Single and Double Line Spacing in MS Word

A reader recently wrote to me regarding a problem with Line Spacing in MS Word:

"Having trouble with single and double line spacing, especially when starting in double and inserting a heading, and then further text in [single], spacing is not equal between heading and text. Do I swap [to single] line at end of heading?"

My response:

Some heading styles in MS Word employ spacing before and after and this is most likely what you are referring to when you say the spacing is not equal.

If you highlight your heading and then right-click on it and select Paragraph, under Spacing you will see that the paragraph has space before and after settings.

You can modify your heading style by selecting it and clicking on Format | Styles and Formatting and the Styles and the Formatting Pane will then open on the right-hand side of your Word screen. Select the style that you would like to change, and use the drop-down arrow next to it and select Modify. The Modify dialog box will open and you can then click on Paragraph and change the spacing to your liking.

An easier solution would be to create a style of your own to follow the heading style and set the paragraphs in your style to you own liking. Then, you will always have a style to use in your documents and you will never have to worry about setting your spacing again.

I hope this has been helpful to you.

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