1. NeilP

    NeilP New Member

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    Indenting

    Discussion in 'General Writing' started by NeilP, Jan 21, 2022.

    Apologies if this is the wrong forum but I couldn't see one that really suited.
    I just read an article saying that a lot of editors prefer or even demand that you do not use the TAB key or repeated spaces to indent text. This was news to me.

    But when I Googled how to indent text without using the TAB key, just found guides about things like manually selecting one paragraph at a time and then using an option to indent it - which seems absurdly time-consuming.

    Am I missing something obvious here?
    Is there an easy way in indent on a word processor that doesn't involve the TAB key, space bar pressses or messing around manually selecting each individual paragraph?

    Surely nobody types a whole novel and then goes through it manually indenting everything one paragraph at a time.
     
  2. Xoic

    Xoic Prognosticator of Arcana Ridiculosum Contributor Blogerator

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    Any decent word processer allows you to use styles, and you can set it up so all your first lines are automatically indented across the entire document. It would be under Paragraph Styles>Indent First Line. I don't know if this is what the editors want, or if they simply don't want lines indented at all?
     
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  3. NeilP

    NeilP New Member

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    Thanks - I eventually figured it out - I'm using the Android version of Word - like you said, a "style" option to indent the first line.

    What I read was that they don't want you to use Tab or Space because it causes problems if later on they do things with the formatting of your text file - not that they don't want lines indented, just that they should be indented with something like "styles' rather than tab/space characters.
     
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  4. Xoic

    Xoic Prognosticator of Arcana Ridiculosum Contributor Blogerator

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    Good to know, thanks.
     
  5. Idiosyncratic

    Idiosyncratic Active Member

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    Yep, I had to help a friend reformat a short story where they had used spaces instead of automatic indents and it was an absolute nightmare. If they had used automatic styles indents, the whole process would have taken a minute at most, plus a second minute to check it over.
     
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  6. SapereAude

    SapereAude Contributor Contributor

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    That is correct. Indent body paragraphs, but use a defined style to accomplish it. When it's done through a defined style, any change to the format can be made globally by editing the style rather than having to go through the entire manuscript to change each paragraph individually.

    Beyond that, for "typesetting" a book interior, the first line in the first paragraph of each chapter or subsection typically is not indented. However, I don't know if editors want this detail to be observed in manuscripts.
     
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