Single space

Question

I am unable to single space my document in MS Word. It just is not working.

Answer 1

EDIT: I just realized that you have Word for iPad.

Generally, you need to set the Line Spacing to "Single" and change the Spacing Before / Spacing After to zero, if you want no spacing at all between text lines and paragraphs.

Answer 2

Hi,

Via https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/change-the-spacing-in-a-word-document-on-a-mobile-device-d0237d6d-7bfa-4af8-abad-a0f47641f140

1. In your Word document, select the text you want to change. To select the entire document, tap and hold in the document, and then tap Select All on the command bar that appears.
2. On your iPad, tap the Home tab, and then tap the Line Spacing icon. On your iPhone, tap the Edit icon at the top of your screen, then in the Home menu, choose Line Spacing.
3. Tap the Line Spacing menu and choose the line spacing you want, from 1.0 to 3.0.

Change the spacing before or after paragraphs

Aside from changing the line spacing, there are no special options for changing the spacing before or after paragraphs in Word for iPad or Word for iPhone.

I hope this information helps. If you have any more questions, don't hesitate to reach out.

Otherwise, if your problem is resolved, please take a moment to rate the answer. Wishing you good luck!

Answer 3

To get true single spacing in Word, adjust both line spacing and any extra space before/after paragraphs, using the steps that match the version in use.

Windows – make the whole document single-spaced

1. Click anywhere in the document (or press Ctrl+A to select all text).
2. Go to Design > Paragraph Spacing.
3. Choose No Paragraph Space.
   • This sets line spacing to single and removes extra space between paragraphs for the entire document.

Windows – fix specific paragraphs that won’t single-space

1. Highlight the paragraphs that are not spacing correctly.
2. Go to Home > Line and Paragraph Spacing.
3. Click Line Spacing Options.
4. In the Spacing section:
   • Set Before to 0 pt.
   • Set After to 0 pt.
   • Set Line spacing to Single.
5. Select OK.

Set single spacing as the default for new documents (Windows)

1. Go to Design > Document Formatting > Paragraph Spacing > Custom Paragraph Spacing.
2. Open the Set Defaults tab.
3. Under Paragraph Spacing, set Line Spacing to Single.
4. Select New documents based on this template.
5. Select OK.

Word for the web – single-space the document

1. Select the text (or press Ctrl+A to select the entire document).
2. Go to Home > Paragraph > Line Spacing.
3. Choose 1.0.
   • This makes the current document single-spaced, but new documents in Word for the web will revert to the default 1.15 spacing.

If these steps are followed and spacing still appears off, the usual cause is remaining non-zero Before/After paragraph spacing or not having applied No Paragraph Space at the document level.

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References:

• Single-space the lines in a document
• Set single space as the default
• Change the line spacing in Word
• Adjust indents and spacing