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: Getting a Double-Spaced Printout.

Getting a Double-Spaced Printout

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated October 13, 2020)
This tip applies to Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003


2

It is not uncommon to need a double-spaced printout of a document while you are developing it. However, it can be bothersome to save the document as double-spaced, particularly if the need for double-spacing is only temporary (meaning your final document will be single-spaced). If you need an easy way to print a double-spaced document, follow these quick steps:

  1. Save your document.
  2. Press Ctrl+A. Your entire document is selected.
  3. Press Ctrl+2. Word double-spaces the document.
  4. Press Ctrl+P to print your document.
  5. Close your document without saving

This last step is particularly important; if you save your document it will be permanently double-spaced. Unless you really want it that way, make sure you close without saving.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (1447) 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: Getting a Double-Spaced Printout.

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

Changing the Default Chart Type

If you don't have Excel installed on your system, Microsoft Graph is a handy way to create simple charts for your ...

Discover More

Pulling Initial Letters from a String

When working with names or a different series of words, you may need to pull the initial letters from each word in the ...

Discover More

Changing Roman Numerals to Arabic

In some documents Roman numerals might be used quite a bit. If you ever want to change the Roman numerals to their Arabic ...

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 2013. Spend more time working and less time trying to figure it all out! Check out Word 2013 For Dummies today!

More WordTips (menu)

Removing Blank Pages at the End of Your Document

You go to print out your document, and all of a sudden notice that there was a blank page that printed at the end. This ...

Discover More

Left and Right Aligned on One Line in a Label

If you need to put information on a label that has both left- and right-aligned information on the same line, it can be ...

Discover More

Making Sure a Document Always Has an Even Number of Pages

For some documents, you may want to make sure that a printout always has an even number of pages. Word has no intrinsic ...

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 7 + 9?

2014-12-20 05:20:05

GeordieLad

This is a very useful tip as a shortcut for changing line spacing regardless of printing and it prompted me to try this for spacings other than double - with rather mixed results. It will create one and a half line spacing using Ctrl+1.5 but Ctrl+anything larger than 2 does NOT work. Why is this?

Moreover, the tip does NOT work if the line space digit is selected from the numeric keyboard (which is enabled permanently on my PC for other applications). Again, why is this?

I realise that greater than double-spacing is hardly ever required, but why does the tip not work for such spacing?


2014-12-20 05:02:37

Bob Aikenhead

Also:
Ctrl+1 will change double spaced text to single spaced


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.