Changing Spacing (Microsoft Word)

Posted November 01, 2002
PDF version

n double-spacing a document, it can be an important and money-saving step to use your word processor's automated function rather than trying to double-space the document manually. Compare the appearance of a manually double-spaced page to one that has been double-spaced using the format function.

Though the two may look very similar at first glance, from a formatting point of view, they are extremely different. The documents shown below are the same two documents, with non-printing characters turned on. (Non-printing characters include spaces, paragraph marks, and tabs.)

You should be able to see the difference immediately. The first document, which was double-spaced using the format function, shows a paragraph mark at the end of the paragraph only. The second document, which was manually double-spaced, has a paragraph mark at the end of each line. (This denotes each time the Enter key was pressed.) If you were to grammar check this document, you would also see that the program considers each word at the beginning of a line to be incorrect (shown as a green underline). If the program believes that there are a large number of grammatical or spelling errors, it may slow the program down. If you consider at least a single error per line for every line of a 300-page manuscript, the decrease in productivity may become quite noticeable. (Of course, you always have the option to turn these functions off.)

The true difficulty with manual double-spacing becomes apparent when the work is to be formatted for print. Formatting for print normally includes changing the margin specifications of your document, which can dramatically alter the layout of your manuscript. The images below show what can happen when the margin settings are changed and the document is fully justified for print.

The manually spaced document has lost much of its original formatting, and will have to be corrected before the document can be converted to single-spacing. This means removing all paragraph marks, which do not denote an actual paragraph. (Using a find and replace function to correct this will simply eliminate all uses of paragraph marks, leaving your document without paragraphs.)

Double-spacing a single-spaced document. In order to double-space a single-spaced document, first select the text you wish to double-space. You may choose Edit, Select All from the toolbar or Ctrl+A to highlight the entire document.

For smaller selections of text, use Shift and your arrow keys or left-click and your cursor.

Once you have selected your text, go to Format in your toolbar and select Paragraph. A window will open, displaying several paragraph formatting options.

Below Alignment and Indentation*, you will find the options for Spacing and a preview window, which will display an example of the changes you make.

The Before function will drop your paragraph a specified number of points from the last line of the previous paragraph while the After function will lower the paragraph below your selection a specified number of points.

Line spacing will give you the following spacing options: Single, 1.5 lines, Double, At least, Exactly, and Multiply. At least, Exactly, and Multiply allow you to specify a specific point size for spacing, and may not be necessary to use in basic formatting. In order to double-space your document, simply choose Double from the list provided, and OK. Your selected text will then double-space. When this formatting option is enabled, all text entered into the document will automatically double-space. If you wish to single-space a double-spaced document, follow the above procedure, but choose Single space from the drop down list.

*Alignment offers you the choice between left, center, right, or full justification. (It can be easier to left justify your work, often called "ragged edges" because it is easier to reformat for print.) Indentation allows you to indent an entire paragraph, from either direction.

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Screenshots are of Microsoft Word 97
and older or newer versions of this program may differ slightly in appearance.

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