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: Smushing Text Together.

Smushing Text Together

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated June 21, 2025)
This tip applies to Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003

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.
Choose the Font option from the Tools menu. Word displays the Font dialog box.
Make sure the Character Spacing tab is selected. (See Figure 1.)

Figure 1. The Character Spacing tab of the Font dialog box.

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.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (1473) 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: Smushing Text Together.

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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