How to Double Line Spacing in Word

Changing the line spacing will make the content and notes in the Word document easier to read when printed. This wikiHow teaches you how to stretch lines on all versions of Word and operating systems.

Table of Contents

Word 2016/2013/Office 365

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Click the Design tab at the top of the Word window. ^{[1] X Research Source}

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Click Paragraph Spacing . The spacing options menu will expand.

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Click Double . Spacing throughout the document will be doubled.

To double the spacing in a specific text area, you need to highlight the selection, click the Line and Paragraph Spacing button in the Home tab (4 horizontal lines icon and two green arrows) then choose 2.0.

Word 2007/2010

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Set line spacing before starting. If you want lines to be evenly spaced throughout the document and save time later, set the spacing before you start. With a blank document, the line spacing changes will appear from after the mouse pointer on. To adjust the line spacing, click the Home tab or Page Layout.

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Change the line spacing using the Home tab. In the Home tab, look for the Paragraph section. Click the button with the icon of 4 horizontal lines with two-way up and down arrows to open the Line Spacing menu. From this menu, you can select common line spacing options.

If you can’t find the Line Spacing button, the option may have been hidden because the window isn’t large enough. You can access it by clicking the arrow button next to the Paragraph section. The Paragraph menu will open.
In the Paragraph menu, you can adjust the line spacing using the Line Spacing drop-down menu of the Spacing section.

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Change the line spacing using the Page Layout menu. In the Page Layout tab, click the arrow button next to the Paragraph line. The Paragraph menu will open. Here, you can adjust the line spacing using the Line Spacing drop-down menu in the Spacing section.

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Change paragraph spacing. Besides changing the line spacing, you can also do the same between paragraphs. In the Page Layout tab, look for the Spacing option under the Paragraph section.

Before will add space before the paragraph begins.
After will add a space after each time you press Enter to start a new paragraph.

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Learn more about line spacing options. The default line spacing in Word is 1.15, not 1. If you want text to have single line spacing (1 line), you need to choose Single from the Line Spacing drop-down menu.

“Exactly” will allow you to set the exact spacing between lines, in points. There will be 72 points in 2.54 cm.
“Multiple” allows you to set a larger distance, such as triple.

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Change default spacing. If you want to use a different default spacing instead of 1.15, select this setting in the Paragraph menu and then click the Default… button. Word will ask you to confirm the changes are permanent with the default template.

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Change the spacing of specific sections of text. You can change the spacing of individual parts of your document by selecting the text you want to stretch and making adjustments as instructed above.

To change the spacing of all text, select all and then adjust spacing. If you want to quickly select all of the text, you can press Ctrl + A (PC) or ⌘ Command + A (Mac). This has no effect on headers, footers, or text boxes. Then proceed to select each part separately and change the spacing.

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Learn about keyboard shortcuts. If you often use line spacing, learn about time-saving keyboard shortcuts. Here are the commands to make line spacing faster:

Select all the text for which you want to change the spacing.
Press Ctrl + 2 (PC) or ⌘ Command + 2 (Mac) to double the line.
Press Ctrl + 5 (PC) or ⌘ Command + 5 (Mac) to select 1.5 line spacing.
Press Ctrl + 1 (PC) or ⌘ Command + 1 (Mac) to select single line spacing.

Word 2003

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Select all the text that you want to double-line. Press Ctrl + A to select all.

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Go to Format > Paragraph .

Steps

Word 2016/2013/Office 365

Word 2007/2010

Word 2003

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