialog box. Ask questions, and engage with the
teacher during the demonstration. For example, you can ask questions such
as:
o What is the difference between the Centered and Justified options?
o How do I specify the amount of indentation for a paragraph?
o Can I change the unit of measurement—for example, from inches to
centimeters?
o What's the difference between first line and hanging indentation?

Try-it: Set paragraph and line indentation

In this levelled try-it, you'll apply specific line and paragraph indentation to
content.

Try-it 1
In this try-it, you'll open an existing document and apply both a first-line indent
and a hanging indent to specific content to make it stand out.

Resources
You'll need the following resource for this try-it:
 L5_T2_try1_vendor_letter_starter.docx in this lesson’s Learning Activity
Resources folder

Instructions
You'll perform the following general tasks during this try-it:
1. Use your keyboard to apply the default indent to the first line after the
salutation—that is, to the line, We are so excited to learn of your recent
booth rental purchases….
2. Apply a hanging indent of 0.5 just before the word There in the paragraph
that begins with There is nothing I anticipate….

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King Abdulaziz University
The Applied College
Computer and Information Technology Department

3. Save your document as L5_T2_try1_vendor_letter_final.docx.

Try-it 2
In this try-it, you'll apply both a left and a right line indent to specific content to
make it stand out.

Resources
You'll need the following resource for this try-it:
 L5_T2_try2_vendor_letter_quote_starter.docx in this lesson’s Learning
Activity Resources folder

Instructions
You'll perform the following general tasks during this try-it:
1. Use your keyboard to apply the default indent to the first line after the
salutation—that is, to the line, We are so excited to learn of your recent
booth rental purchases….
2. Apply both a left and a right indent of 0.5 by placing your cursor just before
the word There in the paragraph that begins with There is nothing I
anticipate….
3. Save your document as L5_T2_try2_vendor_letter_quote_final.docx.

Lesson Summary
In this lesson, we introduced you how to make you document more readable by
applying paragraph format and indentation. In the next lesson, we will discuss
how to navigate through your document.

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