I disagree, for a simple but serious reason. Some lawyers have suggested to me that courts should adopt Microsoft Word’s interpretation of line spacing as the standard. I would make the same argument against court rules that demand specific fonts, like Times New Roman or Arial, because they’re also commercially licensed software. If you need to fit a document onto a certain number of pages, try adjusting the line spacing first. Line spacing affects the length of a document more than point size. (See point size for why.) A side effect is that fonts that run small will need less line spacing, and vice versa. Recall that different fonts set at the same point size may not appear the same size on the page. Use Fixed-enter a measurement in the 120–145% range. Selecting Height lets you choose from Fixed or At Least. It is lost on me.) I recommend always leaving Spacing at 1.0 and just setting your line spacing with Height. (The benefit of this complication may be appreciated by WordPerfect fans. Line spacing in WordPerfect is the Height value multiplied by the Spacing value. WordPerfect Format → Line → Height and Spacing. (Not 1.20–1.45-as noted above, Word uses peculiar line-spacing math.) Never use At least, because that gives Word permission to adjust your line spacing unpredictably. To get line spacing in the 120–145% range, use a Multiple value of 1.03–1.24. Multiple is also acceptable-enter line spacing as a decimal. Don’t use these-they miss the target zone of 120–145%. Single, 1.5 lines, and Double are equivalent to about 117%, 175%, and 233% line spacing, contrary to what their names suggest. Exactly is best-enter a fixed measurement. Word Right-click in the text and select Paragraph from the menu.

To get accurate spacing, you should always set it yourself, exactly. Microsoft Word’s “double” spacing, for instance, is about 15% looser, and it varies depending on the font. So if you’re required to use a 12-point font, double line spacing means 24 points.Ĭuriously, the so-called “double” line-spacing option in your word processor doesn’t produce true double line spacing. On a typewriter, each line is the height of the font, thus double spacing means twice the font size. That’s why court rules usually call for double-spaced lines. Most courts adopted their line-spacing standards in the typewriter era. The traditional term for line spacing is leading (rhymes with bedding), so named because traditional print shops put strips of lead between lines of type to increase vertical space. But double-spacing is still looser than optimal. Single-spaced typewritten text is dense and hard to read. Therefore, line-spacing choices were limited to one, two, or more lines at a time. Originally, a typewriter’s platen could only move the paper vertically in units of a single line. These habits are obsolete typewriter habits. Most writers use either double-spaced lines or single-spaced lines-nothing in between-because those are the options presented by word processors. Line spacing is the vertical distance between lines of text.

Change letter spacing in word 2013