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You can change the spacing between characters of text for selected text or for particular characters. In addition, you can stretch or compress an entire paragraph to make it fit and look the way that you want it to.
Change the spacing between characters
Selecting Expanded or Condensed alters the spacing between all selected letters by the same amount. Kerning alters the spacing between particular pairs of letters — in some cases reducing and in other cases expanding the space depending upon the letters.
Expand or condense the space evenly between all the selected characters
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Select the text that you want to change.
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On the Home tab, click the Font Dialog Box Launcher, and then click the Advanced tab.
Note: If you’re using Word 2007 the tab is called Character Spacing.
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In the Spacing box, click Expanded or Condensed, and then specify how much space you want in the By box.
Kern the characters that are above a particular size
Kerning refers to the way spacing between two specific characters is adjusted. The idea is to give a better looking result by reducing the spacing between characters that fit together nicely (such as «A» and «V») and increasing the spacing between characters that don’t.
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Select the text that you want to change.
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On the Home tab, click the Font Dialog Box Launcher, and then click the Advanced tab.
Note: If you’re using Word 2007 the tab is called Character Spacing.
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Select the Kerning for fonts check box, and then enter the point size in the Points and above box.
Stretch or scale the text horizontally
When you scale the text, you change the shapes of the characters by percentages. You can scale text by stretching it or by compressing it.
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Select the text that you want to stretch or compress.
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On the Home tab, click the Font Dialog Box Launcher, and then click the Advanced tab.
Note: If you’re using Word 2007 the tab is called Character Spacing.
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In the Scale box, enter the percentage that you want.
Percentages above 100 percent stretch the text. Percentages below 100 percent compress the text.
Change the line spacing
To increase or decrease the amount of vertical space between lines of text within a paragraph, the best method is to modify the style the paragraph uses.
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Find the style you’re using in the Styles gallery on the Home tab.
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Right-click the style you want to change and select Modify.
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Near the center of the dialog box you’ll find the line spacing buttons that let you select single, 1.5x or double spaced. Choose the spacing you want to apply and click OK.
If you’d like to apply more specific line spacing to the style, clickthe Format button at the bottom left corner of the Modify Style dialog box and select Paragraph. The Line spacing drop-down lets you select or set more specific line spacing.
For more information on modifying styles in Word, see: Customize styles in Word.
See also
-
Using Styles in Word — a free, 10-minute video training course.
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Change the font size
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Set page margins
-
Align text left or right, center text, or justify text on a page
-
Change the line spacing in Word
Do you have a question about Word that we didn’t answer here?
Post a question in the Word Answers Community.
Help us improve Word
Do you have suggestions about how we can improve Word? Let us know by providing us feedback. See How do I give feedback on Microsoft 365? for more information.
Need more help?
Word for Microsoft 365 Outlook for Microsoft 365 Word 2021 Outlook 2021 Word 2019 Outlook 2019 Word 2016 Outlook 2016 Word 2013 Outlook 2013 Word 2010 Outlook 2010 Word 2007 Outlook 2007 More…Less
You can change the spacing between characters of text for selected text or for particular characters. In addition, you can stretch or compress an entire paragraph to make it fit and look the way that you want it to.
Change the spacing between characters
Selecting Expanded or Condensed alters the spacing between all selected letters by the same amount. Kerning alters the spacing between particular pairs of letters — in some cases reducing and in other cases expanding the space depending upon the letters.
Expand or condense the space evenly between all the selected characters
-
Select the text that you want to change.
-
On the Home tab, click the Font Dialog Box Launcher, and then click the Advanced tab.
Note: If you’re using Word 2007 the tab is called Character Spacing.
-
In the Spacing box, click Expanded or Condensed, and then specify how much space you want in the By box.
Kern the characters that are above a particular size
Kerning refers to the way spacing between two specific characters is adjusted. The idea is to give a better looking result by reducing the spacing between characters that fit together nicely (such as «A» and «V») and increasing the spacing between characters that don’t.
-
Select the text that you want to change.
-
On the Home tab, click the Font Dialog Box Launcher, and then click the Advanced tab.
Note: If you’re using Word 2007 the tab is called Character Spacing.
-
Select the Kerning for fonts check box, and then enter the point size in the Points and above box.
