Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, Word in Microsoft 365, and 2021. If you are using an earlier version (Word 2003 or earlier), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for earlier versions of Word, click here: Adjusting Spacing After a Paragraph.

Adjusting Spacing After a Paragraph

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated October 7, 2023)
This tip applies to Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, Word in Microsoft 365, and 2021

If you use a typewriter, or even some rudimentary word processors, to add space between paragraphs you simply press the Enter key a few times. While you can also do this in Word, the program gives you much greater control over the spacing between paragraphs—if you choose to use it. To modify the amount of space left between the end of one paragraph and the start of the next, follow these steps:

Position the insertion point in the paragraph that you want to adjust spacing after.
Make sure the Home of the ribbon is displayed.
Click the small icon at the bottom-right of the Paragraph group. Word displays the Paragraph dialog box. (See Figure 1.)

Figure 1. The Paragraph dialog box.

Change the amount in the After box to reflect how much space you want to leave after the current paragraph.
Click on OK.

To adjust the value in the After box, you can use the up and down arrows to the right of the box, or you can enter a value directly. Values can be entered in any of the standard measurements accepted by Word.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (6822) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, Word in Microsoft 365, and 2021. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Word here: Adjusting Spacing After a Paragraph.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. Learn more about Allen...

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What is 9 + 3?

2023-10-09 09:42:01

Andrew

Yes, you can specify the spacing before or after a paragraph as an *absolute* distance in points, inches, etc., but you can also specify it as a *relative* distance (proportionate to the line height) so that the spacing is automatically changed when the line height changes, e.g., when the font size changes. You do this by specifying the fractional number of lines followed by the word "line" as the unit, e.g., "0.5 line."

Andy

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