Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. If you are using a later version (Word 2007 or later), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for later versions of Word, click here: Making All Lines in a Paragraph the Same Height.

Making All Lines in a Paragraph the Same Height

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated February 17, 2024)
This tip applies to Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 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. 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.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (163) applies to Microsoft Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. You can find a version of this tip for the ribbon interface of Word (Word 2007 and later) here: Making All Lines in a Paragraph the Same Height.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. ...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Locating the My Documents Folder

Need to do some macro processing of documents in the user's My Documents folder? First step is to figure out where the ...

Discover More

Finding Rows with Values in Two Columns

When you use Excel to input and store information, you need to be concerned with whether the information meets your ...

Discover More

Rounding Up to a Value Ending in 9

Need to round values up to the next value that ends in 9? There are a number of ways you can accomplish the task through ...

Discover More

The First and Last Word on Word! Bestselling For Dummies author Dan Gookin puts his usual fun and friendly candor back to work to show you how to navigate Word 2019. Spend more time working and less time trying to figure it all out! Check out Word 2019 For Dummies today!

More WordTips (menu)

Understanding At Least Line Spacing

Line spacing is used to control how close lines are to each other within a paragraph. Word allows you to specify several ...

Discover More

Reversing Type

Most text appears black on white, not white on black. If you want to change this so that your type is reversed, here's a ...

Discover More

Keeping Part of a Paragraph with the Next Block of Text

If you are a WordPerfect user, you may be very familiar with the block-protect feature and wonder if there is a similar ...

Discover More
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

View most recent newsletter.

Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] (all 7 characters, in the sequence shown) in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

What is 1 + 9?

There are currently no comments for this tip. (Be the first to leave your comment—just use the simple form above!)


This Site

Got a version of Word that uses the menu interface (Word 97, Word 2000, Word 2002, or Word 2003)? This site is for you! If you use a later version of Word, visit our WordTips site focusing on the ribbon interface.

Videos
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)

View the most recent newsletter.