Line Spacing in Word 2007

In a previous post, we outlined a method for achieving single line spacing in Word 2007, but here’s another method.

One of the changes made to Word in Microsoft Office 2007 was to the default line spacing (single-spacing, double-spacing, etc.). In simple terms, there is now automatically more space between lines and paragraphs in Word documents. In my experience at the CADL Computer Center, this isn’t what our patrons want to use. Many people I have worked with ask for assistance in changing the line and paragraph spacing to single spacing. You may begin by either following these steps before entering any text into your document, or you many highlight all of the text in your document (also known as “select all”) if you are formatting line spacing after writing your document.

• Select the “line spacing” icon in the “paragraphs” area of the Home tab in Word 2007.

 (a closeup of the line spacing icon)

• Left-click on the line spacing icon. Select “line spacing options” from the menu that appears.

• A new window appears on your screen. Click the downward-facing arrow under “Line Spacing:”.  Select “Single” from the options provided. Then, click the downward-facing arrow next to “After:” until the number in the box reads “0 pt.” In the image below, the “After:” box reads 10 pt, which is the Word 2007 default setting.

• Your window should look like this if you made the correct changes.

 

• Now your document is formatted with single line and paragraph spacing.

For further information on Word 2007 line spacing, see the Microsoft Support artice on this subject: “Default line spacing and default paragraph spacing in Word 2007 differ from the default spacing in earlier versions of Word“

Line Spacing Issues with MS Word 2007

When using Word 2007 you may have run into an issue where a the line spacing on your document appeared to have a mind of its own. On occasion this has happened for no apparent reason and even when I go to the line spacing tab and make sure it is set for 1.0, the computer seems to disregard my command and changes the spacing to 1.5 or double spacing. Well, I will let you in on a secret!. In checking the line spacing under the “home” tab and “paragraph”,  the line spacing drop down list shows  a choice of “remove space after paragraph” at the bottom of the list. Use this feature if you experience this issue on your document. You may need to highlight the affected area and then click on “remove space after paragraph” . It should solve the problem… It appears that this feature was added to the 2007 version  to automatically create a space after  each paragraph. It often appears as an annoyance however and happens even though the line spacing appeared to be set at 1.0. You may not have experienced this yet but be sure to tuck this little reminder back into the hard drive of your mind so that you can open it when the need arises. There is also a link that may provide a more thorough explanation at…  http://www.downloadsquad.com/2006/07/19/stop-word-2007-from-adding-space-between-lines/