Indent Shortcut (Tab / ⌘])

Indent and outdent

In documents, lists and code, press Tab to indent and Shift+Tab to outdent (move left). This works the same on Mac and Windows in Word, Google Docs, bullet lists and most editors.

In code editors

VS Code and similar editors also map ⌘] / Ctrl+] to indent the current line or selection and ⌘[ / Ctrl+[ to outdent — handy when Tab would insert a tab character instead.

Indent in Word and Google Docs

In Google Docs the fastest way is ⌘] / Ctrl+] to increase the indent and ⌘[ / Ctrl+[ to decrease it — the same mapping as code editors. In Microsoft Word on Windows, Ctrl+M increases the paragraph indent and Ctrl+Shift+M decreases it; on Mac press Tab at the start of the line or use the Increase/Decrease Indent buttons on the Home ribbon.

Indenting lists vs. paragraphs

In a bulleted or numbered list, Tab demotes the item one level and Shift+Tab promotes it — this changes the list level, not just the left margin. For a normal paragraph, Tab only inserts whitespace at the cursor, so use the indent shortcuts above to shift the whole paragraph.