Understanding the Hot Zone

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated September 27, 2025)
This tip applies to Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003

When Word hyphenates your document, it checks to see how much of a word could be moved to the previous line if it was hyphenated. To do this, it uses what is referred to as a hot zone or a hyphenation zone. This is an area that is eligible for hyphenation at the right side of each line. You set the hot zone when you choose Hyphenate from the Tools menu.

As an example, if you choose a hot zone of 1/2 inch, then Word will not hyphenate a word if the space on the previous line is less than 1/2 inch. Setting a small hot zone results in more hyphenating, whereas a larger hot zone results in faster operation of the hyphenation tool.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (1215) applies to Microsoft Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003.

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. Learn more about Allen...

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