Extra lines in word

In this article, we are going to look at the way of quickly deleting extra blank lines in your Word document.

To Be More Environment-friendly

Now and then, when you are browsing around in the network, you may download some documents which are helpful for your work. Or in another way, you copy some material from the Internet and paste them to be a Word document. Yet, you notice that there are too many blank lines between paragraphs which certainly will cost a lot of extra papers when you print them out.

Below is an example of a Word document with too many blank lines:Too Much Space among Paragraphs

However, it can be centuries after you finishing removing these blank lines one by one. In order to be more efficient and environmentally friendly, it’s important for us to know how to quickly delete all these blank lines in seconds instead.

Delete All Blank Lines between Paragraphs

  1. First of all, open a Word document which you need to modify.
  2. Click “Home”.
  3. Then click “Replace” in “Editing” group. Or you can press “Ctrl+ h”. Both ways can open the “Find and replace” dialog box.Click "Home" ->Click "Replace"
  4. Next click “Replace” option.
  5. Continue to click “More” on the left-down side.Click "Replace" ->Click "More"
  6. Now, click “Special”.
  7. Choose “Paragraph Mark”.Click "Special" ->Click "Paragraph Mark"
  8. Then you will see “^p” symbol in “Find what” text box. Next time, you can type “^p” yourself without doing step 5, 6, and 7.Click "Replace All"
  9. Now, click “Replace All”. And you shall achieve the following effect:All extra Space Has Been Deleted

Leave One Blank Line between Paragraphs Only

  1. This time it will be much easier. Just repeat from the above step 1 to step 4.
  2. Input “^p^p” in the “Find what” text box.
  3. Then type “^p” in the “Replace with” text box.Input "^p^p" in "Find what" Text Box ->Input "^p"  in "Replace with" Text Box ->Click "Replace All"
  4. Last but not the least, click “Replace All”. You shall see the result as below:Only a Balnk Line Left Between Paragraphs

Sometimes, you need repeat several times to remove all the extra blank lines until you achieve the effect you want.

Cope with Word File Corruptions

Word is one of the most widely used software used in daily office work. Yet, despite its powerful functions and features, Word is vulnerable to corruption. This will absolutely undermines the security of your Word documents.

Therefore, you should prepare and know what exact to do when your file gets damaged. One of the options available for most of us is to use the built-in recovery function in Word. However, it can only carry out the repair work when the damage is not severe. Otherwise, choose a third-party doc repair tool will be much more helpful.

Author Introduction:

Vera Chen is a data recovery expert in DataNumen, Inc., which is the world leader in data recovery technologies, including excel recovery and pdf repair software products. For more information visit www.datanumen.com

Microsoft Word Logo on Blue

Manually removing extra blank lines from a Microsoft Word document is tedious. Luckily, a feature built into Word can remove all empty lines at once. Here’s how to do it.

How Blank Lines Work in Microsoft Word

Microsoft Word adds a hidden tag (called a “paragraph tag”) to the end of each line whenever you hit Enter. You can see these tags in your document by clicking the paragraph icon (which looks like a backward “P” with two lines) in the “Home” tab of Word.

Paragraph tags in a Word document

Using “Find and Replace” in Word, you can replace those double paragraph tags with a single tag. That removes the extra empty lines from your document.

How to Delete Extra Blank Lines in a Word Document

To start removing empty lines, open your document with Microsoft Word. Click “Home” in the menu and then select “Replace” on the right of the screen.

The “Find and Replace” window will open. Click the “Find What” box and type this:

^p^p

Each “^p” is a special code that stands for the paragraph tag. We’re going to replace instances of two-paragraph tags in a row with a single paragraph tag. In the “Replace With” box, type this:

^p

Then click “Replace All” at the bottom of the window.

After you click, all the blank lines will be removed from your document. When you see the confirmation pop-up, click “OK.”

A Word document with no blank lines.

If you still see any blank lines, that’s because there were more than two consecutive blank lines in place. In this case, click “Replace All” in the “Find and Replace” window again until all the extra lines are removed (or you can experiment with the number of “^p” codes that you find and replace until your needs are met).

When you’re all done, close the “Find and Replace” window. If you ever get annoyed with horizontal lines automatically appearing in Word when you type certain characters, you can replace those, too.

RELATED: How to Remove Automatic Horizontal Lines in Word

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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 add horizontal lines, sometimes called horizontal rules, to a document or email message to help separate sections of text and add visual appeal. 

