Justify Paragraphs for a Clean Finish but Avoid Wide Gaps in Text
Have you ever tried to block justify your paragraphs (make your right margin even) in a Word document and ended up with an amateurish look of too much space between words? Try this instead.
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Select the text you want to block justify.
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Right-click on the text, and click Paragraph.
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On the Indents and Spacing tab, click the drop-down arrow next to Alignment, and click Justified, OK.
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Now click the Format menu, Font.
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On the Character Spacing tab, tick the Kerning box, and set font size to match the size of the font in your paragraph (kerning is character spacing.) And Spacing should be set at Normal.
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Click OK.
To fine-tune the spacing (Word 2003):
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Click the Tools menu, Options. Then click the Compatibility tab.
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In the resulting Options list, tick “do full justification like WordPerfect...”
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Click OK.
To fine-tune the spacing (Word 2007):
- Click the Office button, Word Options, Advanced.
- Go to absolute bottom of Advanced options, and click to expand Layout Options.
- In the resulting Options list, tick “do full justification like WordPerfect...”
- Click OK.
Important: If you ever have a very short sentence at the end of a paragraph that spreads out in spite of your adjustments, just press Tab at the end of the paragraph to close it up. Occasionally, you’ll have to reword to fill up space.
It’s also important to note that this tip does not work if you use the Courier font. This is a monospaced (or non-proportional) font which is a typewriter-like, fixed-width font, and each letter occupies the same amount of space. Other computer fonts are variable-width (or proportional) and the software adjusts the spacing automatically. (This is why since the advent of computers, only one space follows a period, not two.)
BTW, you can receive regular computer tips from me by joining my private email list (and get lots of free stuff too). And if you want to dig deeper and register for one of my workshops or Webinars, it’s all on my Website.
PEACE.
Filed under: Publishing, Word-Excel-PowerPoint
