Paragraph indentations determine the horizontal space between the page margins and the text of paragraphs. They are an important formatting tool used in various types of written documents, such as essays, reports, and articles, to improve readability and create a visual distinction between paragraphs. In this article, we will demonstrate how to set paragraph indentations in Word documents in Python using Spire.Doc for Python.

Install Spire.Doc for Python

This scenario requires Spire.Doc for Python and plum-dispatch v1.7.4. They can be easily installed in your Windows through the following pip command.

pip install Spire.Doc

If you are unsure how to install, please refer to this tutorial: How to Install Spire.Doc for Python on Windows

Set Paragraph Indentations in Word in Python

Microsoft Word provides four types of paragraph indent options that enable you to format your document efficiently. These options are as follows:

• First Line Indent: The first line indent refers to the horizontal space between the left margin and the beginning of the first line of a paragraph. It indents only the first line while keeping the subsequent lines aligned with the left margin.
• Left Indent: The left indent, also known as the paragraph indent or the left margin indent, determines the horizontal distance between the left margin and the entire paragraph. It uniformly indents the entire paragraph from the left margin.
• Right Indent: The right indent sets the horizontal distance between the right margin and the entire paragraph. It indents the paragraph from the right side, shifting the text towards the left.
• Hanging Indent: The hanging indent is a unique indentation style where the first line remains aligned with the left margin, while all subsequent lines of the paragraph are indented inward. This creates a "hanging" effect, commonly used for bibliographies, references, or citations.

Spire.Doc for Python supports all these types of indents. The table below lists some of the core classes and methods that are used to set different paragraph indents in Word with Spire.Doc for Python:

The steps below explain how to set paragraph indents in a Word document using Spire.Doc for Python:

• Create a Document instance.
• Load a sample Word document using Document.LoadFromFile() method.
• Get a specific section using Document.Sections[] property.
• Get a specific paragraph using Section.Paragraphs[] property.
• Get the paragraph format using Paragraph.Format property, and then set the paragraph indent using the above listed methods of ParagraphFormat class.
• Save the document to another file using Document.SaveToFile() method.

from spire.doc import *
from spire.doc.common import *

# Create a Document instance
doc = Document()
# Load a sample Word document
doc.LoadFromFile("Sample6.docx")

# Get the first section
section = doc.Sections[0]

# Get the first paragraph and set the left indent
para1 = section.Paragraphs[0]
para1.Format.SetLeftIndent(30)

# Get the second paragraph and set the right indent
para2 = section.Paragraphs[1]
para2.Format.SetRightIndent(30)

# Get the third paragraph and set the first line indent
para3 = section.Paragraphs[2]
para3.Format.SetFirstLineIndent(30)

# Get the fourth paragraph and set the hanging indent
para4 = section.Paragraphs[3]
para4.Format.SetFirstLineIndent(-30)

# Save the document to file
doc.SaveToFile("SetIndents.docx", FileFormat.Docx2013)
doc.Close()

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