Remove a Hanging Indent in a Word Table

To remove a hanging indent in a Word table, select the affected paragraph or paragraphs, open the Paragraph settings from Home > Paragraph, set Special to (none), and set Left to 0 if you want the text aligned with the cell’s usual text edge. This changes paragraph formatting, not the table’s cell margins. You do not need an add-in; save the document first if you are making a broad change or are unsure which paragraphs are selected.

What You’ll Need

A Word document containing the table and the paragraph formatting you want to change.
Microsoft Word for Microsoft 365 on Windows for the menu paths below. Word for Mac has equivalent paragraph settings, though the route to the dialog can differ.
A clear idea of whether to fix one paragraph, several selected paragraphs, or the whole table. Selecting only the intended text helps preserve formatting elsewhere.

Step-by-Step

Locate the indented text. Click in the table and find a paragraph where the first line starts farther left than its wrapped lines. A hanging indent is a paragraph setting: it affects how a paragraph wraps, rather than moving the table or changing the width of the cell. If the first line and all wrapped lines are shifted together, the paragraph may have a left indent instead, so you can still follow the steps and check both settings.
Select the paragraph or paragraphs to fix. For one paragraph, click anywhere inside it; Word applies paragraph settings to the paragraph containing the insertion point. To change only some paragraphs, drag across their text or select them with the keyboard. For multiple paragraphs in one cell, make sure the selection reaches each paragraph mark or otherwise includes each paragraph, rather than selecting just a few words in the first one. To change an entire cell, click inside it, then choose Table Layout > Select > Select Cell. To change the whole table, click inside the table and choose Table Layout > Select > Select Table. The contextual tab may appear as Layout in some Word builds; use the tab that appears when the table is active.
Open the Paragraph dialog. Select the Home tab. In the Paragraph group, click the small dialog box launcher at the group’s lower-right corner. It is a tiny diagonal arrow, not the bullets, alignment, or line-spacing buttons. The Paragraph dialog opens with indentation and spacing controls. If you do not see the launcher, widen the Word window or expand the ribbon; a compact ribbon may hide some group controls.
Remove the special indent. On the Indents and Spacing tab, find the Indentation section. Open the Special list and choose (none). This removes the hanging-indent setting from the selected paragraphs. If the list currently says Hanging, the value in the adjacent By box is the distance used for that indent; you do not need to change that value after choosing (none).
Check the left indent too. In the same dialog, look at the Left box. Enter 0 if you want the paragraph’s left edge to return to the cell’s normal text edge. A left indent can remain even after the hanging setting is removed, making the whole paragraph look offset. Leave a nonzero value in place only if you deliberately want the paragraph inset from the cell’s usual text position. The cell’s internal margin still remains; zero here does not put text against the table border.
Apply the change and inspect the result. Click OK. Look at both the first line and any wrapped lines. They should now start at the same paragraph indent, unless you chose to keep a left indent. Check the top and bottom of the selected cell, because a cell can contain more than one paragraph. If the change affected too much or too little text, use Ctrl+Z on Windows immediately, adjust the selection, and repeat.
Use the Mac route if needed. In Word for Mac, select the paragraphs, then open Format > Paragraph from the macOS menu bar. In the dialog, set Special to (none) and set Left to 0 if required, then confirm. The Home ribbon may also provide a Paragraph dialog launcher, depending on the Word for Mac version and ribbon layout. The setting itself is the same; the main difference is where you open the dialog.

Common Mistakes

Changing the table instead of the paragraph. A hanging indent belongs to paragraph formatting inside a cell. Adjusting column width, row height, or table alignment will not remove it. If only the text inside a cell is offset, start with the Paragraph dialog rather than dragging a table boundary.

Selecting only part of a paragraph. Word may apply paragraph formatting to the paragraph containing the selection, but a selection that crosses several paragraphs can make it unclear which paragraphs will change. Before clicking OK, confirm that the intended paragraphs or cells are selected. When the whole table needs the same fix, use Select Table rather than repeatedly selecting visible lines.

Changing only Special and overlooking Left. Setting Special to (none) removes the hanging relationship, but a separate left indent may still shift all the text. Set Left to zero only when you want the text back at the cell’s normal position; otherwise, retaining a deliberate inset is fine.

Confusing paragraph indentation with cell margins. Cell margins are the padding between the cell border and its contents. They affect all text in the cell, not just the first line or wrapped lines of one paragraph. If every paragraph in a cell is evenly inset and the Paragraph settings show no indent, investigate the table’s cell margins instead of repeatedly changing the paragraph indent.

Using a full-format reset too quickly. A broad reset can remove useful paragraph choices, including spacing, alignment, or other formatting. Prefer the specific Special and Left controls for this task. If you use any general reset command, check the paragraph afterward and restore any formatting you still need.

