Paragraph style

Paragraph fields control how a whole paragraph is laid out. Fields marked ✓ under “Inherits” pass down to children.

Legend: ✓ supported; ✗ ignored with a warning; — ignored silently.

Field	Value	Example	Meaning	Inherits	docx	pdf	html
align	left center right justify distribute	"justify"	Alignment. distribute spreads characters evenly	✓	✓	✓ distribute treated as justify, with warning	✓
spaceBefore	length or "Nline"	12, "0.5line"	Space before		✓	✓	✓
spaceAfter	same	6	Space after		✓	✓	✓
lineHeight	multiple, length or { atLeast }	1.5, "20pt"	Line height; see Values	✓	✓	✓	✓ minimum treated as exact
marginLeft	length	"2em"	Left indent of the whole paragraph		✓	✓	✓
marginRight	length	"2em"	Right indent of the whole paragraph		✓	✓	✓
textIndent	length	"2em"	First-line indent	✓	✓	✓	✓
hangingIndent	length	"2em"	Hanging indent: first line stays, the rest move in	✓	✓	✓	✓
keepWithNext	boolean	true	Keep on the same page as the next paragraph		✓	✓	✓
keepTogether	boolean	true	Don’t split this paragraph across pages		✓	✓	✓
pageBreakBefore	boolean	true	Page break before		✓	✓	✓
widowControl	boolean	false	Widow/orphan control	✓	✓	✓	✓
autoSpace	boolean	true	Auto spacing between CJK and Latin text or digits	✓	✗	✓	✓
kinsoku	boolean	true	CJK line-breaking rules	✓	✗	— on by default	✓
direction	ltr rtl	"rtl"	Text direction	✓	✓	✓	✓
wrap	boolean	false	Line wrapping; false means no wrapping		✗	✗	✓
outlineLevel	1–9	1	Outline level for Word’s navigation pane		✓	—	—
contextualSpacing	boolean	true	No spacing between paragraphs of the same style	✓	✗	✗	✗

Note

contextualSpacing is accepted but not implemented in any format yet; it produces a warning.

Combining indents

• Use either textIndent or hangingIndent. If both are set, hangingIndent wins.
• Two-character first-line indent: "textIndent": "2em".
• “First line flush, the rest indented” (numbered clauses, references): "hangingIndent": "2em".
• Indent the whole paragraph: "marginLeft": "2em"; combines with either of the above.

Next release

In docx, hangingIndent currently pushes the first line out to the left, unlike pdf and html. From the next release the first line stays put in all three formats.

Spacing

• Space before and after doesn’t inherit; it only applies to the paragraph that sets it.
• Built-in defaults: paragraphs 6pt after; headings 12pt before (level 1: 18pt), 6pt after.
• Word keeps space before at the start of a section and after a manual page break. pdf currently drops it; from the next release it matches Word.

Example

"styles": {
  "Text": { "textIndent": "2em", "align": "justify", "lineHeight": 1.6, "spaceAfter": "0.5line" },
  "quote": { "marginLeft": "2em", "marginRight": "2em", "textIndent": 0, "color": "#666666" },
  "Heading.1": { "align": "center", "pageBreakBefore": true }
}