Stretch or scale the text horizontally
When you scale the text, you change the shapes of the characters by percentages. You can scale text by stretching it or by compressing it.
-
Select the text that you want to stretch or compress.
-
On the Home tab, click the Font Dialog Box Launcher, and then click the Advanced tab.
Note: If you’re using Word 2007 the tab is called Character Spacing.
-
In the Scale box, enter the percentage that you want.
Percentages above 100 percent stretch the text. Percentages below 100 percent compress the text.
Change the line spacing
To increase or decrease the amount of vertical space between lines of text within a paragraph, the best method is to modify the style the paragraph uses.
-
Find the style you’re using in the Styles gallery on the Home tab.
-
Right-click the style you want to change and select Modify.
-
Near the center of the dialog box you’ll find the line spacing buttons that let you select single, 1.5x or double spaced. Choose the spacing you want to apply and click OK.
If you’d like to apply more specific line spacing to the style, clickthe Format button at the bottom left corner of the Modify Style dialog box and select Paragraph. The Line spacing drop-down lets you select or set more specific line spacing.
For more information on modifying styles in Word, see: Customize styles in Word.
See also
-
Using Styles in Word — a free, 10-minute video training course.
-
Change the font size
-
Set page margins
-
Align text left or right, center text, or justify text on a page
-
Change the line spacing in Word
Do you have a question about Word that we didn’t answer here?
Post a question in the Word Answers Community.
Help us improve Word
Do you have suggestions about how we can improve Word? Let us know by providing us feedback. See How do I give feedback on Microsoft 365? for more information.
Need more help?
In my last Microsoft Word tutorial, we adjusted the space between letters. Today, we’re going to adjust the space between words in Microsoft Word without altering the letter spacing.
A Word of Caution: You may be tempted to increase the space between words by adding multiple spaces. I strongly advise against this practice because adding unnecessary spaces (rather than making individual spaces bigger, as shown in this tutorial) can disturb other formatting in your document.
This tutorial is available as a YouTube video showing all the steps in real time.
Watch more than 200 other writing-related software tutorials on my YouTube channel.
The images below are from Word for Microsoft 365. These steps will also work in Word 2021, Word 2019, Word 2016, and Word 2013.
- Select the Home tab in the ribbon.
- (Optional) Select the Show/Hide button in the Paragraph group to reveal your document’s formatting.
- Select the part of the text you want to change. (Pro Tip: Press Ctrl + A to select the entire document.)
- Take note of your current font size in the Font Size menu. The default space between words is based on your current font size.
- Select the Replace button in the Editing group to open the Find and Replace dialog box.
- Place your cursor in the Find what text box and then press your spacebar once to create one space.
- Place your cursor in the Replace with text box and then press your spacebar once to create one space.
- Select the More button to expand the dialog box. (Disregard this step if your dialog box is already expanded.)
- Select the Format button.
- Select Font in the Format menu.
- Select a larger or smaller font size in the Size menu in the Replace Font dialog box. Alternatively, you can type a specific size into the text box at the top of the menu.
- Select the OK button.
- Select the Replace All button.
- A dialog box will report the number of replacements.
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- Select Yes if you want to expand the replacements to your whole document.
- Select No if you only want the replacements in the text you selected in step 3.
- Select the Close button.
The spacing between words should now be changed in your selected text.
- (Optional) Reselect the Show/Hide button to hide your formatting (see figure 2).
Related Resources
How to Adjust Line Spacing in Microsoft Word
How to Adjust Page Margins in Microsoft Word
Updated February 16, 2023
Spruce up the formatting in your Word docs
What to Know
- To fix spacing between words, go to Find and Replace. Enter a space in both fields, then go to More > Format > Font and choose a font size.
- To adjust spacing between characters, go to Home, select Expand (the down-arrow) next to Font, and select the Advanced tab.
- To change spacing between lines, go to Home and select Expand (the down-arrow) next to Paragraph and adjust the Spacing options.
This article explains how to fix spacing in Word 2021, 2019, 2016, and Word for Microsoft 365.
How to Fix Spacing Between Words in Word
Using different fonts or font sizes in your document can lead to inconsistent spacing between words. Follow these steps to adjust the spacing between words without affecting the space between letters:
To show paragraph breaks and spaces, go to the Home tab and select the Show/Hide icon (¶) in the Paragraph group.