Tips

Turn on formatting marks if it is hard to see where one paragraph ends and the next begins. On Windows, choose Home > Paragraph > Show/Hide ¶. Paragraph marks appear in the document but do not print. They help reveal whether a cell contains one paragraph with wrapped lines or several separate paragraphs; each paragraph can have its own indentation.

You can also use the horizontal ruler for a quick visual adjustment. If the ruler is hidden, choose View > Ruler. Select the affected paragraph or paragraphs first. On the left side of the ruler, the upper triangle controls the first-line indent, the lower triangle controls the hanging indent, and the small square below them moves both together. To remove a hanging indent while retaining the paragraph’s current overall position, move the lower triangle to align with the upper triangle. To return the paragraph to the cell’s normal text edge, align the markers with the paragraph’s left edge. The dialog is more precise when several paragraphs or exact zero settings matter.

For a large table, make a small test selection first. Fix one affected paragraph and confirm that the result is right before selecting the entire table. This is especially useful in tables copied from another document, where some paragraphs may intentionally use an inset or different alignment. If formatting appears to return after you type, check whether the next paragraph has a different style or whether pasted text is carrying its own paragraph formatting.

Remember that wrapped lines are not separate paragraphs. If only the first line is shifted, the hanging indent is a likely cause. If the whole paragraph is shifted, inspect the left indent. If all text in a cell, including other paragraphs, has the same extra padding, check cell margins. Identifying which pattern you see makes it easier to choose the right control instead of changing unrelated table settings.

Troubleshooting

The text still looks indented after choosing (none). Reopen the Paragraph dialog with the affected paragraph selected and check Left. If it is greater than zero, set it to zero if that is the alignment you want. Also confirm that the selection included the paragraph you are inspecting; it is easy to change one paragraph in a cell while looking at a neighboring one that has separate formatting.

The entire cell is inset, not just the wrapped lines. If the left and wrapped lines remain equally far from the cell border and the paragraph’s left indent is zero, check the cell margins. In Word for Windows, right-click in the cell and choose Table Properties, then use Cell > Options to inspect the cell margins. Depending on the table settings, you may need to clear Same as the whole table before editing an individual cell’s values. Be cautious: changing margins can affect all the content in that cell, not just the paragraph you were fixing.

Only some lines change, or the result is inconsistent. The cell may contain several paragraphs with different settings, or the table may have mixed formatting from pasted text. Turn on paragraph marks, select each paragraph that needs the change, and repeat the dialog steps. If the table is long, use Select Table only when every paragraph in it should have the same paragraph indentation; otherwise, select the relevant cells or text in smaller groups.

The dialog controls are unavailable or the selection is unclear. Click directly inside the table, close any open dialog, and select the cell or table again using the contextual Table Layout tab. If the document is protected or opened read-only, editing may be restricted; check whether Word displays a protection or read-only notice and obtain editing access before trying again. In a compact ribbon, maximize the window or expand the ribbon to find the Paragraph dialog launcher.

The indent returns after pressing Enter or pasting text. Pressing Enter can create a new paragraph that inherits the formatting of the paragraph before it, while pasted content can bring its own formatting. Apply the same paragraph settings to the new text, or paste using a text-only option if preserving the source formatting is not important. If the paragraph uses a style that imposes indentation, inspect the style before changing it for the whole document; a style-level adjustment can affect every paragraph using that style.

Frequently Asked Questions

Will removing the hanging indent change the table layout?
No. It changes how text paragraphs are indented inside the cells. It does not directly change column widths, row heights, borders, or cell margins. Text may wrap differently if the indent previously reduced the available line width, but the table’s dimensions remain the same.

Can I remove the indent from every cell at once?
Yes. Click in the table, choose Table Layout > Select > Select Table, then open the Paragraph dialog and set Special to (none). Set Left to zero only if all selected paragraphs should align with their cells’ normal text edges. Review the result because this may also remove intentional paragraph indents elsewhere in the table.

Why does only the first line start in a different place?
That is the usual visual pattern of a hanging indent: the first line begins at one position and the following wrapped lines begin farther to the right. Check Special in the Paragraph dialog. If it says Hanging, choosing (none) removes that setting.

Why is the whole paragraph shifted even after I remove the hanging indent?
A separate left indent may still be applied. Set Left to zero if you want the paragraph aligned with the cell’s regular text edge. If the Paragraph dialog already shows zero but all cell contents are inset, investigate the cell margins instead.

Will the change apply to text I type later?
It applies to the selected paragraphs. New paragraphs created with Enter often inherit the formatting of the current paragraph, but pasted text or a different style can introduce another indent. If the problem comes back, check the new paragraph’s settings and the style applied to it.

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Sources: Function behaviour and menu paths: Microsoft Support documentation for Excel. Method & sources

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