By default, Word and Outlook have a three-character shortcuts that inserts a full-width horizontal rule in your document or message. The appearance of that rule—thinner, thicker, double-line, dotted, wavy—depends on which shortcut you use, as illustrated in the image below. 

If this automatic line feature doesn’t suit you, you can turn off this feature in Word or turn it off in Outlook.

If you want to draw a line for illustration purposes, see Draw a line in Word or Outlook instead.

Insert a horizontal line by typing a few characters

The fastest way to add a horizontal line or rule is to use the AutoFormat feature. When you type certain characters three times in their own paragraph and then press Enter, those characters instantly become a full-width horizontal line.

  1. Place the cursor where you want to insert the horizontal line.

  2. Type three of the characters illustrated below, and then press Enter.

    Table of lines that typing certain characters 3 times create

    The line is inserted for the full width of the page. When inserted into a column, the line is inserted to match the width of the column. To add text above the line, put your cursor where you want the text and begin typing.

Format the horizontal line after you create it

The shortcut described above creates an empty paragraph with a bottom border. You can change the look of that border line by using the Borders options:

  1. In Word, on the Home tab of the ribbon, select the down arrow next to The Borders button let you add or remove borders from the current selection. Borders.

    In Outlook, on the Format Text tab of the ribbon, select the down arrow next to The Borders button let you add or remove borders from the current selection. Borders.

  2. At the bottom of the menu, select Borders and Shading.

  3. In the dialog, you can change the line’s style (solid, dotted, wavy, double, and so on), color, or width as you see fit. 

  4. When you’re done formatting the line, select OK. Then, on the ribbon, select the  The Borders button lets you apply a border style to the current selection.Borders button to apply your changes. 

Word: Turn off the automatic line feature

To prevent Word or Outlook from automatically inserting a horizontal line when you type the three shortcut characters, do the following:

  1. On the ribbon, select File > Options.

  2. In the dialog box, select Proofing > AutoCorrect Options > AutoFormat As You Type. 

  3. Clear the Border Lines option.

  4. Select OK.

Outlook: Turn off the automatic line feature

  1. On the ribbon, select File > Options.

  2. In the dialog box, select the Mail tab, then select Editor Options.  

  3. On the Proofing tab, select AutoCorrect Options > AutoFormat As You Type. 

  4. Under Apply as you type, clear the Border Lines option.

  5. Select OK.

Want to draw a line?

See Draw a line in Word or Outlook.

See Also

Add a border to some text

Draw shapes

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Insert Lines in Microsoft Word Documents

by Avantix Learning Team | Updated October 9, 2021

Applies to: Microsoft® Word® 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019 and 365 (Windows)

You can insert a line in Word using the Ribbon or by using keyboard shortcuts. It’s best to avoid drawing lines and instead insert border lines in Microsoft Word (normally paragraph borders) so the line or lines will move as you edit the document.

In this article, we’ll focus on inserting lines using borders attached to paragraphs. In Microsoft Word, anything with a hard return after it is a paragraph. If you use border lines, you can customize the type of border, line thickness and color. You can also include paragraph border lines in styles so they will appear throughout your document. If you draw lines using Insert Shapes, you’ll have to worry about the line being inline or floating.

You can insert a line in Word in 3 ways using borders:

  1. Use the Borders command on the Home tab in the Ribbon
  2. Select and apply different types of lines using the Borders and Shading dialog box
  3. Insert different types of lines using keyboard shortcuts (which add lines using AutoCorrect)

Recommended article: How to Keep Text Together in Microsoft Word

Do you want to learn more about Microsoft Word? Check out our virtual classroom or live classroom Word courses >

Inserting a line using the Borders button

To insert a line in Word above and / or below a paragraph using the Borders button:

  1. Select the paragraph(s) to which you want to add a line.
  2. Click the Home tab in the Ribbon.
  3. Click Borders in the Paragraph group. A drop-down menu appears.
  4. Select the line you want to use.

Below is the Borders command in the Ribbon in Word:

Borders button in Word to insert lines.

Removing lines using the Borders command

To remove a border line or lines from one or more paragraphs:

  1. Select the paragraph(s) with the border lines you want to remove.
  2. Click the Home tab in the Ribbon and then click Borders. A drop-down menu appears.
  3. Choose No Border from the drop-down menu.

Inserting a line using the Borders and Shading dialog box

You can apply a line or custom border lines to one or more paragraphs using the Borders and Shading dialog box.

