Changing space between paragraphs

[Bob S]

I use Word 2003. When I receive a document from others at times there is a
large amount of space (like 3 lines) betweeen paragraphs. How can I reduce
that amount of space between paragraphs.
Sometimes, there is too much space between lines as well, even though when I
check it seems to be just single spacing. Is there a way to change this as
well?
Thanks in advance for your help.
Bob

 

[StevenM]

Bob,

You need to check your paragraph formating.
Check Format -> Style; Modify -> Format -> Paragraph
Check line spacing & spacing before and after.

Steven Craig Miller

 

[Jay Freedman]

I use Word 2003. When I receive a document from others at times
there is a large amount of space (like 3 lines) betweeen paragraphs. How
can I reduce that amount of space between paragraphs.
Sometimes, there is too much space between lines as well, even though
when I check it seems to be just single spacing. Is there a way to
change this as well?
Thanks in advance for your help.
Bob

First turn on display of nonprinting characters (click the ¶ button). If the
writer had the bad habit of hitting Enter multiple times to separate
paragraphs, you can use the Replace function to get rid of the extras -- see
http://www.word.mvps.org/FAQs/Formatting/CleanWebText.htm.

Then check the definition of the style(s) applied to the offending
paragraphs, to see whether extra Space Before or Space After has been
specified there. If so, reset that to 0 or something smaller than the
current value. Also verify that the Line Spacing setting is Single.

Finally, if everything else is as it should be but the paragraphs are still
spaced apart, there may be direct paragraph formatting applied on top of the
paragraph style. To remove all direct paragraph formatting, select the
paragraphs and press Ctrl+Q.

--
Regards,
Jay Freedman
Microsoft Word MVP
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

 

[Bob S]

Thank you Jay. That helped a lot.

First turn on display of nonprinting characters (click the ¶ button). If
the writer had the bad habit of hitting Enter multiple times to separate
paragraphs, you can use the Replace function to get rid of the extras --
see http://www.word.mvps.org/FAQs/Formatting/CleanWebText.htm.

Then check the definition of the style(s) applied to the offending
paragraphs, to see whether extra Space Before or Space After has been
specified there. If so, reset that to 0 or something smaller than the
current value. Also verify that the Line Spacing setting is Single.

Finally, if everything else is as it should be but the paragraphs are
still spaced apart, there may be direct paragraph formatting applied on
top of the paragraph style. To remove all direct paragraph formatting,
select the paragraphs and press Ctrl+Q.

--
Regards,
Jay Freedman
Microsoft Word MVP
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup
so all may benefit.

 

[Bob S]

Thank you Steven. That helped.

Bob,

You need to check your paragraph formating.
Check Format -> Style; Modify -> Format -> Paragraph
Check line spacing & spacing before and after.

Steven Craig Miller

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Another thing to check is that vertical alignment (File | Page Setup |
Layout) isn't set to Justified, which can add space between paragraphs.

 

[Bob S]

Thanks Suzanne. As usual, you have added something very useful. Thanks
again.
Bob