Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and Word in Microsoft 365. 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: Quickly Adjusting Paragraph Spacing.

Quickly Adjusting Paragraph Spacing

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated August 17, 2019)
This tip applies to Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and Word in Microsoft 365


One of the finishing touches that many people need to apply to their documents is to precisely adjust the spacing between their paragraphs to achieve a desired look. Word provides quite a bit of control over the spacing between paragraphs. You do this by adjusting the Before and After values in the Paragraph dialog box.

If you do quite a bit of adjusting space before or after a paragraph, it can become tedious to continually display the Paragraph dialog box and make the adjustments. Unfortunately, Word does not include any keyboard shortcuts that allow you to adjust this type of spacing quickly. However, you can achieve an equivalent ease-of-use by developing your own macros.

For instance, the following macros will adjust the space after a paragraph by a single point.

Sub SAPlus()
   Dim SA As Integer
   SA = Selection.ParagraphFormat.SpaceAfter + 1
   If SA > 1584 Then SA = 1584
   Selection.ParagraphFormat.SpaceAfter = SA
End Sub

Notice that the macro only allows you to increase the space after a paragraph to 1584 points. This is because this is the maximum value allowed by Word; a higher value would generate an error. A slight variation on the macro results in one for decreasing space after a paragraph:

Sub SAMinus()
   Dim SA As Integer
   SA = Selection.ParagraphFormat.SpaceAfter - 1
   If SA < 0 Then SA = 0
   Selection.ParagraphFormat.SpaceAfter = SA
End Sub

Note that these macros could easily be modified to use some other value or formula for calculating the increment or decrement for spacing. For instance, you could add or subtract 6 points at a time, if desired. You could also change the macros so they apply to the space before a paragraph by simply changing every occurrence of "after" to "before."

The final trick to make these macros really useful is to assign them to a keyboard combination or buttons on the toolbar. You can do this using information provided in other issues of WordTips.

Note:

If you would like to know how to use the macros described on this page (or on any other page on the WordTips sites), I've prepared a special page that includes helpful information. Click here to open that special page in a new browser tab.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (8960) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and Word in Microsoft 365. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Word here: Quickly Adjusting Paragraph Spacing.

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. ...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Excluding Zero Values from a PivotTable

If you are using a data set that includes a number of zero values, you may not want those values to appear in a ...

Discover More

Unwanted Weekend Dates in Chart

If you chart data that includes dates along one of the axes, you might be surprised to find out that the chart includes ...

Discover More

Keyboard Shortcuts for Zooming

For whatever reason, Microsoft has never seen fit to provide built-in keyboard shortcuts for zooming in and out. Here are ...

Discover More

Create Custom Apps with VBA! Discover how to extend the capabilities of Office 2013 (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Access) with VBA programming, using it for writing macros, automating Office applications, and creating custom applications. Check out Mastering VBA for Office 2013 today!

More WordTips (ribbon)

Removing Shading from Many Paragraphs

Need to format a bunch of paragraphs within your document? Word provides some very easy ways to apply the same formatting ...

Discover More

Understanding At Least Line Spacing

Line spacing is used to control how close lines are to each other within a paragraph. Word allows you to specify several ...

Discover More

Eliminating "Before Spacing" at the Top of a Page

When formatting paragraphs in Word, you have several options to adjust the spacing before, within, and at the end of each ...

Discover More
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

View most recent newsletter.

Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] (all 7 characters, in the sequence shown) in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

What is 2 + 8?

There are currently no comments for this tip. (Be the first to leave your comment—just use the simple form above!)


This Site

Got a version of Word that uses the ribbon interface (Word 2007 or later)? This site is for you! If you use an earlier version of Word, visit our WordTips site focusing on the menu interface.

Videos
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)

View the most recent newsletter.