Word help line spacing

There are several ways to adjust line spacing in Microsoft Word. Today’s tutorial explains the basic method using the ribbon and a more advanced method using the Paragraph dialog box.

See the Quick Tip at the bottom of this tutorial to learn how to single-space an entire document from the Paragraph dialog box.

The images below are from Word for Microsoft 365.The steps are the same in Word 2021, Word 2019, and Word 2016, and similar for Word 2013 and Word 2010. However, your interface may look slightly different in those older versions of the software.

Basic Method: Adjust Line Spacing from the Ribbon

1. Select the Home tab in the ribbon.

1. (Optional Step) Select the Show/Hide button in the Paragraph group to show paragraph break symbols and other formatting that may affect line spacing.

1. Select the text with the line spacing that needs to be changed.

1. Select the Line and Paragraph Spacing button in the Paragraph group.

1. Select an option from the drop-down menu:

A. Numbers 1.0 through 3.0 add space between lines.

B. Add Space Before Paragraph adds space before paragraphs but not before the lines within them.

C. Remove Space After Paragraph removes space after paragraphs but not after the lines within them.

These three options are based on your current font size with 1.0 being the equivalent of single-spacing.

Your changes will be applied immediately.

Note that you can apply the individual line spacing (the numbers 1.0 through 3.0) and the paragraph spacing to the same text to further customize your results.

1. (Optional Step) Select the Show/Hide button again to hide paragraph symbols and other formatting (see figure 2).

Now, let’s move on to an advanced method offering additional spacing options.

Advanced Method: Adjust Line Spacing from the Paragraph Dialog Box

1. Select the Home tab in the ribbon (see figure 1).
2. (Optional Step) Select the Show/Hide button in the Paragraph group to show paragraph break symbols and other formatting that may affect line spacing (see figure 2).
3. Select the text with the line spacing that needs to be changed (see figure 3).

Pro Tip: PC users can press Ctrl + A to select the entire document if all the line spacing needs to be changed. However, this includes items you may not want to alter, including headings, tables, table titles, figure captions, tables of contents, footnotes, endnotes, and reference lists.

1. Select the dialog box launcher in the Paragraph group.

1. Make changes in the Spacing section of the Paragraph dialog box:

A. The Before and After boxes represent the spaces before and after paragraphs measured in points with one point being 1/72 of an inch tall. Use the increment arrows to choose a whole number or enter a number with a decimal (e.g., 2.75) directly into the box.

B. The Line spacing drop-down menu offers six options:

1. Single—Creates single-spacing based on your current font size.

2. 1.5 Lines—Creates a space and a half as large as your current font size.

3. Double—Creates double-spacing based on your current font size.

4. At Least—Determines the minimum amount of space between lines based on the number of points entered in the At box.

5. Exactly—Creates space between lines based on the number of points entered in the At box.

6. Multiple—Creates spacing multiplied by the number entered in the At box. For example, if you enter four in the At box, your spacing will be four times as large as your current single-spacing.

C. Don’t add space between paragraphs of the same style—For many users, this will remove spaces between all paragraphs because general documents commonly have only one paragraph style.

Note that the Preview box updates as you make adjustments in the Spacing section.

1. Select the OK button to close the Paragraph dialog box.

1. (Optional Step) Select the Show/Hide button again to hide paragraph symbols and other formatting (see figure 2).

Related Resources

How to Adjust Letter Spacing in Microsoft Word (PC & Mac)

How to Adjust the Space between Words in Microsoft Word

How to Adjust Page Margins in Microsoft Word

Updated June 25, 2022

Readability is a crucial factor when it comes to preparing documents. If the space between two lines, aka Line Spacing, is too less, it will be hard to read. If it’s too much, there will be too much distraction. When reading the newspaper, you must have noticed that space between lines is way too little than what you read online. Saving space is crucial for newspapers because of the cost, while it is not so much when it comes to online reading. That said, in this post, we will share how you can change line spacing in Microsoft Word.

What is Double Spacing?

Along with other options, one popular way to increase space is Double Spacing. It instantly doubles the space between the lines of the document. In simple words, with Double Spacing, you add a full line of space between each line of writing. Depending on the amount of text, it definitely helps you to increase readability.

In Microsoft Office 365, you can instantly increase the line space with predefined options.

• Open the Word document
• Click on the Design tab
• Locate Paragraph Spacing under Document formatting, and click on it.
• You have the following options
  • Default,
  • No Paragraph Space,
  • Compact,
  • Tight,
  • Open,
  • Relaxed, and
  • Double Space
• Select one.

When you choose any of the options, it is applied to the entire document. If you want to apply only to a certain paragraph, you can select it and apply the change.

Custom Line Spacing

If the default line spacing doesn’t work, you can create your line spacing. It is specifically useful when you need to print or when that’s how you need the document to be. It can specifically be helpful when there is a lot of text, and you do not want many pages, even if they are going to be used on the computer.

Go to Design > Paragraph Spacing >  Custom Paragraph Spacing. It will open the Manage Styles windows where you can change the spacing for before and after fir paragraphs, and then you can also change line spacing as well.

You can then choose to apply the setting for the current document or new documents for the current template.

Office 2007-2010

If you are using an older version of Office, then you need to follow these steps:

Double-space the entire document

• On the Home tab, in the Styles group, right-click Normal and then click Modify.
• Under Formatting, click the Double Space button, and then click OK.
• Formatting for the entire document changes to double spacing.

Double-space the selected text

• Select the text that you want to change.
• On the Home tab, in the Paragraph group, click Line and Paragraph Spacing (Line Spacing in Word 2007)
• Click 2.0 and apply the changes.

What Is Standard Double Spacing in Word?

Microsoft Word defaults to a spacing of 1.08 lines, which is slightly larger than single-spaced. Within paragraphs, a space-and-a-half is best for line spacing, according to UX standards. Approximately 150 percent is 1.5 times the size of the font.

I hope the post was easy to follow, and you were able to clearly understand the concept of Line Spacing and how to use it in your document.