Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, 2024, 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: Understanding Monospace Fonts.
Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated January 10, 2026)
This tip applies to Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, 2024, and Word in Microsoft 365
In general, there are two types of fonts. The first is proportional space, and the second is monospace. Proportional space fonts are designed so every letter only occupies the minimum horizontal space necessary for the letter. Thus, an "i" takes less space than a "w." Monospace typefaces, on the other hand, are designed so every letter and character takes the same amount of horizontal space. If you have ever spent any time working on typewriters, then you are familiar with monospace fonts—the vast majority of fonts used by typewriters fall into this category.
Most of the fonts installed on a Windows system are proportional. One monospace font that should be on a Windows system, however, is Courier New. If you want to install other monospace fonts, then you simply need to search for "monospace fonts," without the quote marks. You can find a starting list of monospace fonts at this Wikipedia page:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_monospaced_typefaces
WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (11461) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, 2024, and Word in Microsoft 365. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Word here: Understanding Monospace Fonts.
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2026-01-11 08:52:33
jamies
Re the Goldman Sans font -
Thanks for that,
At a swift look,
for alignment there seems to be a glitch with spaces, decimal places Currency denotations with "," separators .
2026-01-10 15:42:15
Mike
At the risk of crossing the Word-Excel line, Goldman Sans is a free font designed by Goldman Sachs for use in spreadsheets. While not officially described as monospaced, it is specifically designed to make numbers in spreadsheets line up, which sounds like monospaced. https://www.cdnfonts.com/goldman-sans.font
2026-01-10 06:02:22
jamies
Re selecting fonts -
Beware -
now that MS has been altering Apps to use different codepages as well as languages -
and allowing various ways to "enter" special characters and symbols
do check that a selected font not only handles special characters, but also punctuation as you need -
e.g. the apostrophe appears as that,
not a 4 character string, or 3 characters with a newpage - throw where the apostrophys should be
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Please Note:
This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, 2024, 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:
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