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.

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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.

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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

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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.

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  1. Anonymous
    2011-09-16T16:48:04+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.

    Doug: do you think you could try to write a response in lucid English? For me: what is a 'Dialogue Launcher?  What us the 'Home tab of the Ribbon'? etc. Just garble to me.

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  2. Suzanne S Barnhill 279.4K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2011-09-15T02:59:55+00:00

    The dialog launcher is the small arrow in the bottom right corner of the Paragraph group, but you can easily open the same dialog by right-clicking in any paragraph and choosing Paragraph.

    Keep in mind that you must not only change the line spacing to Single but also remove the10 points Spacing After. If you want this to apply to new documents, then, when you click Set as Default, you must choose "New documents based on this template."

    If all else fails, you can open the Normal template as a document and make the change there:

    In Word, press Alt+F11; the Visual Basic Editor opens. Press Ctrl+G to activate the Immediate window. Type

         NormalTemplate.OpenAsDocument

    and press Enter. Normal opens, but note that it may not be on top of all windows. You can close the Visual Basic Editor. Make your desired changes in the Normal file, and then save and close it. Note that the type of change you are making may not register as a change that dirties the file (look to see whether the Undo button is activated). If not press Spacebar, then Backspace before saving to make sure the template is actually saved.

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