How do I turn double spacing in Word off?

This is the stupidest thing Microsoft ever did. I wonder who was the rocket scientist who came up with this?

It is actually easier to simply insert a line when one wants as one did in a typewriter; it is much harder to turn off the default in Word following the logic of some one who wrote the software for themselves, not for the public at large. Given that the democratic base came from typewriters, and DOS word processors, that did not make that decision for you, it would have been, how you say, more intuitive to make this feature the option, not the norm. You make dogs jump through hoops. Programmers turn people into dogs. That is why, on the internet, noone knows if you are a dog. Or not.

And it is not "Standard English Usage." Look at a book. Look at a newspaper. It is usage for writing on the screen where spacing after the carriage return-- how you say, "enter" is the norm. It is not the norm in English. Like U know what I mean?  Also, the Word rules change every version. I have better things to do with my life than constantly relearn Word. Which I have yet to learn in the first place; I don't know whether to start with the version which I have and have paid for which is '97; or start and pay for 2003, or maybe 2007 or the latest, or wait for something better. (I have been using DOS since 1981. Multimate. Still use it.  I do need Word for several applications to do with Ebooks, but for everything else, i'ts back to the old trusty one that has never grown old and whose commands never changed from 2.1 to version 4. If they could do it, why can't Microsoft? And the proof is, most of the people who "use"Word know very little about it. When I refer my questions to the man in the street they only the few hoops through which they jump, but they don't why and they don't know much.

Hi

I do not understand your logic.  Why would you press enter at the end of a line thereby creating a new paragraph if you do not want a space?

PS: If you do not wish to start a new paragraph press the shift key + Enter and word will start a new line rather than begin a new paragraph.

Cheers

Are you saying that you see double spacing as you press Enter? In that case, you will have to change the setting for Spacing Before or After (Paragraph dialog box).

To change the defaults, do the following: In a new, blank document, click Format | Styles and Formatting. Locate the Normal style, right-click and choose Modify from the context menu. In the dialog box, click Format, and then click Paragraph. Specify the desired Line Spacing and Spacing Before/After. When you are done, click OK. Before clicking OK in the Modify Style dialog, select "Add to template."

I am sure many more users will end up asking this question. As always there are two sides. If you are a professional writer then of course it is useful to just type until one wants to end the paragraph, then press Enter and the text is nicely formatted with a space already. However I submit that the majority of us use Word for writing memos and letters and in this case I do not want a space after each line when I am writing the address to for example. Personally I think Microsoft should heed the majority and make this facility a 'turn on' if you need it. I have no problem hitting Enter twice when I want a new paragraph.