How to Change Spacing in Google Docs?

Spacing can be defined in two ways in Google Docs; Line Spacing and Paragraph Spacing.

Line spacing refers to the amount of vertical space between successive lines of text, be it in a paragraph or a very long sentence spanning multiple lines.

Paragraph Spacing on the other hand refers to the amount of vertical space between successive paragraphs.

Changing the spacing in your Google Docs may be needed as it improves the readability, and in some cases, it may be in some cases a mandatory requirement.

For example, if you are writing a thesis, then depending on the university, you may want to set the line spacing to double. A higher value for the line spacing may increase the legibility of your document, but it may also make your content take up more pages.

So in case you are writing a business letter, you might want to opt for a single line spacing.

Let’s see how to change the spacing in Google Docs.

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Changing Line Spacing and Paragraph Spacing in Google Docs

Google Docs is an excellent online tool for writing any sort of report or business letter and it provides multiple options to set the spacing.

There are predefined line spacing values that you can choose from or you can create your own custom value.

If you set this line spacing before writing your document then whatever you write will have that line spacing set automatically.

If however you have written your document and want to set the line spacing afterward, you will have to manually select the text and then set the spacing.

Similarly, there are also predefined options for adding spacing before a paragraph begins or after a paragraph ends.

In this tutorial, I will show you how you can change the spacing in Google Docs using different methods.

First I will show how to change the line spacing and then I will show how to change the paragraph spacing.

Method 1: Changing Line Spacing Using the Predefined Values

By default, Google Docs sets the line spacing value to 1.15. If you want to change the line spacing value then follow the steps below.

As an example, we will take the following paragraphs and change the line spacing to 1.5. By default, the line spacing is set to 1.15.

“When choosing a steel grade for use in underwater applications, the 300 series steel is a great choice. The 304 grade is the most commonly used grade and is readily available in the local market.

Other grades such as the 316 offer better corrosion resistance but they are more expensive and are made available upon request. Furthermore, the 316 grade is a great choice for use in radiation environments where material degradation is a common issue.”

Select both paragraphs as shown.

From the menu bar click on Format.

Hover your mouse over the Line and paragraph spacing option.

hover over the Line and paragraph spacing option

The following menu will appear.

The predefined line spacing options are as shown.

Pre defined line spacing options are shown

You can select whichever you like. In this case, I am going to select 1.5.

After changing the line spacing, the final result will look like this. (Both the Original and the Changed paragraphs are shown)

You can see that before, there was the default 1.15 spacing between the lines of the two paragraphs, and after, 1.5 points of spacing have been applied.

Also read: Biggest Font Style in Google Docs

Method 2: Changing the Line Spacing Using a Custom Value

In this method, we will choose our own custom values for the line spacing instead of the predefined values that Google Docs gives us.

As in Method 1, we will use the same example paragraphs to set the line spacing to 2.5.

Select both paragraphs as shown.

From the menu bar click on Format.

Hover your mouse over the Line and paragraph spacing option.

The following menu will appear.

Select the Custom Spacing option.

The following window will appear.

Under the line spacing section type 2.5 in the text box as shown.

Click on Apply.

After changing the line spacing, the final result will look like this. (Both the Original and the Changed paragraphs are shown)

You can see that before, there was the default 1.15 spacing between the lines of the two paragraphs, and after, 2.5 points of spacing have been applied.

Method 3: Changing the Paragraph Spacing Using the Predefined Values

Just as in the previous methods we will use the same example paragraphs to set the spacing after the paragraphs using predefined options. By default, there is no paragraph spacing.