Adding Paragraph Spacing

One way to add a blank line between paragraphs is to press Enter twice at the end of each paragraph. You can avoid having to press Enter a second time to create the blank line by adding paragraph spacing before and/or after your paragraphs. For example, if you are using a 12-point font, you can add 12 points of spacing below each paragraph to automatically get one blank line's worth of white space between each paragraph.

Paragraph spacing also enables you to fine-tune the amount of space above or below a paragraph to improve your document's appearance. In Figure 7.15, the paragraphs are separated by 6 points (one-half line) of space. The Show/Hide button is turned on so that you can see that no paragraph marks appear in the white spaces between paragraphs. These spaces were created with the paragraph spacing feature, not by pressing Enter.

Figure 7.15. Paragraph spacing enables you to control the amount of white space above and below paragraphs.

To add spacing before or after a paragraph, follow these steps:

1. Click in the paragraph to which you want to add spacing (or select multiple adjacent paragraphs to add the spacing to all of them).

2. Choose Format, Paragraph to display the Paragraph dialog box.

3. Click the Indents and Spacing tab.

4. Under Spacing , type a number in points in the Before and/or After text box (or use the spinner arrows to increment the spacing 6 points at a time).

5. Click OK .

If you select several adjacent paragraphs and add space before and after, you may end up with double the amount of white space between paragraphs that you expected. It's usually simpler to add spacing before or spacing after, but not both.