Use a screen reader to change the indentation and spacing options in outlook

Screen reader content

This article is for people with visual impairments who use a screen reader program with Office products and is part of the Office Accessibility content set. For more general help, see Microsoft Support home.

Use Outlook with Narrator, the built-in Windows screen reader, to add space before and after each paragraph and create indents. You can create an indent only in the first line of a paragraph, or create a hanging indent, in which the first line of the paragraph is not indented, but subsequent lines are. Additionally, you can change the line spacing for a paragraph.

Notes: 

• New Microsoft 365 features are released gradually to Microsoft 365 subscribers, so your app might not have these features yet. To learn how you can get new features faster, join the Office Insider program.

• This topic assumes that you are using the built-in Windows screen reader, Narrator. To learn more about using Narrator, go to Complete guide to Narrator.

In this topic

• Add paragraph spacing

• Create paragraph indents

Add paragraph spacing

1. When composing an email, select the paragraphs where you want to add spacing.

   Tip: To select a paragraph, in the message body, swipe up or down on the screen with one finger until you hear "Paragraphs," swipe left or right to browse to the paragraph you want to select, and then triple-tap the screen. After selecting the paragraph, swipe up or down on the screen with one finger until you hear: "Items."

2. Swipe right with one finger until you hear: "More Options button, button collapsed, double-tap to expand." Double-tap the screen. The More Options menu expands. You hear: "Discard, button."

3. Swipe right until you hear "Format," and then double-tap the screen. The Format menu opens.

4. To open the Line & Paragraph Spacing submenu, swipe right until you hear "Line and paragraph spacing, button collapsed," and double-tap the screen.

5. Do one of the following:

   • To add space before a paragraph, swipe right until you hear "Add space before paragraph, button," and double-tap the screen.

   • To add space after a paragraph, swipe right until you hear "Add space after a paragraph," and then double-tap the screen.

6. After you select an option, the space is added before or after the paragraph and the focus moves to the email message body.

Set line spacing

1. Select the paragraph where you want to change the line spacing.

2. Open the Line & Paragraph Spacing submenu. Then swipe right until you hear "Line spacing, button, double-tap to activate," and double-tap the screen. The Line Spacing submenu opens.

3. Swipe right until you hear the line spacing option you want. To select, double-tap the screen.

Create paragraph indents

Create a special paragraph indent

1. When composing a message, select the paragraphs in which you want to create the indent.

2. Swipe right with one finger until you hear: "More Options button, button collapsed, double-tap to expand." Double-tap the screen. The More Options menu expands. You hear: "Discard, button."

3. Swipe right until you hear "Format," and then double-tap the screen. The Format menu opens.

4. Swipe right until you hear "Special indent," and double-tap the screen. The Special Indent submenu opens.

5. Do one of the following:

   • To indent all but the first line of a paragraph, swipe right until you hear "Hanging," and double-tap the screen.

   • To indent only the first line of the paragraph, swipe right until you hear "First line," and double-tap the screen.

6. After you select an option, the indent is created and the focus moves to the email message body.

Note: All subsequent paragraphs that you type will be indented.

Increase or decrease the indent of an entire paragraph

1. When composing a message, select the paragraphs you want to indent.

2. Swipe right with one finger until you hear: "More Options button, button collapsed, double-tap to expand." Double-tap the screen. The More Options menu expands. You hear: "Discard, button."

3. Swipe right until you hear "Format," and then double-tap the screen. The Format menu opens.

4. Do one of the following:

   • To add indent to the left, swipe right until you hear "Decrease indent button," and double-tap the screen.

   • To add indent to the right, swipe right until you hear "Increase indent button," and double-tap the screen.

5. After you select an option, the indent is created and the focus moves to the email message body.

See also

Use a screen reader to align text and paragraphs in Outlook

Use a screen reader to create bulleted or numbered lists in Outlook

Basic tasks using a screen reader with email in Outlook

Use a screen reader to explore and navigate Outlook Mail

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