This tutorial shows how to adjust the space between words in Microsoft Word.
[Typewriter sounds]
Hello, my name is Erin.
[Chime sound]
In my last Microsoft Word tutorial, we adjusted the space between letters in Microsoft Word.
Today, we’re going to adjust the space between words without altering the letter spacing.
Before we begin, a word of caution.
You may be tempted to increase the space between words by adding multiple spaces.
I strongly advise against that practice for long blocks of text
because adding unnecessary spaces can disturb other formatting in your document.
We will avoid that problem today by making individual spaces larger.
Of course, you can also make the individual spaces smaller.
I’ll be using Word for Microsoft 365.
These steps will also work in Word 2019, Word 2016, and Word 2013.
We will cover this topic in Word for Mac in a separate tutorial.
To begin, select the Home tab in the ribbon.
Although not required, I recommend selecting the Show/Hide button in the Paragraph group
to reveal your document’s formatting.
Next, select the part of the text you want to change.
If you would like to select the entire document, press Ctrl + A on your keyboard.
The default space between words is based on your current font size.
So, take note of your current font size in the Font Size menu.
Next, select the Replace button in the Editing group to open the Find and Replace dialog box.
And then place your cursor in the “Find what” text box.
And press your spacebar once to create one space.
Then, place your cursor in the “Replace with” text box and once again press your spacebar once to create one space.
When you’re finished, select the More button to expand the dialog box, if it’s not already expanded.
Now, select the Format button.
Followed by Font in the drop-down menu.
When the Replace Font dialog box appears, select a larger or smaller font size from the Size menu.
[Chime sound]
And then select the OK button.
Next, select the Replace All button.
A dialog box will appear stating the number of replacements.
Select Yes if you want to expand the replacements to your whole document.
Select No if you only want the replacements in the text you selected earlier.
Finally, select the Close button.
The spacing between words should now be changed in your selected text.
If you turned on the Show/Hide button at the start of this process, you can now reselect it to hide your formatting.
As always, remember to save your file to save your changes.
I have created many other videos about Microsoft Word including
“How to Adjust Line Spacing in Microsoft Word.”
And, “How to Adjust Page Margins in Microsoft Word.”
Please see the complete list in the playlist titled “How to Use Microsoft Word,”
which is linked in the description box below.
The companion blog post for this video showing all the steps we just performed
appears on erinwrightwriting.com, along with all my other step-by-step document software tutorials
to help you succeed at work and in the classroom.
Feel free to leave me a comment if there’s a specific topic that you would like me to talk about in the future.
And please subscribe to my channel so you don’t miss future tutorials.
And give this video a thumbs-up if you found it helpful.
Thank you so much for watching!
[Typewriter sounds]