How to Double Space in Microsoft Word

Whether you are drafting a university essay that requires strict MLA formatting, preparing a legal document, or writing a manuscript for a publisher, double spacing your text is one of the most common formatting requirements in the professional world. Double spacing inserts a full blank line between every line of text, making the document significantly easier for professors or editors to read and annotate.

While you could technically achieve this by hitting the “Enter” key twice at the end of every single line, doing so will completely destroy your document’s layout the moment you try to edit a sentence. Microsoft Word has a built-in line spacing tool that handles the formatting automatically, ensuring your text flows perfectly no matter how much you edit it.

You can choose to double space a single paragraph, a specific section of text, or configure Word to double space the entire document by default.

Method 1: How to Double Space the Entire Document

If you are starting a brand new essay and want to ensure every single word you type from this point forward is double-spaced, you should set the rule for the entire document before you begin typing.

1. Open a blank document in Microsoft Word.
2. Look at the Ribbon at the top of the screen and click on the Design tab. (Note: On older versions of Word, this might be located under the “Layout” tab).
3. Look to the far right side of the Design ribbon and click the Paragraph Spacing button.
4. A drop-down menu will appear showing several preset spacing options (such as Compact, Tight, and Open).
5. Click on Double.

Your cursor will immediately adjust. From now on, every time the text wraps to a new line or you press Enter to start a new paragraph, Word will automatically insert the correct amount of blank space.

Method 2: How to Double Space Specific Text

If you have already written your document using single spacing and you need to change it before printing, you can selectively apply double spacing to the existing text.

1. Open your document.
2. Highlight the text: If you want to double space the entire essay, press Ctrl + A (or Command + A on a Mac) to highlight everything. If you only want to double space a specific quote or paragraph, click and drag your mouse to highlight only that section.
3. Look at the Ribbon at the top of the screen and click on the Home tab.
4. In the “Paragraph” section of the ribbon, look for an icon that shows four horizontal lines with two small blue arrows pointing up and down. This is the Line and Paragraph Spacing button. Click it.
5. A drop-down menu containing numbers (1.0, 1.15, 1.5, 2.0, etc.) will appear.
6. Click on 2.0.

The highlighted text will instantly expand to fill the page with double spacing. Any text you did not highlight will remain single-spaced.

How to Remove Extra Space Between Paragraphs

A very common frustration when double-spacing a document is that Word often adds even more space whenever you press the Enter key to start a new paragraph, making the gap look disproportionately large compared to the rest of the text.

Academic formats like MLA and APA require standard double spacing throughout the entire document, with no extra spacing between paragraphs. Here is how to fix it:

1. Highlight your entire document (Ctrl + A).
2. Go to the Home tab and click the Line and Paragraph Spacing button (the icon with the up/down arrows).
3. Look at the very bottom of the drop-down menu.
4. If you see an option that says Remove Space After Paragraph, click it.

Your document will now have perfectly uniform double spacing from the first word to the last, with no awkward extra gaps between your paragraphs.