To insert a line in Word above and / or below a paragraph using the Borders and Shading dialog box:

  1. Select the paragraph(s) to which you want to add a line.
  2. Click the Home tab in the Ribbon.
  3. Click Borders in the Paragraph group. A drop-down menu appears.
  4. Select Borders and Shading. A dialog box appears.
  5. Select a border style, color and width.
  6. Click between the guides in the sample area on the right (above or below the sample).
  7. Click Options (if required), enter any offset amounts to control the distance between the line and the paragraph and click OK.
  8. In Apply to, ensure Paragraph is selected.
  9. Click OK.

Below is the Borders and Shading dialog box where you can add a line or lines to paragraphs:

Insert lines in Word using Borders and Shading dialog box.

Removing lines using the Borders and Shading dialog box

To remove lines from one or more paragraphs using the Borders and Shading dialog box:

  1. Select the paragraph(s) with the lines you want to remove.
  2. Click the Home tab in the Ribbon and click Borders. A drop-down menu appears.
  3. Select Borders and Shading. A dialog box appears.
  4. Click None in the Setting area.
  5. In Apply to, ensure Paragraph is selected.
  6. Click OK.

Inserting a line using keyboard shortcuts

You can also insert a horizontal line using keyboard shortcuts (which insert border lines as AutoCorrect entries).

Type the following characters and then press Enter or Return to insert lines:

  • To insert a plain single line, type three hyphens (—).
  • To insert a plain double line, type three equal signs (===).
  • To insert a dotted line, type three asterisks (***).
  • To insert a bold single line, type three underlines (___).
  • To insert a wavy line, type three tildes (~~~).
  • To insert a triple line, type three number signs or hash tags (###).

To remove these lines, select the paragraph with the line, click the Borders button on the Home tab and select No Border.

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Use these three methods to quickly insert a line in your document

Updated on December 4, 2020

What to Know

  • AutoFormat: Type the three characters for the desired line style > Enter.
  • Horizontal Line tool: In Home tab, select Borders drop-down menu > Horizontal Line.
  • Shapes menu: Go to Insert > Shapes. In Lines group, select and drag a line shape across the page.

This article covers three ways to insert horizontal lines in Word for Microsoft 365, Word 2019, Word 2016, Word 2013, and Word 2010.

Use AutoFormat to Insert a Line in Word

You can quickly insert a line into a Word document with the AutoFormat feature. To create a line, place the cursor in the location that you’d like to insert it, type the three characters for the desired line style, then press Enter.

To create the different types of lines, press the associated keys on the keyboard:

  • Plain single line: Three hyphens (—)
  • Plain double line: Three equal signs (===)
  • Broken or dotted line: Three asterisks (***)
  • Bold single line: Three underline symbols (___)
  • Wavy line: Three tildes (~~~)
  • Triple line with a thick center: Three number signs (###)

Here’s what each of these line types looks like in Word:

Use the Horizontal Line Tool to Insert a Line in Word

To insert a line into a Word document using the built-in Horizontal Line tool:

  1. Place the cursor where you want to insert a line.

  2. Go to the Home tab.

    By default, the Home tab is selected when you open a new or existing Word document.

  3. In the Paragraph group, select the Borders drop-down arrow and choose Horizontal Line.

  4. To change the look of the line, double-click the line in the document.

  5. In the Format Horizontal Line dialog box, modify the width, height, color, and alignment of the line.

Use the Shapes Menu to Insert a Line in Word

A third way to add a line to a Word document is to draw it on the page. The Shapes menu contains several line options, including lines with arrow points on one or both ends. After you draw the line, customize the color and appearance.

  1. Place the cursor in the spot where you want to insert a line.

  2. Go to the Insert tab.

  3. In the Illustrations group, select the Shapes drop-down arrow.

  4. In the Lines group, choose a line shape.

  5. In the Word document, drag across the location where you want the line to appear.

  6. To change the look of the line, select the line to enable the Shape Format tab. (Some versions of Word call this Format.)

  7. Go to the Shape Format tab and change the color, use a different line style, or apply effects.

FAQ

  • How do I change line spacing in Word?

    To fix spacing in Word, highlight the text whose spacing you want to change and select the Home tab. Next to Paragraph, select the down arrow to expand the options. In the Spacing section, set the amount of space before and after line breaks or choose a preset line-spacing option.

  • How do I add a signature line in Word?

    To insert a signature line in Word, go to the Insert tab and select Signature Line. Selecting few or no options leaves a blank line, and a signature line will appear in the document.

  • How do I add line numbers in Word?

    To add line numbers in Word, go to Layout > Page Setup > Line Numbers and choose Continuous, Restart Each Page or Restart Each Section > Line Numbering Options.

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