WHAT IS THE DEFAULT "AFTER" LINE SPACING IN WORD 2020, and OTHER VERSIONS?

The default paragraph formatting for the Normal Style is

Spacing Before 0 pt

Spacing After 8 pt

Line spacing Multiple at 1.08

Different versions of Word may have slightly different default settings, so perhaps the professor is using some other (older) version of Word.

You can change the defaults in the Paragraph dialog box, if that helps. Right-click a text paragraph and choose Paragraph from the context menu. Specify the settings that the professor wants and click Set as Default.

Thank you for the reply. When I set the line spacing at 0 pt, 8 pt after and multiple 1.08 it rounds up to 1.1 and makes the essay 9 pages.

The professor requires the essay to be single space. When I select 0 pt, 8 pt after and "single" space, the essay remains at the 8 pages I had. When I also select the "1.0" feature from toolbar, I get the same result - 8 pages.

I'm confused as what is technically considered "single space" in WORD 2020. Is it what it defaults to, or what I've selected above.

Thank you for walking me through this.

In Word, when you are using variable line spacing, such as "Single," the actual spacing is determined by the font you are using. To a certain extent, the current printer driver will also affect the actual distances between text lines.

Of course, "Double" is double the spacing of "Single," and 1.5 is 50% more than "Single," but you can't control what "Single" actually means.

The only way to get full control over line spacing is to choose the "Exactly" option and specify a fixed value in points.

As for the question of what version of Word the professor is using, that's irrelevant. The definitions of the styles in the document are set when the document is created, and they remain unchanged unless a user -- you or the professor -- explicitly goes into the Modify Style dialog to change them.

What may make a difference is that the professor likely has a different printer and printer driver. Word depends on the currently loaded driver for the widths of characters and other information used in page layout, which can change where the line endings appear and sometimes changes the page breaks. Point your professor to the article http://wordfaqs.ssbarnhill.com/TextReflow.htm for information.

All,

Again thank you for your responses I do appreciate your help. I am learning a lot by this process, but still unsure if I followed the professors instructions when I compare my WORD settings. Please forgive me if I am asking the same question - just in a different way. Perhaps screen shots of my settings would help which I've attached.

I want to confirm two things: If I understand correctly, depending on what drivers the professor is using, she may get 9 pages or more because the line spacing may be off, correct? Note, she is not printing out the document, rather just viewing it. And also, when she opens my Word document she should see the same spacing I had when the document was created. In other words, it doesn't matter what default line spacing she has on her WORD at the time she opens my document to view it, correct?

On all essays I submitted on the same day, my spacing was as follows: *Note nothing has changed since the day it was submitted. I just made a copy of my original, opened the document and took screen shots right now.

When I click on the white space within the document, then go to paragraph settings, this is what I see:

When I select all the text within the document I get blanks:

Now, I don't know why it is blank, what it means or how it being blank effects the document. I should add my documents were sent in Adobe PDF format. I hit the covert to pdf button in my WORD. I also sent the professor my Word document.

The instructions were to use Times News Roman 12 pt font, which is what was used and to single space. With that, I got a full 8 pages minus exactly one word. Looking at these screen shots, did I for all intents and purposes, single space my document? As an average user - I don't go into the line spacing feature and select "exactly" and fit to a specific size. I thought going to Line Spacing and selecting "single space" was single spacing my document. :(

Thank you again for your time.

Thank you for this link! This is very helpful. I will forward it.

All,

***

Now, I don't know why it is blank, what it means or how it being blank effects the document. I should add my documents were sent in Adobe PDF format. I hit the covert to pdf button in my WORD. I also sent the professor my Word document.

The instructions were to use Times News Roman 12 pt font, which is what was used and to single space. With that, I got a full 8 pages minus exactly one word. Looking at these screen shots, did I for all intents and purposes, single space my document? As an average user - I don't go into the line spacing feature and select "exactly" and fit to a specific size. I thought going to Line Spacing and selecting "single space" was single spacing my document. :(

Thank you again for your time.

It is blank because you may have different paragraphs with different settings. Word blanks things out when it has different settings. See what happens if, when you have everything selected, you add the numbers to the settings as they are in the first box.

I think you are over-thinking this. Take Doug's original answer and Suzanne's page to the professor and let him/her think about it.

Of course, the specified defaults will not change in a given document, regardless of the Word version. If the line spacing is 1.08 in document A, that value will be seen if that same document is opened on a different computer.

The actual distance between baselines, if you print the document and measure the distance with a ruler, might be different, though.

The factory default settings in Word has changed over versions, as I wrote earlier. Older versions used "Single" line spacing and 10 points font size, for example.

The printer driver affects the distance between baselines, for paragraphs whose spacing is set to a variable amount, even if the document isn't actually printed.