How do I reduce excess white space when justifying a body of text?

Question

How do I reduce excess white space when justifying a body of text?

Jenn C 20

Hello,

I am having an issue with justifying a body of text where on multiple lines there is excess while spacing. I have used Word's formatting marks to reveal hidden characters which doesn't seem to be the issue. I have also selected "Don't expand character spaces on a line that ends with SHIFT+RETURN" from Advanced layout options. Use Smart Justification is enabled (Advanced Topography). See below image for reference. I appreciate any insight on what is happening and how to fix. I appreciate the help in advance.
Jenn

6f35251f-af4a-4e43-8893-98c17725a521.jpg

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Answer accepted by question author

Kai-L 18,970 Microsoft External Staff Moderator

Dear @Jenn C,

Thank you for reaching out to the Microsoft Q&A Community.

This is a common and often perplexing problem in Word and other word processors. I understand that the excess white space, especially when a line contains only a few words, can make a document look unprofessional. Since you've already checked for hidden characters and adjusted the "Don't expand character spaces on a line that ends with SHIFT+RETURN" setting, we can rule out the most common causes. Here are a few other methods you can try to resolve this:

1.Use Non-Breaking Spaces

If a specific line or group of words has too much space between them, you can force them to stay together on the same line.

Instead of a regular space (which Word can expand), use a non-breaking space by pressing Ctrl + Shift + Spacebar.
Place a non-breaking space between the words that you want to keep together. This will prevent Word from separating them and will force the entire phrase to move to the next line if it doesn't fit.

Hyphenate the Document

Hyphenation can significantly improve the look of justified text by allowing words to break across lines, which reduces the need for large gaps.

Go to the Layout tab in the ribbon.
Click on Hyphenation and select "Automatic."
This will allow Word to automatically hyphenate words at the end of lines, making the spacing between words more even.

Manually Adjust the Text

If the issue only affects a few lines, you can make manual adjustments.

Edit the text slightly: Rephrase the sentence or add/remove a word to change where the line breaks naturally.
Adjust tracking: This is an advanced typography setting that changes the spacing between all characters in a selection. It's not available in all versions of Word. To access it, select the text, go to Home > Font (click the little arrow in the bottom right of the Font group), select the Advanced tab, and adjust the Spacing. Reducing the spacing slightly can pull the words closer together.

Given the detail you've already provided, I suspect the issue might be with a very specific layout option or a corrupt font. The hyphenation option is the most likely and safest fix for most justified text issues.

Please let me know if any of these suggestions help.

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Jenn C 20 Reputation points

2025-08-17T11:43:05.5766667+00:00

Hello again,

I'm wondering if there are any other hacks for adjusting the spacing between words manually? While the hyphenation option cleared up most of the manuscript issues, there are still several sentences where the spacing is off. Rewriting these sentences is not an option. The version of word I'm using is 2013 and it seems like the adjust tracking option is limited. I'm able to adjust space based on condensed or expanded, and by increments of 0.1. This does seem to remedy some cases, there are others where the spacing seems to expand instead of reduce. The font I'm using is Garamond.

Any and all suggestions are so welcome at this point.

Thanks so much.

Jenn
Jenn C 20 Reputation points

2025-08-21T19:46:50.8166667+00:00

@Kai-L thank you so much! Manually adjusting the text was the best solution.

1 additional answer

Your answer

Jenn C 20 Reputation points

2025-08-17T11:43:05.5766667+00:00

Hello again,

I'm wondering if there are any other hacks for adjusting the spacing between words manually? While the hyphenation option cleared up most of the manuscript issues, there are still several sentences where the spacing is off. Rewriting these sentences is not an option. The version of word I'm using is 2013 and it seems like the adjust tracking option is limited. I'm able to adjust space based on condensed or expanded, and by increments of 0.1. This does seem to remedy some cases, there are others where the spacing seems to expand instead of reduce. The font I'm using is Garamond.

Any and all suggestions are so welcome at this point.

Thanks so much.

Jenn
Jenn C 20 Reputation points

2025-08-21T19:46:50.8166667+00:00

@Kai-L thank you so much! Manually adjusting the text was the best solution.

Answer 1

Jenn C 20

Hi @Kai-L ,I really appreciate your thoughtful and informative response.

I updated the doc to hyphenate automatically which seems to have done the trick.

Thank you so much for your help!

Jenn

Jenn C 20 Reputation points

2025-08-17T11:42:22.23+00:00

Hello again,

I'm wondering if there are any other hacks for adjusting the spacing between words manually? While the hyphenation option cleared up most of the manuscript issues, there are still several sentences where the spacing is off. Rewriting these sentences is not an option. The version of word I'm using is 2013 and it seems like the adjust tracking option is limited. I'm able to adjust space based on condensed or expanded, and by increments of 0.1. This does seem to remedy some cases, there are others where the spacing seems to expand instead of reduce. The font I'm using is Garamond.

Any and all suggestions are so welcome at this point.

Thanks so much.

Jenn
Kai-L 18,970 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-08-20T22:58:08.69+00:00
Dear @Jenn C,

Apologies for my delayed response. Have you can try use a Non-breaking Space:

When you have two words that are too far apart, you can replace the regular space with a non-breaking space. This forces Word to treat the two words as a single unit, which can often improve the line spacing.

Place your cursor between the two words that are too far apart.

Press Ctrl+Shift+Spacebar to insert a non-breaking space.

This is a very manual process, but it can be highly effective for isolated cases.

I hope this helps.
Jenn C 20 Reputation points

2025-08-21T19:47:22.6033333+00:00

@Kai-L thank you so much! Manually adjusting the text was the best solution.