The Spaced-Out Text
Google Docs applies a specific set of paragraph styles to every new document you create. One of the less obvious formatting rules is the automatic application of line spacing—specifically, adding extra blank space after every paragraph. This means when you hit the Enter key, the cursor drops down slightly further than a standard single-line return. While this helps create visually distinct paragraphs in a long essay, it is incredibly annoying if you are trying to format a tight block of text, like a mailing address or a poem, where you need every line to sit immediately beneath the previous one without extra gaps.
Removing the Paragraph Padding
To achieve tight, precise formatting and stop Google Docs from automatically adjusting the line spacing by adding extra gaps after paragraphs, you must modify the custom spacing settings.
Highlight the text that is suffering from the unwanted extra spacing (or press Ctrl+A to select the entire document). Navigate to the top menu bar and click on Format. Scroll down the drop-down menu and hover your cursor over Line & paragraph spacing. A secondary menu will appear. In this menu, look for an option that says Remove space after paragraph (if it says “Add space after paragraph,” the extra padding isn’t currently applied to the selection). Click it to remove the padding. To ensure this never happens again in the document, click on the same menu again and select Custom spacing. Ensure “Before” and “After” are both set to 0, and click Apply.