Line Spacing in Microsoft Word 2007
In addition to changes to the default fonts, with Word 2007 Microsoft has increased the default line spacing to 1.15 times the standard spacing (single line spacing is 1x). Most people are happy with this change because it improves readability. The other line spacing change, which isn’t as well received, is that by default when you press “8 Enter” it adds 10 pts of space after the line making everything appear double-spaced. This is because Word assumes you want to start a new paragraph rather than a new line. There are a number of ways to insert a single space, recommended in the following order:
A) Press Shift + Enter (1 step – affects one line)
1. If you hold down the shift key when you hit Enter, it will insert a new line rather than creating a new paragraph
B) Change to the “No Spacing” Style (1 step – affects selected text)
1. On the Home tab in the Styles group, select the “No Spacing” formatting style
C) Permanently Change the Paragraph Spacing to 0 pt For All New Documents (5 steps – affects all new documents)
1. Open a new blank Word document
2. On the Home tab in the lower right corner of the Paragraph group, click little Paragraph Dialog button
3. Change the spacing after a paragraph to 0 pt
4. Click the Default… button
5. When prompted with “Do you want this change to affect all new documents…” click Yes