Smushing Text Together

Summary: Word gives you control over how your text appears on the page. This includes adjusting how close letters are to each other horizontally. Here's how to make the adjustment. (This tip works with Microsoft Word 97, Word 2000, Word 2002, Word 2003, and Word 2007.)

I'll bet you already knew that "smushing" is a technical term, right? It is, I believe, a combination of the words "smashing" and "pushing." In this usage, it simply means to squeeze text together by reducing the distance between characters.

Normally, each font installed on your system has a default distance between characters. This distance is calculated based on the typeface used and on the way the font designer wants the typeface to appear. There are simply times when it is necessary to push text closer together, however. In order to do that, simply follow these steps:

Select the text you want to condense.
Display the Font dialog box. (In Word 2007 press Ctrl+D. In earlier versions of Word choose Tools | Font.)
Make sure the Character Spacing tab is selected. (Click here to see a related figure.)
Using the Spacing drop-down list, choose Condensed.
Using the By control, just to the right of the Spacing drop-down list, specify how much you want your text condensed, in points.
Click on OK.

Tip #1473 applies to Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

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