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Highlight the text you want to change and select the Home tab. Press Ctrl+A (Windows) or Cmd+A (Mac) to highlight the entire document.
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Select Replace in the Editing group.
On Mac, go to Edit > Find > Advanced Find and Replace, then select the Replace tab.
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Click in the Find what text field and press your spacebar to create a space.
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Click in the Replace with field and press your spacebar to create a space.
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Select More to expand the window.
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Select Format and choose Font.
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Under Size, choose the font size you use most consistently throughout the document, then select OK.
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Select Replace All.
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In a new window, Word will report the number of replacements. Select Yes to apply changes to the entire document, or select No to change only the highlighted text.
The spacing between words should now be consistent. You can now close the Find and Replace window.
Don’t add multiple spaces between words because it makes formatting the entire document more difficult.
You can justify text in Word if you want to expand word spacing so the right margin is always straight (like a newspaper column).
How Do I Fix Spacing Between Characters?
To adjust the spacing between characters (letters, numbers, symbols, etc.), follow these steps:
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Highlight the text you want to change and select the Home tab.
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Next to Font, select Expand (the down-arrow).
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Go to the Advanced tab. To stretch or compress the text, increase or decrease Scaling. For Spacing, choose Expanded or Condensed to adjust the spacing between all characters.
Select Kerning for fonts to enable text kerning. This feature automatically adjusts the spacing between characters to be more aesthetically pleasing. You can choose to kern characters above a certain size.
How to Fix Line Spacing in Word
Follow these steps to change the amount of space between lines within a paragraph:
To adjust the spacing between paragraphs, go to the Design tab, select Paragraph Spacing and choose from the options. For single spacing, choose No Paragraph Space.
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Highlight the text you want to change and select the Home tab.
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Next to Paragraph, select Expand (the down-arrow).
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In the Spacing section, manually set the amount of space before and after line breaks, or choose one of the options under Line spacing. Select the Line and Page Breaks tab for more advanced options like text wrapping and pagination settings.
When you’re done, select OK to save changes.
FAQ
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How do I change the tab spacing in Word?
The quickest way to set tab stops is to click the ruler where you want a tab. Alternatively, go to the Home tab and select Paragraph Settings in the Paragraph group. Next, select the Tabs button. Finally, set the desired Tab stop position, click Set, and click OK.
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How do I fix the spacing between bullet points in Word?
To change line spacing between bullets in a list, select the list and then click the Paragraph Dialog Box Launcher. On the Indents and Spacing tab, under Spacing, clear the Don’t add space between paragraphs of the same style check box.
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Go to Home > Line and Paragraph Spacing. Choose the number of line spaces you want or select Line Spacing Options, and then select the options you want under Spacing.
Contents
- 1 How do you do 1.5 spacing on Word?
- 2 How do I get rid of double spacing between words in Word?
- 3 How do I change to 1.0 spacing in Word?
- 4 How do I change the spacing between paragraphs in Word?
- 5 How do I change line spacing in Word 2016?
- 6 How do you change line spacing in docs?
- 7 How do I get rid of unnecessary spaces in Word?
- 8 How do I change the spacing between words in Word 2010?
- 9 How do I fix justify spacing in Word?
- 10 Is 1.5 single spacing in Word?
- 11 How do I change the spacing in Word for Mac?
- 12 How do I change line spacing in Word Online?
- 13 How do I change the spacing between lines in Word 2013?
- 14 Why is my line spacing off in docs?
- 15 How do I reduce the space between bullets and text in Word?
- 16 How do I fix justify spacing in Word for Mac?
- 17 How do you control the word spacing in justified text with CSS?
- 18 How do you change line spacing in Word 2007?
To format line spacing:
- Click Format on the menu bar.
- Select Paragraph. The Paragraph dialog box appears.
- Click the Indents and Spacing tab.
- In the line spacing drop-down menu, you can select single, 1.5, or double spacing. The default is single spacing.
- Click OK.
How do I get rid of double spacing between words in Word?
Remove double line spacing
- Select the paragraph you want to change, or press Ctrl+A to select all text.
- Go to Home > Line and Paragraph Spacing.
