How to add indentation

Question

I am writing a thesis report using LaTeX and I need to add indentations because every new paragraph starts from the initial position on the left.

How do I add indentations?

Frank Mittelbach · Accepted Answer

Paragraph indention is controled by the parameter parindent. In most document classes it is set to a positive value so you should see indentations. If this is not the case you can set this parameter in the document preamble to whatever value you wish, e.g.

setlengthparindent{24pt}

Of course, a requirement is that you mark up your paragraphs: a paragraph ends by either a blank line or by the command par. If you instead just used you have directed LaTeX to start a new line but not a new paragraph.

Paul Hiemstra · Answer

I think you need:

indent Here comes your text

Sergio Parreiras · Answer

I assume you want to add indentation after the section or subsection title as LaTeX does indentation of the other paragraphs first. The solution I used was to use a package, usepackage{indentfirst}. You can download indentfirst.sty from the web. But there are reasons concerning proper style of why the first paragraph should not be indented.

Answered by Sergio Parreiras on July 21, 2021

Trevor · Answer

vspace*{6mm} will work by default.

Similarly, hspace*{10mm} will add a line spacing, but you have to reuse it every time you need the space.

stack-delay · Answer

To forcibly insert a space that is the same length as an indentation you can use the following:

hspace{parindent}

This can be useful if you start a new section with a framed theorem, etc., and latex does not recognize it as a paragraph.

David Crosswell · Answer

It sounds like you have forgotten you have usepackage{parskip} in your preamble.
Remove it.
I keep trying to post this, but keep getting an inane message saying it won't be, because it looks suspicious. Let's see if this additional note helps it slip through.

How to add indentation

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