Adding Space Between Paragraphs

Question

Word is driving me absolutely bonkers! I can't get Word to stop adding space between paragraphs. I know that I can go to the paragraph box from the Home tab then click "Don't add space between paragraph of the same style." This is only working on the current paragraph I'm writing. As soon as I begin a new paragraph, I have to format it all over again. I've tried checking the box to set this as a default but that has not worked either for "this document only" or for "all documents". I'm extremely frustrated. How can I fix this?

Answer 1

This is a paragraph formatting option. It applies to particular paragraphs, not to a document.

It is time for you to learn something about Styles if you are using Word on a regular basis. Doing so will save you countless time and a lot of frustration.

The Importance of Styles in Microsoft Word

I use the Body Text style for most of my text. You can modify this to meet your needs. You can change your Normal.dotm template so that it opens in Body Text style.

You first will likely need to change its visibility using the Manage Styles dialog.

The Manage Styles Dialog by Suzanne Barnhill, MVP

More resources:

• Basic Concepts of Microsoft Word - from Shauna Kelly
• 3. Using Styles to Format Text

Answer 2

The default in many Word templates is that the Normal style has some Spacing After added to it. In particular, this is true for the Normal template which is the document that Word uses unless you selected a specific template.

You can do the following: In a new, blank document, display the Paragraph dialog box (for example by right-clicking a text paragraph and choosing Paragraph from the context menu). Make sure that you set both Spacing Before and Spacing After to zero. Click the Set as Default button. When prompted, choose to apply the changes to "All documents based on the Normal.dotm template."

Once you have performed these steps, you have made sure that future documents based on the Normal template apply no spacing as you press Enter (for paragraphs in Normal style).

However, I encourage you to make active use of paragraph styles, because it simplifies formatting in Word. See Charles's links.