Participating Frequently

Question

How do I make a wrapped line start directly under the first letter of the title?

Forum|Forum|1 day ago
August 21, 2026
9 replies
61 views

Hi everyone,

I'm formatting a document in InDesign and I'm trying to create a hanging indent for numbered sections.

For example, I have this section:

17. Amalgamation or transfer of assets and liabilities or division of multi-State co-operative societies

At the moment, when the text wraps, I get:

17. Amalgamation or transfer of assets and liabilities or division of multi-State co-
operative societies

What I want is for the “o” in “operative” to start directly underneath the “A” in “Amalgamation”, like this:

17. Amalgamation or transfer of assets and liabilities or division of multi-State co-
operative societies

My current Paragraph settings are:

Left Indent: 3p0
First Line Indent: 0p0

I have also attached a screenshot showing my Paragraph panel.

Could someone please explain what setting I need to change to make the wrapped line start exactly at exactly below of “Amalgamation”?

I'm not trying to change the font or spacing between the words — I only want the wrapped line to align with the first letter of the title.

Thank you!

Mike Witherell

Community Expert

In a paragraph style, it looks like the below settings when under Bullets & Numbering. It can also be set similarly in the Tabs section of the paragraph style, but it is easier to set it in Bullets & Numbering (even though you aren’t making a bulleted/numbered list). This is called a hanging tab.

Here is what that looks like in the Tabs panel or Tabs section of the paragraph style:

The active blue tab character overlays and obscures the left indent triangle.

Remember: the name of the game in InDesign is the use of paragraph styles. Avoid manual formatting of text. Manual formatting takes forever.

Mike Witherell

S

s_009Author

Participating Frequently

Hi this is what i am trying to achieve...this is formatted file A..and now below is file b please look at point 17 rest all text is colred to focus on point 17.please see The word ‘operational ‘ should start below amalgmation

Peter Kahrel

Community Expert

As Bob mentioned, in addition to the left indent and first line left indent, you need to replace the space between the number and the text to a tab. You can do that with the following find/change query (in the GREP tab of the Find/Change window):

Find what: ^[\d]+\.\K\h

Change to: \t

S

s_009Author

Participating Frequently

hi there is another file which is already formatted ..they do not have an automatic numbering but they have the tab psiitonn at 2p9..alli can see in this is that its formatted the way i want to...can i do the same ...i have tried but the second wrapped line is not aligning with the srat of the frist line int he title..

BobLevine

Community Expert

Select the text and then show the panel, but I suggest using paragraph styles, not manual formatting.

S

s_009Author

Participating Frequently

This is what i g et when i set the left ident to 3p0 and first line indent -3p0

BobLevine

Community Expert

Set the tab position to the same as the indent:

S

s_009Author

Participating Frequently

hi, its not a numebered list so then how do i set the tab..because what i can see in your screenshot is , it is in the bullet and numbering section...fyi, 17 is saved as text..its not a numbered list...

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