How to Change Line and Paragraph Spacing in Word

Line spacing in Word controls the vertical space between lines within a paragraph. Space before and after controls additional space between paragraphs. Adjust them separately through Home’s line-and-paragraph-spacing menu or the Paragraph dialog.

This guide covers the desktop version of Word for Windows. Menu names and positions can differ between versions.

Set line spacing

1. Place the cursor in one paragraph, or select several paragraphs. Choose an amount under Home → Paragraph → Line and Paragraph Spacing.
2. For detailed settings, right-click and choose Paragraph, or open the Paragraph dialog launcher on Home.
3. On Indents and Spacing, choose a line-spacing method and amount, then confirm the change.

Amounts such as 1.0, 1.15, and 1.5 describe line-spacing multiples. Changing them does not necessarily remove separately specified paragraph space. A multiple is not the same unit as an exact spacing amount measured in points.

An exact amount that is too small can obscure large text or other items in the paragraph. Consider At least or a multiple when appropriate, and inspect the actual document and printed result. The choices are explained in Microsoft's Paragraph dialog reference.

Set space between paragraphs

Adjust Before and After in the Paragraph dialog. These settings add space around headings or distinguish body paragraphs. For example, 6 pt after a paragraph is a different setting from 1.5 line spacing.

To remove extra space around a paragraph, set Before and After to zero. Hancom Hangul also has separate above-and-below paragraph settings, so a fixed spacing difference between programs is not a useful general rule. Inspect the current styles and values; see Hancom's paragraph-spacing guide (Korean) for that distinction.

If unwanted space remains

• Blank paragraphs: Turn on paragraph marks from Home and check for extra paragraphs inserted with Enter. These are different from a spacing setting.
• Selection scope: Inspect both the preceding paragraph’s After amount and the following paragraph’s Before amount. Editing only one may leave the other amount in place.
• Styles: Different heading and body styles can have different spacing. Use the style’s paragraph settings for changes that need to apply consistently.
• Character spacing: If the problem is horizontal space between letters, use character-spacing settings instead.

Press Ctrl+Z immediately after an unwanted change. Distinguish changing selected paragraphs from changing template defaults; do not choose a template-wide default change when you only intend to edit the current document.