Format paragraphs

Last updated on Oct 10, 2026

Learn how to control text alignment, spacing, and composition through paragraph formatting in Adobe Photoshop on desktop.

Paragraph formatting controls the structure and appearance of blocks of text. You can format individual paragraphs or all text within a paragraph type layer. Use paragraph formatting to improve readability, create consistent spacing, and control how text aligns within its container. Paragraph formatting works with both horizontal and vertical type.

In Photoshop, point type treats each line as a separate paragraph. Paragraph type (created by dragging a bounding box) can contain multiple lines that flow within defined boundaries.

Paragraph panel overview

Select the Window > Paragraph to open the Paragraph panel. It contains all paragraph-level formatting controls.

The panel includes these key controls:

Alignment and justification buttons for positioning text within its container
Left indent and Right indent fields that control paragraph margins
First line indent for offsetting opening lines
Space before paragraph and Space after paragraph for vertical rhythm
Hyphenation checkbox to enable automatic word breaking

Select the panel menu icon to access hanging punctuation, detailed hyphenation settings, and composition methods.

Align or justify text

Select the paragraphs you want to format.

In the Paragraph panel, select one of the alignment or justification options.

For horizontal type, you can apply:

Align left
Align center
Align right
Justify last left
Justify last centered
Justify last right
Justify all

For vertical type, alignment options apply relative to the top, center, or bottom of the text flow.

Alignment positions text relative to one edge of the paragraph. Justification adjusts spacing so text aligns evenly to both paragraph edges.

Adjust paragraph indentation

In the Paragraph panel, enter values for one or more of the following options:

Left Indent
Right Indent
First Line Indent

Positive first-line indent values move the opening line inward. Negative values create hanging indents, with subsequent lines aligning farther to the right. Left and right indent values apply to all lines in the selected paragraph.

Add space between paragraphs

Select paragraphs and in the Paragraph panel, enter values for one or more of the following options:

Space Before Paragraph
Space After Paragraph

Paragraph spacing adds vertical space without inserting extra line breaks. This helps maintain consistent spacing when text reflows or the layout changes.

Control text justification spacing

Select justified paragraphs.

From the Paragraph panel menu, select Justification.

Adjust one or more of the following settings:

Word Spacing: Controls gaps between words. Values represent percentages of the standard space character (100% means normal spacing, while higher values stretch words apart and lower values compress them).
Letter Spacing: Also called tracking when applied to ranges, this adjusts gaps between all characters. Even small changes significantly impact text density and readability.
Glyph Scaling: Changes character width itself, subtly stretching or compressing letterforms. Use this sparingly, as excessive scaling distorts type design.

For each setting, specify Minimum, Desired, and Maximum values.

Photoshop uses the Desired value whenever possible and adjusts within the specified range to improve justification quality.

Enable hanging punctuation

Select the paragraphs you want to format.

From the Paragraph panel menu, select Roman Hanging Punctuation.

Hanging punctuation allows punctuation marks to extend slightly beyond the paragraph edge, making the text appear more visually aligned.

This option affects quotation marks, commas, periods, hyphens, and similar characters at the beginning or end of lines.

Control Hyphenation

Select the paragraphs you want to format.

In the Paragraph panel, select Hyphenate.

To customize hyphenation behavior:

Open the Paragraph panel menu.
Select Hyphenation.
Adjust the available hyphenation settings.

You can control:

Minimum word length
Minimum characters before and after hyphens
Maximum consecutive hyphens
Hyphenation zone width

To prevent specific text from breaking across lines:

Select the characters you want to protect.
Open the Character panel menu.
Select No Break.

Change composition methods

Select the paragraphs you want to format.

In the Paragraph panel, select one of the following options.

Adobe Every-line Composer: evaluates multiple lines together to improve spacing consistency and reduce uneven breaks.
Adobe Single-line Composer: evaluates one line at a time and gives you more direct control over individual line breaks.

For most layouts, Adobe Every-line Composer produces smoother paragraph composition and more consistent text spacing.

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