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How to Set Paragraph Spacing in Word

Tap through each step to dial in paragraph spacing exactly how you want it.

  1. Select the paragraphs to adjust

    Drag to select the section where you want to change paragraph spacing, or press Ctrl+A (Cmd+A on Mac) to select the whole document.

  2. Adjust "Spacing" from the "Layout" tab

    In the "Paragraph" group of the "Layout" tab, type in exact values for "Before" and "After" spacing.

  3. Or use the line-spacing icon on the "Home" tab

    Clicking the line-spacing icon on the "Home" tab gives you quick-access presets, including common paragraph spacing options.

  4. Choose "Set as Default" to keep it going forward

    Clicking "Set as Default" at the bottom of the Paragraph dialog applies the same spacing automatically to new documents from then on.

  5. Why it is worth using

    Paragraphs packed too tightly feel cramped to read, and ones spread too far apart eat up extra pages -- dialing in the right spacing makes a document noticeably easier to read.

When paragraphs feel too tight or too spread out

Text that runs straight from one paragraph into the next with no breathing room forces a reader to work harder to track where one idea ends and the next begins. On the other hand, spacing paragraphs too generously can pad a short document out to look unnecessarily long, or push a longer one well past a page-count target. Getting the value right is one of the simplest formatting changes with an outsized effect on readability.

How this is different from line spacing

Line spacing controls the gap between lines inside the same paragraph, while paragraph spacing controls the gap between one paragraph and the next. They are set separately and solve different problems: a document can still look cramped between paragraphs even with generous line spacing turned on, and adding a modest amount of space after each paragraph, even at single line spacing, often improves readability more than increasing the line-spacing multiple does.

Frequently Asked Questions

What unit are the spacing values in?

The "Before" and "After" spacing values are measured in points (pt). Something in the 6pt-12pt range usually feels like a natural amount of space between paragraphs.

What is the difference between line spacing and paragraph spacing?

Line spacing adjusts the distance between lines within the same paragraph, while paragraph spacing adjusts the distance between separate paragraphs. Both settings can be adjusted together from the same paragraph dialog.