- Select the line spacing you want.
- For more exact spacing, select Line Spacing Options, and make changes under Spacing.
How do I change to 1.0 spacing in Word?
Choose 1.0
- Select the paragraphs you want to change.
- Go to Home > Line and Paragraph Spacing .
- Choose 1.0.
How do I change the spacing between paragraphs in Word?
Change spacing between paragraphs
- Click anywhere in the paragraph you want to change.
- Go to Layout, and under Spacing, click the up or down arrows to adjust the distance before or after the paragraph. You can also type a number directly.
How do I change line spacing in Word 2016?
Go to Home > Line and Paragraph Spacing. Select Line Spacing Options, and then choose the options you want under Spacing. To change the spacing before or after the selected paragraphs, select the arrow next to Before or After and enter the amount of space that you want. Select Set as Default.
How do you change line spacing in docs?
Change line & paragraph spacing
- On your computer, open a document in Google Docs.
- Select the lines you want to change.
- Click Format. Line & paragraph spacing.
- Select a line spacing option: To change your paragraph spacing, click Single, 1.15, 1.5, or Double.
How do I get rid of unnecessary spaces in Word?
How to remove multiple extra spaces between words in Word
- Please press Ctrl + H to display the Find and Replace dialog.
- Press More button to show more options.
- After finish the settings, click Replace All to remove all extra spaces between words from the whole document.
How do I change the spacing between words in Word 2010?
Click the Line and Paragraph Spacing command in the Paragraph group on the Home tab. Select the desired spacing option from the drop-down menu. From the drop-down menu, you can also select Line Spacing Options to open the Paragraph dialog box. From here, you can adjust the line spacing with even more precision.
How do I fix justify spacing in Word?
Click the “Home” tab and then select the “Distributed” button in the Paragraph group. Alternatively, press “Ctrl-Shift-J.” This applies a full justification effect that evenly distributes spaces in both words and characters.
Is 1.5 single spacing in Word?
In the Paragraph dialog box, select one of the options from the dropdown menu under “Line spacing.” You can select single-, 1.5-, or double-spacing, or you can select “Multiple” and set your own custom line spacing. To apply your selected line spacing, select “OK.”
How do I change the spacing in Word for Mac?
Change the line spacing in Word for Mac
- Click Design > Paragraph Spacing.
- Click the option you want. If you want to single space your document, choose No Paragraph Space.
How do I change line spacing in Word Online?
Change the spacing in Word Online
- Select the paragraph(s) you wish to change.
- Click “Home” at the top of your screen and then the “Line Spacing” icon.
- In the dialog box, select an option and also set the distance you want to have before and after the paragraphs.
- Click “OK” to save the changes.
How do I change the spacing between lines in Word 2013?
To format line spacing:
- Select the text you want to format. Selecting text to format.
- On the Home tab, click the Line and Paragraph Spacing command. A drop-down menu will appear.
- Move the mouse over the various options.
- The line spacing will change in the document.
Why is my line spacing off in docs?
You will need to change that on the computer/desktop app (not the mobile app). When you’re on a computer, drag your cursor through the problem lines or press Ctrl + A to select your entire document. Then go to the line-spacing tool in the action bar and select Add/remove space before paragraph.
How do I reduce the space between bullets and text in Word?
Right-click, and then click Adjust List Indents. Change the distance of the bullet indent from the margin by clicking the arrows in the Bullet position box, or change the distance between the bullet and the text by clicking the arrows in the Text indent box.
How do I fix justify spacing in Word for Mac?
Right-click on the text, and click Paragraph. On the Indents and Spacing tab, click the drop-down next to Alignment, and click Justified, OK.
How do you control the word spacing in justified text with CSS?
How to control word-spacing in justified text with CSS?
- What you are looking for is the text-justify property, which can be used along with text-align: justify;
- The content below gives you the details about values that can be used with the text-justify property (copied from the MOZ page).
- none.
- auto.
- inter-word.
How do you change line spacing in Word 2007?
Select the text you want to format. Click the Line spacing command in the Paragraph group on the Home tab. Select a spacing option.
The Paragraph dialog box appears.
- Use the Line spacing drop-down menu to select a spacing option.
- Modify the before and after points to adjust line spacing as needed.
- Click OK.