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Upgrading to Word 2010 from an early version of Word? Surprised by the default line spacing?
Word 2007 and Word 2010 have a different line spacing default than Word 2003 and earlier versions. Back in 2007, the product designers changed the default line spacing to improve document readability, according to a 2006 blog post by Stuart Stuple, one of the Microsoft Word program managers for Word 2007.
In addition to the default spacing change in Word 2007, Word 2010 introduces a paragraph spacing option that gives you even more control over your document style and appearance.
Say you want your document to look like Word 2003, so you click Change Styles in the Styles group and choose the Word 2003 style set.
But maybe the look is a bit too compressed for you.
Under Change Styles, you can fine tune by using the Paragraph Spacing option.
Rest your mouse on each option to view the options right in your document.
In this case, I used the Relaxed option to give my document a little more space but maintain the Word 2003 style set as the default for my other documents.
Find instructions for using the new paragraph spacing option, changing the default style set for all of your documents, and much more, in Adjust the spaces between lines or paragraphs.
--leslie cole
Comments: (39) Collapse
David Causby --
I wasn't able to reproduce David Collins's issue, so I haven't figured this one out yet. Have you tried checkinging at http://answers.microsoft.com?
-- Joannie
Was able to manually kern characters in the last version, now I cannot find out how to do it in this version. Bummer.
ok, so how do you get a single spaced document? i've tried everything listed on this blog and when i type the first line, then hit return and start typing its not single spaced! frustrating! and this whole Ribbon menu thing ....
Hi Robert,
I'd like to help ... are you using Word 2010? Do you want spacing between paragraphs?
Thanks,
Leslie
Leslie C. - no, just general single spacing of a document.
i should be able to highlight several lines of text and then convert it to single spacing and have it show as single spaced. this is not the case with pasted in text. say text from a web page such as www.bestsampleresume.com/.../pre-sales-engineer-resume.html. highlight the text of the resume on this page, then paste it into word 2010. then highlight the first 4 lines, type anything<return>anything and note that its not single spaced. with the text highlighted, go to the fabulous ribbon menu, Home, select the Change Styles, select Style Set, select Word 2003. Then from the same menu, select paragraph spacing and select Word 2003. Note no change in the document, still not single spaced. Ok, so from Home, select the Line and Paragraph Spacing and note that it says 1.0.....
Hi Robert, To clarify, when you copy text from the web page, do you use the paste option "Keep text only"?
Leslie - that was it..... thanks! still dont like the ribbon menu system....
Thanks for hanging in there with us, Robert. We appreciate it.
I'd characterize myself as an expert Word 2003 user still struggling a bit with the Word 2007 / 2010 user interface. I totally understand the use of styles, paragraph formatting, spacing before / after paragraphs, and line spacing. What I can't figure out is this: In Word 2010 (Starter Edition, for the moment...), the paragraph formatting dialog has a check-box labeled "Don't add space between paragraphs of the same style." I think this feature has great potential and rather than checking the box to delete ALL spacing between paragraphs of like styles, I would simply like to edit the VALUE used to to automatically insert space between paragraphs of the same style. Is this possible, and if so, how / where? Thanks in advance for your support!
Hi emcdearmon, If I am understanding your question, all you need to do is to use the Before and After spacing settings to achieve what you want. To find those options, on the Home tab in the Styles group, click the dialog box launcher (lower right corner). At the very bottom of the pane, click the Manage Styles button on the right of the three styles buttons. On the Set Defaults tab, under Paragraph spacing set your Before and After values. Again, if I have misunderstood your need, feel free to set me straight.
Thanks for reading The Microsoft Word Blog.
Very best,
Hi Leslie!
I'm embarrassed to say that, stressed by a critical deadline & other circumstances, I completely faked myself out on this one. Your response provided the requisite enlightening moment, and is much appreciated!
EM
EM,
I have had plenty of those moments. Glad to help ...
Best,
I have read through these posts and still do not understand how this feature has increased efficiency in Word. When users have to search through blogs to make a simple change that could have been performed on a manual typewriter; it seems obvious to me that this feature has been poorly designed. Especially, when I would consider myself an advanced user of Word.
I simply want to create a document where paragraph lines sit on top of each other - with no line spacing. (It is for a particular document line, rather than for "readability".)
This default setting is frustrating. 30 minutes later, and I am still searching on how to make this simple change.
Hi cnas747,
Are you trying to change the line spacing default for all documents, or only for the document you're working in?
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