Making All Lines in a Paragraph the Same Height

Summary: When Word figures out how to display a paragraph, it normally calculates line height based on the largest character in a particular line. This can lead to some choppiness in paragraphs. If you want to remove the choppiness, use the Line Spacing setting in the Paragraph dialog box, as described in this tip. (This tip works with Microsoft Word 97, Word 2000, Word 2002, and Word 2003.)

If you discover that all the lines in a paragraph do not appear to be the same height, it is probably because the line spacing option you are using for the paragraph is set incorrectly. If you use Auto line spacing (from the Paragraph formatting dialog box) for a paragraph, Word calculates what the largest letters are on the line, and then adjusts the line height (leading) to compensate for the character size. (Click here to see a related figure.) If the characters on one line are a bit larger than the characters on another line, then the lines in the paragraph appear to be spaced differently.

To overcome this potential problem, you should always use the Exactly setting for Line Spacing, and then specify a point size for the spacing. A good rule of thumb is to make the line spacing 120% of the font you are using in the paragraph. Thus, if you are using 10-point Times Roman, then you would set line spacing at exactly 12 points.

Tip #163 applies to Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

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Making All Lines in a Paragraph the Same Height