How To Decrease Spacing Between Lines In Word

Lesson 9: Line and Paragraph Spacing

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Introduction

Every bit you blueprint your document and brand formatting decisions, you will need to consider line and paragraph spacing. You tin increase spacing to improve readability and reduce it to fit more text on the page.

Optional: Download our exercise document.

Sentry the video below to learn how to adjust line and paragraph spacing in your certificate.

Line spacing

Line spacing is the space between each line in a paragraph. Give-and-take allows you to customize the line spacing to be single spaced (1 line high), double spaced (2 lines high), or any other amount you want. The default spacing in Word is 1.08 lines, which is slightly larger than single spaced.

In the images beneath, you can compare unlike types of line spacing. From left to right, these images show default line spacing, single spacing, and double spacing.

example of different line spacings

Line spacing is likewise known as leading (pronounced to rhyme with wedding).

To format line spacing:

Select the text you want to format.
On the Domicile tab, click the Line and Paragraph Spacing command, then select the desired line spacing.
The line spacing will change in the certificate.

Adjusting line spacing

Your line spacing options aren't limited to the ones in the Line and Paragraph Spacing carte du jour. To suit spacing with more than precision, select Line Spacing Options from the menu to admission the Paragraph dialog box. You lot'll then accept a few additional options you can use to customize spacing.

Exactly: When you choose this option, the line spacing is measured in points, just like font size. For instance, if you lot're using 12-point text, you could use fifteen-point spacing.

At least: Like the the Exactly selection, this lets y'all choose how many points of spacing you desire. However, if yous have different sizes of text on the same line, the spacing will expand to fit the larger text.
Multiple: This option lets you type the number of lines of spacing y'all desire. For example, choosing Multiple and changing the spacing to 1.2 volition brand the text slightly more spread out than unmarried-spaced text. If you want the lines to be closer together, y'all can choose a smaller value, like 0.nine.

Paragraph spacing

Just as you lot can format spacing between lines in your certificate, you lot tin can adjust spacing before and after paragraphs. This is useful for separating paragraphs, headings, and subheadings.

To format paragraph spacing:

In our instance, we'll increase the infinite before each paragraph to separate them a bit more. This will arrive a little easier to read.

Select the paragraph or paragraphs y'all want to format.
On the Home tab, click the Line and Paragraph Spacing command. Click Add together Space Before Paragraph or Remove Infinite After Paragraph from the drop-downward bill of fare. In our example, we'll select Add Space Earlier Paragraph.
The paragraph spacing will alter in the document.

From the driblet-down menu, you can too select Line Spacing Options to open the Paragraph dialog box. From here, you can control how much space at that place is before and after the paragraph.

adjusting paragraph spacing in the Paragraph dialog box

You can use Word'southward user-friendly Gear up every bit Default characteristic to salve all of the formatting changes you've made and automatically apply them to new documents. To learn how to do this, read our article on Changing Your Default Settings in Word.

Claiming!

Open our practice document.
Select the the engagement and the address block. This starts with April xiii, 2016, and ends with Trenton, NJ 08601.
Alter the spacing earlier the paragraph to 12 pt and the spacing subsequently the paragraph to 30 pt.
Select the trunk of the letter. This starts with I am exceedingly and ends with your consideration.
Alter the line spacing to 1.15.
When you lot're finished, your folio should look like this: