The settings are the same but a little more accessible. You’re forgiven for wondering what caused the blue squiggly line.Ĭlick on the period/fullstop, question mark, exclamation to change the sentence spacing.

Right-click on the blue line to see the options which aren’t very clear. The blue squiggly line marks an incorrect sentence spacing. In earlier versions of Word the look is a little different but the result is the same. They were at the top of the list in past versions of Word, so this must be a deliberate decision. One space – a single space between sentences.īefore you ask … we don’t know why the most commonly changed grammar settings (Oxford Comma, Punctuation Required with Quotes and Space Between Sentences) are at the very bottom of the list. Scroll down to the bottom of the settings to see ‘Space between sentences’. Word for Mac: Preferences | Spelling & Grammar | Writing Style | Grammar and More | Setting. Go to Options | Proofing | Writing Styles.

Options for ‘Punctuation Conventions’ – takes you to the Grammar & more settings. The global Word setting is returned to ‘Don’t Check’. Ignore Once – will leave this spacing unchanged.ĭon’t check for this issue – changes the sentence spacing for ALL documents, not just the current document. Right-click on the dotted line to see the options under ‘Punctuation Conventions’.Ĭlick on the fullstop/period, question mark or exclamation to change the spacing.

In Word 365 if the spacing setting isn’t correct, there’s a brown dotted line. Anyone in that situation has to change the Word setting manually each time. However, some might have clients or specifications for different documents. There’s no way to change the sentence spacing check at the document, style or paragraph level.įor most people that’s not a problem. It applies to all documents opened in Word. The setting for sentence spacing is a Word global setting. Whichever you choose, Word can check for you. Most style guides including the Chicago Manual of Style and Oxford Style Manual recommend single spacing. The trend has been towards single spacing but many of us were double spacing when we were taught to type. Maybe it depends on what you were taught at school? People can get very exercised about sentence spacing. Switching to single spacing is hard for your fingers to remember. It’s a useful option for those of us who learnt on manual typewriters where double sentence spacing was standard. Is there one space or two between sentences? Word lets you check for the spacing or not care at all.

Format paragraph spacing in word 2018