Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, 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: 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, 2021, and Word in Microsoft 365

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, 2021, and Word in Microsoft 365. 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...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Applying Bullets from the Keyboard

Most people use the toolbars to apply bullets to paragraphs. If you want to apply them using the keyboard, then you can ...

Discover More

Filtering to a Date Range in the Past

If you have a large number of data records, each with an associated date, you might want to filter that data so you see ...

Discover More

Printing a Draft Watermark

Adding a watermark to the background of a printout can be challenging. This tip explains the different ways you can ...

Discover More

The First and Last Word on Word! Bestselling For Dummies author Dan Gookin puts his usual fun and friendly candor back to work to show you how to navigate Word 2019. Spend more time working and less time trying to figure it all out! Check out Word 2019 For Dummies today!

More WordTips (ribbon)

Keeping Three Short Paragraphs on the Same Page

If you have several paragraphs you want to keep together on the same page, there are settings in the Paragraph dialog box ...

Discover More

Resetting Paragraph Formatting

Tired of the formatting used in a paragraph? One way to 'start over' is to make sure that the formatting is reset to its ...

Discover More

Spacing Before and After Lists

When formatting a document that uses lists, you may want to adjust the space that appears just before and just after the ...

Discover More

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.

Notify me about new comments ONLY FOR THIS TIP

Notify me about new comments ANYWHERE ON THIS SITE

Hide my email address

What is five minus 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

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.