I want to indent the first line of each paragraph without indenting the first line after a paragraph break (the one line gap between two blocks of text).

Your question is a bit unclear.

If you mean that you want to suppress the first line indent following a heading paragraph, there is no automated way to accomplish that in Word.

I recommend that you create a separate paragraph style to use for the first paragraph following heading paragraphs. You can modify Heading 1, Heading 2, etc. so that their "Style for following paragraph" is set to your custom un-intended style. Note that doing this will apply to future edits. Existing text paragraphs must be reformatted manually.

Hello Liam,

You can use the hanging indent feature in Microsoft Word to achieve this. Here’s how:

1. Select the text you want to format.
2. Click on the Home tab.
3. Click on the Paragraph dialog box launcher (the small arrow at the bottom right corner of the Paragraph group).
4. In the Paragraph dialog box, click on the Special drop-down list under Indentation.
5. Select Hanging from the list.
6. In the By field, enter the amount of space you want to use for the hanging indent (e.g., 0.5 inches).
7. Click OK.

This will apply a hanging indent to all paragraphs in your selection except for the first line of each paragraph.

Hope this helps,

Fathia

Fathia has given a good response to your question.

You should be using a paragraph style with this formatting rather than applying it to a single paragraph, unless you only want it for one.

• The Importance of Styles in Microsoft Word
• Indents

While a hanging Indent can be added using the Ruler, it is best done through a paragraph style > Format > Paragraph and setting up the hanging indent you want.