Do not add extra space before or after paragraphs. It’s too tight. There­fore, line-spac­ing choices were lim­ited to one, two, or more lines at a time. Orig­i­nally, a type­writer’s platen could only move the pa­per ver­ti­cally in units of a sin­gle line. Avoid the other options. These habits are ob­so­lete type­writer habits. CSSUse the line-height prop­erty, prefer­ably with­out units (here’s why). Line spacing is covered in Section 2.21 of the APA Publication Manual, Seventh Edition. Never use At least, be­cause that gives Word per­mis­sion to ad­just your line spac­ing unpredictably. Do not add extra space before or after paragraphs. ), For most text, the op­ti­mal line spac­ing is be­tween 120% and 145% of the point size. Word proces­sors have a be­wil­der­ing num­ber of ways to set line spac­ing. In the images below, you can compare different types of line spacing. Select Home > Line and Paragraph Spacing, and choose the spacing you want. ). By default, lines are single-spaced, meaning that the spacing accommodates the largest font in that line, plus a small amount of extra space. Exactly is best—en­ter a fixed mea­sure­ment. You can also use the Lines op­tion, but like Word, it adds ex­tra space—about 17%. A side ef­fect is that fonts that run small will need less line spac­ing, and vice versa. Line Spacing. Use the right software. Or you can do the math—mul­ti­ply your point size by the per­cent­age. Re­call that dif­fer­ent fonts set at the same point size may not ap­pear the same size on the page. Most writ­ers use ei­ther dou­ble-spaced lines or sin­gle-spaced lines—noth­ing in be­tween—be­cause those are the op­tions pre­sented by word processors. It’s too loose.). WordRight-click in the text and se­lect Paragraph from the menu. (See point size for why.) Word allows you to customize the line spacing to be single spaced (one line high), double spaced (two lines high), or any other amount you want. Updated 12/20/17. Line spacing determines the amount of vertical space between lines of text in a paragraph. It looks fine. Don’t be thrown off—it all comes back to the same thing. In general, double-space all parts of an APA Style paper, including the abstract; text; block quotations; table and figure numbers, titles, and notes; and reference list (including between and within entries). PagesView → Show Toolbar (or op­tion + ⌘ + t) → Format but­ton → Style pane → un­der Spacing, there’s a popup menu. Sin­gle-spaced type­writ­ten text is dense and hard to read. If a line contains a large text character or graphic, Publisher increases the spacing for that line. Line spacing is expressed in HTML as a number value or factor of the font size, such as 1.5× or 150%. Change line spacing for part of your document. Select the paragraphs you want to change. Most writ­ers use ei­ther dou­ble-spaced lines or sin­gle-spaced lines—noth­ing in be­tween—be­cause those are the op­tions pre­sented by word processors. Paragraph spacing is the amount of white space between two paragraphs. Line spac­ing af­fects the length of a doc­u­ment more than point size. (The text in this para­graph has line spac­ing of 170%. If you pre­fer set­ting line height in inches rather than points, di­vide the point mea­sure­ment by 72 (there are 72 points to an inch). And like using the right font or proper margins, controlling spacing is an important part of document formatting. Most word proces­sors, as well as CSS, let you de­fine line spac­ing as a mul­ti­ple. In this video, we'll make clear the difference between letter spacing and line spacing. more than four lines - often called "block quotes") Introduce the quotation with a sentence in the main text, typically followed by a colon. If you are using APA Style in another context (e.g., on a website or in a formal publication), different line spacing and other formatting specifications may be appropriate. Exactly is best—en­ter a fixed mea­sure­ment. As an example: 1.5× line height on size 12 text is 18 (by math 12 × 1.5). (The text in this para­graph has line spac­ing of 110%. There­fore, to get line spac­ing in the 120–145% range, use a Lines value of 1.03–1.29. Add and format text. In general, double-space all parts of an APA Style paper, including the abstract; text; block quotations; table and figure numbers, titles, and notes; and reference list (including between and within entries). Most word proces­sors, as well as CSS, let you de­fine line spac­ing as a mul­ti­ple. Exceptions to double line spacing are as follows: These guidelines apply to APA Style student papers and to manuscripts being submitted for publication. Most word processors, as well as CSS, let you define line spacing as a multiple. But dou­ble-spac­ing is still looser than optimal. From left to right, these images show default line spacing, single spacing, and double spacing. Line spacing is also known as leading (pronounced to rhy… Line spac­ing is the ver­ti­cal dis­tance be­tween lines of text. Line spacing is the amount of space between lines of text within a paragraph, the property set by “line-height” in HTML code. Line spac­ing is the ver­ti­cal dis­tance be­tween lines of text. Some­times you see this term in type­set­ting software. (Not 1.20–1.45—as noted above, Word uses pe­cu­liar line-spac­ing math.) See Also. For most text, the optimal line spacing is between 120% and 145% of the point size. © 2020 American Psychological Association, 750 First St. NE, Washington, DC 20002-4242, Telephone: (800) 374-2721; (202) 336-5500. Long quotations (i.e. Multiple is also ac­cept­able—en­ter line spac­ing as a dec­i­mal. Letter Spacing, Line Spacing & Alignment - Working with Design Space; Letter Spacing, Line Spacing & Alignment - Working with Design Space. Overview. Or you can do the math—mul­ti­ply your point size by the per­cent­age. To get line spac­ing in the 120–145% range, use a Multiple value of 1.03–1.24. Tabs. If you need to fit a doc­u­ment onto a cer­tain num­ber of pages, try ad­just­ing the line spac­ing first. Single spacing is used for: Extensive figure captions. For adjusting leading, programs like Adobe InDesign, Illustrator or Photoshop … For most text, the op­ti­mal line spac­ing is be­tween 120% and 145% of the point size. This guidance has been expanded from the 6th edition. The tra­di­tional term for line spac­ing is lead­ing (rhymes with bed­ding), so named be­cause tra­di­tional print shops put strips of lead be­tween lines of type to in­crease ver­ti­cal space. (The text in this paragraph has line spacing of 135%. These habits are ob­so­lete type­writer habits. Go to the menu un­der Line spacing. Don’t use these—they miss the tar­get zone of 120–145%. The default spacing in Word is 1.08 lines, which is slightly larger than single spaced. Double-space before the beginning of a block quote. Line spacing is the amount of white space between two lines of text. Or you can do the math—multiply your point size by the percentage. Design Space for Beginners.