How to Do Hanging Indents on Google Slides (+Video)

Watching a screencast is a great way to learn. We’ve produced a video that shows you how to add hanging indent on Google Slides effect. That way, you can properly format your text. Watch our guide of hanging indent in Google Slides steps below:

Prefer learning with an illustrated guide? We’ve got you covered. Read on for step-by-step instructions of how to make a hanging indent on Google Slides.

Grab The Complete Guide to Making Great Presentations (Free eBook)

If you’re looking for ways to improve your Google Slide presentations, putting hanging indents on Google Slides is just a small part of what you can do. We’ve got a free eBook to teach you about the presentation process from start to finish. Discover how to write, design, and give an effective presentation.

What Is a Hanging Indent?

You may be wondering: what is a hanging indent in Google Slides? 

A hanging indent is a special paragraph formatting style. With a Google Slides hanging indent, every line of text except for the first is indented. It’s a classic format that’s easy to replicate in Google Slides.

A hanging indent on Google Slides is a useful way to offset sections of content. Hanging indents work even if sections are densely packed onto a slide. As you learn how to make a hanging indent on Google Slides, keep in mind it helps you emphasize text properly.

With all but the first line offset, the eyes of your audience will quickly be drawn to each section. Think of a Google Slides hanging indent as an elegant way to present your content.

When Are Hanging Indents Used?

You’ll often find hanging indents on reference pages, bibliographies, and works cited pages. They’re used in lists to clearly offset line breaks. Hanging indents are most commonly associated with academia and scholarly papers. But hanging indents are very useful for Google Slides presentations too!

Many presentations include specific data and other details that need to be cited. If you know how to do a hanging indent on Google Slides, you can add a reference page to your next presentation deck. 

Now, let’s move to our main topic on hanging indents in Google Slides.

How to Do a Hanging Indent on Google Slides

You know the importance of Google Slides hanging indent formatting. Now, let’s learn how to create it in our presentation.

In this tutorial of hanging indent in Google Slides, we’ll use a premium template. Envato Elements offers premium templates that save you time while designing. They work with our Google Slides hanging indent techniques.

You won’t need to design everything from scratch when you start with a template like MARCO. It has incredible slide design variety for outstanding presentation results.

Now, let’s walk through the steps of how to add hanging indent on Google Slides. It’s easier than you think.

1. Display the Ruler

Before you can add hanging indents to Google Slides, you’ll need to make sure the Ruler tool is showing in Google Slides. To toggle the Ruler on and off, come up to the View tab and click Show ruler.

2. Indent the Paragraph

Creating a hanging indent in Google Slides is really a two-step project. First you indent all your text, and then pull the first line back to its original position. With your text box selected, come up to the Ruler. 

Now, click and drag the blue arrow over to the position where you want your hanging indent to be. Typically, hanging indents are 0.5 inches over, but you can make them as wide as you want.

3. Left-Align the First Line

Notice that all your text shifted over to your desired setting, in our case, 0.5 inches. Of course, a true hanging indent doesn’t include the first line. You’ll have to manually return it to its original position left-aligned in the paragraph. 

On the ruler, click on the horizontal blue bar immediately above the arrow we just used. Drag it back to the left—the setting will read 0.0 inches. Release, and your first line returns to its original place.

4. Add More References

It’s worth noting that a hanging indent effect applies to an entire paragraph. Thus, if you apply the effect to one reference and then type another one below, it’ll automatically take on the same effect. 

This is great if you’re making a list of multiple items. Of course, you can reverse the effect by just using the blue sliders on the Ruler again.

5 Top Google Slides Formatting Tips (For 2023 Presentation Designs)

You’ve just learned how to make a hanging indent on Google Slides. It’s a fast, powerful way to format text on your slide designs. But this is only part of what it takes to make a compelling Slides presentation deck. Formatting is key, and it’s the key to impressing your audience.

Let’s look at five of the very best Google Slides formatting tips for 2023 and beyond. When you embrace these design ideas, you’ll build slides that are sure to wow in new and stylish ways.

1. Use Colorful Contrasts

When you format Google Slides designs, you need your content to stand out. One great way to do this is by using creative colorful contrasts. With a bold palette, your slides can shine.

Try using template designs with sharp color contrasts. When you do, key details will fly off the slide. Audiences will instantly grasp how each part of your message fits together. 

2. Work With New and Custom Fonts

It’s easy to forget that text is a big part of your Google Slides formatting. That’s partly because most presentations use the same few basic, default font designs. To rise above the crowd, it’s a great idea to use new and custom fonts.

Fortunately, it’s easy to add fonts to Google Slides. And thanks to Envato Elements, you have access to thousands of unique designs right at your fingertips. Read our full tutorial to learn how to add your own custom fonts to Google Slides:

• 

  How to Quickly Add New Fonts to Google Slides

  

  Sarah Joy

  14 Apr 2022

3. Format Layouts With Images

Pictures really are worth a thousand words. This certainly holds true in your Google Slides designs. Photos help you add clarity and detail to every slide.

Plus, they help you avoid the temptation of text-heavy, cluttered layouts. Images add contrast and help keep slides clear, concise, and orderly.

4. Keep Designs Consistent With Master Slides

When you think of how to make a successful slide deck, you should always remember to be consistent. This means choosing a design aesthetic and sticking with it. Think about it. A presentation with a different layout on every slide starts to look messy and erratic. The trick is to pick a design theme and stick with it.

Master slides are a great way to do exactly this. This powerful Google Slides feature helps you make bulk edits – fast. It saves you time and preserves a uniform design across every slide in your presentation.

Learn how to get started here:

• 

  How to Quickly Edit Google Slides Master Slides and Layouts

  

  Sarah Joy

  01 Sep 2022

5. Don’t Rely on Words for Data

Words alone don’t make a top-notch presentation for 2023. In fact, overly wordy designs are cluttered and may distract your audience.

This is especially true if you’re presenting about data. Try to never format numbers in text form. It’s a surefire way to confuse and lose the attention of readers and listeners.

That’s where Google Slides charts and infographics come in. With these designs, you can illustrate data in lavish, readable styles. They’re your best bet for Google Slides formatting in 2023 and beyond.

More Envato Tuts+ Google Slides Tutorials

Google Slides lives in your browser, but it’s full of powerful features. You saw one example of this as you learned how to add hanging indent on Google Slides designs.

Learn more in our Google Slides tutorials on Envato Tuts+. We’ve got an assortment of Google Slides material, such as these helpful tutorials:

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  How to Make a Line Graph in Google Slides in 60 Seconds

  

  Andrew Childress

  14 Nov 2018

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  How to Time Your Slides on Google Slides in 60 Seconds

  

  Andrew Childress

  24 Oct 2018

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  How to Quickly Add GIFs Into Google Slides Presentations

  

  Andrew Childress

  17 Sep 2022

Improve Your Presentation Skills (Free PDF eBook Download)

Now that you understand how to do hanging indents on Google Slides, you probably want to learn other ways to improve your slideshow. We’ve got the perfect resource to help you with that. Learn how to write, design, and present a powerful presentation with this eBook:

Download our eBook: The Complete Guide to Making Great Presentations. Get it for free with a subscription to the Tuts+ Business Newsletter.