

If there’s a problem with sentences spacing in Word, it’s a broader problem with the grammar checking system. No need to scroll down a long list because ‘Space between Sentences’ is right there. Go to Word | Preferences | Spelling Grammar | Writing Style | Settings. The settings are the same in Word for Mac, just in a slightly different place. They’ve not changed the setting if you’ve chosen “ Don’t Check’ or perhaps if ‘Double Space’ was explicitly selected. That’s controlled at File | Options | Proofing | Writing Style | Settings then scroll way down to Punctuation Conventions. Why now? It seems Microsoft has decided to make the change during the deployment of their new cloud-based Editor system. Microsoft has changed the default setting to single space after a sentence. In Word 365 with the new Editor, it’s under ‘Punctuation Conventions’ Sentence spacing checks have been in Word for many versions with a squiggly line appearing.

Most style guides (public and in-house) go for single sentence spacing. A single space after a sentence is all that’s needed for legibility. the letters ‘i’ or ‘t’ use less space than ‘w’ or ‘m’). Word-processors use variable spaced fonts (e.g.
#How to single space in word 2010 actually is double spacing manual#
Those of us who learned manual typing were taught double spacing and it’s a hard habit to break! Each user can choose for themselves, which they’ve been able to do for years.īack in the days of manual typewriters with fixed space fonts, double spaces after sentences helped readability. Choose for yourself – one space after a sentence, two spaces or don’t check at all.Single space is overwhelmingly the recommendation in style guides. Microsoft isn’t telling people that single space is better, they’re just changing the way Word operates ‘out of the box’.The only surprise is that it’s taken until 2020 for them to change the default.Īll the one space vs two space combatants are missing two important points. Microsoft’s decision is a long time coming.

Microsoft’s change has reignited the debate with lots of articles and posts on both sides. Single sentence space vis double spacing is one of those details that people can get overly excited about. You can still choose your own preference or stop the checks completely. Now the default is set at a single space at the end of a sentence, not two spaces. All of the tweaks are in the Ribbon.Microsoft has changed sentence spacing default setting in Word 365. Use them to create any desired document format. Word 20 offer a plethora of different formatting options. By selecting Line Spacing Options, there are further tweaks to implement. This feature also has the live preview option to hover over the different spacing options and see how the section will look. Next, choose the spacing you want for that section of the document. Go to the Ribbon and in the Paragraph group, click the Line and Paragraph Spacing button. Simply highlight the portion of text in the document to change. It is also possible to change the line spacing in specific parts of a document. If you were pleased with the default setting in Word 2003, set that as the default. It is easy to switch between defaults and even return to the original default setting. This may seem obvious and simple, but it is surprising how many users are unaware of this useful option.

If you want to select one of the style sets as a default every time you open a new document, go to Change Styles and select Set as Default. All you have to do is hover over any of the options and select the optimal format for your document. This is certainly more versatile than simply choosing between 1.0, 1.15, 1.5, 2.0, 2.5 and 3.0.
