How do I change double spacing to single spacing?

Anonymous
2010-11-26T20:09:12+00:00

When typing in Microsoft Word Starter everything comes up double spaced.  How to I change to get single space lines.

Microsoft 365 and Office | Word | For home | Windows

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

0 comments No comments
Answer accepted by question author
Stefan Blom 352.4K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
2012-08-04T19:19:24+00:00

You need to change the document defaults so that spacing before and after are both set to zero and so that the line spacing is Single. I believe this has been discussed earlier in this (long) thread.

Was this answer helpful?

30+ people found this answer helpful.
0 comments No comments
Answer accepted by question author
Anonymous
2010-11-26T21:30:22+00:00

And if you want it to always, from this point forward, to be the way new documents are created, after doing Doug's suggestion, click on the "Set as Default" button.

I don't have starter to check, but in full Word in the Home tab / Paragraph group an command called "Line and Paragraph Spacing" with a icon that consists of 4 horizontal lines with blue arrows pointing up and down on the left side and a downward pointing triangle on the right side.


If this proposed solution has resolved your issue(s), please mark it as  Propose as Answer  to let others know the solution that worked for you

Was this answer helpful?

20+ people found this answer helpful.
0 comments No comments
Answer accepted by question author
Doug Robbins - MVP - Office Apps and Services 323.6K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
2010-11-26T21:16:23+00:00

Click on the Dialog Launcher in the Paragraph section of the Home tab of the Ribbon, or on the Line and Paragraph Spacing button immediately above the "ph" in the word "Paragraph" in that section of the Ribbon.

Was this answer helpful?

1 person found this answer helpful.
0 comments No comments

65 additional answers

Sort by: Oldest
  1. Stefan Blom 352.4K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2012-01-02T07:57:31+00:00

    There are several different methods to change the default line spacing. Create a new blank document, for example by pressing Ctrl+N. Then change the setting for Line Spacing to "Single" and also set Spacing Before and After to zero in the Paragraph dialog box. Click the Set as Default button. The modification will apply to any new document based on the default (Normal) template. (Existing documents must be modified separately.)

    To display the Paragraph dialog box in Word 2007 or 2010, click the dialog launcher button (the little arrow on the bottom right) of the Paragraph group on the Home (or Page Layout) tab.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments No comments
  2. Suzanne S Barnhill 279.4K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2012-01-02T13:47:11+00:00

    You can also easily access the Paragraph dialog by right-clicking in any paragraph (including the default empty one) and choosing Paragraph... from the shortcut menu. You can change the spacing to Single by pressing Ctrl+1, but this will not remove the Spacing After. These shortcuts will work in any version of Word.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments No comments