Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated February 10, 2018)
This tip applies to Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003
If you are writing for a living, you already know that many publishers require a printed copy of your manuscript to be submitted double-spaced. This allows them to manually edit the manuscript prior to typesetting. (Yes, there are still some publishers who do not edit manuscripts on-line. Sad, but true.) As you are writing, you probably will want to keep your manuscript single-spaced so you can see more of it on the screen at a time. When you are ready to print, there is a quick way to double-space your document:
Figure 1. The Paragraph dialog box.
This last step is important. If you save your document before exiting, then the double spacing will be permanently saved with the document, as well.
WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (1032) 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: Double-Spacing Your Document.
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