Have you printed a document or converted it into a PDF and realized that there is too much space between words or sentences? This can easily be fixed, all you need to do is check the document before printing or saving it. This article tutorial takes you through how do you eliminate extra spacing in Word online. It also throws light on how to remove the extra space in the desktop version of Word online on both Windows as well as Mac systems.
There are different ways in which you can remove the extra space in word documents. The first option is by enabling the formatting marks option. Here you will see all the Spaces and Enters used in the document. You can also use Ctrl + H and choose from the options and eliminate spaces.
How do you eliminate extra spacing in Word online?
Eliminating the extra space from your Word online document is a two-step process Identification and Elimination. Here is how it is done
Identification of extra space in a word online document
The first step to removing all the extra space in your word online document is by locating them. For this, you will need to follow these steps.
- Open the word online document you would like to edit. This can be done by logging into your office online account and going to the word section.
- Double click on the document to open it.
- Click on Home in the top ribbon of the document.
- On the far right, you will see three dots. Click on them for a drop-down menu.
- The dropdown menu has various options for spacing and paragraph formatting.
- Select the show or hide formatting option. This looks like a reverse double line P
The text in the document will start to look something like this. There are two main symbols that pop up Dots and the formatting marks symbol
- Dots indicate the number of spaces in the document. This simply means the number of times you hit the space bar will show up as a dot in this view
- The other indicator looks like a double line reverse P and indicates the number of new line attempts. This means it shows you all the Enters that were used while typing the document.
Elimination of extra space in a word online document
Once you have identified all the spaces in the document, you can manually delete the extra ones. To delete
- Click on the extra dots or spaces and hit the backspace or delete key.
- You can also select the extra space by highlighting it. Use the mouse > click and drag over the extra space and select it.
- You can use the keyboard to select the extra spaces as well. Move the cursor around using the arrow keys. When you reach the extra spaces keep the shift key pressed and move across the extra space. The extra space will have a blue selection hue.
Once you have the extra space selected hit the delete key. This way you can get rid of all the extra space in your document.
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How to remove multiple extra spaces between words in Word?
In the desktop version of Word, there are two ways in which you can identify and remove the extra spaces in Word. The first one is by using the show/hide formatting marks option and the other is by getting into the Find and Replace menu. Here is how it is done
Removing multiple spaces in word using the show/hide formatting marks option
To remove extra space in a word document you can use the show/hide formatting marks option in the Paragraph section. Here are the steps you can follow to use this option.
- Double click to open the document you would like to edit. On the computer, it will be saved in folders. If the document you would like to edit is created and saved on word online you will need to download it.
- Once open click on Home in the top ribbon of the document.
- In the paragraph section, you will see the show/hide formatting marks symbol. Click on it.
- The document you are working on should look something like this
- It will have dots and symbols showing you where you have spaces and enters the document.
Once you have all the extra spaces marked you can delete them quickly and format the document according to your needs. Instead of moving around the document one space at a time, you can scan through it > club up the spaces by selecting them > hitting the delete key.
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Removing multiple spaces in word using the find/replace menu
The find/replace menu is generally used to replace words within a document. Little did you know that you can remove spaces, here is how it’s done
- Open the document you would like to edit.
- Use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + H and you will have a Find and replace menu on the left of the screen.
- Click on the arrow near find – the first blank section
- You will have a list of things to choose from you can select the item you would like to get rid of.
- Once you select that go to the replace section and click on the arrow.
- Now choose what you would like to replace it with. Choose from Replace all or replace.
By doing this all the characters or spaces in your document will be replaced with another one or reduced space.
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How do you eliminate extra spacing in word online paragraphs?
To remove the extra space in word online paragraphs here are the steps you can follow.
- Login to word online and open the document that you would like to format.
- Select the text in the document. If you need to select the entire document use Ctrl + A on Windows and Command + A on Mac.
- Go to the Home menu in the top ribbon of the document.
- Click on the three dots on the far right of the menu. You will have a drop-down menu
- Click on Paragraph options for an overview of the paragraph settings
- From this menu, you can change the paragraph alignment, spacing, and indentation
- Once you have reduced the space before and after the paragraph to your linking you can adjust the line spacing.
- There is also an option that specifies Don’t add space between paragraphs of the same style. Check the box next to it.
- After you have made the necessary adjustments click on OK to save the changes.
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How do you eliminate extra spacing in word paragraphs?
When it comes to the desktop version of word removing the extra space between paragraphs is simple. Here are the steps you can follow on both windows as well as Mac systems.
- Open the document you would like to format
- Select the paragraphs you would like to reduce the space in or around or both. If you would like to work with the entire document use the keyboard shortcuts Ctrl + A for Windows and Command + A for Mac.
- Click on Home in the top menu and go to the paragraph section
- Select the option marked in the image above. You will have a dropdown menu.
- Here you can choose from the different line spacing options.
- If you need more options click on and select Line Spacing Options. You will have a popup window.
- From here you can change the spacing, line spacing, and every little detail of the paragraph.
- If you do not want to add space between paragraphs of the same style check the box next to the option.
- After the desired changes are made you can set the changes as a Default. This way you will not need to change the setting every time.
- You can also just click on OK and save the changes for this document without making it a default setting.
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How to remove empty spaces in a Word table?
While working with tables in Microsoft word there can be a lot of formatting challenges especially if you are new. In this section, we will take you through how to remove the extra space in tables.
- To add a table to your word document you can go to insert > click on the table icon > and add the number of rows and columns you would like to have.
- Add the required heading and insert the text in the cells. Use the arrow keys to navigate through the table.
- Select the table that needs to be formatted
- Click on home in the top ribbon
- From the options available click on and select show/hide formatting marks
- You will see all the extra spaces and paragraphs in the table.
- You can remove the extra spaces by clicking on the marking and deleting it manually using the delete or backspace keys.
- If you need to alter the line spacing in the paragraph select the table again if unselected
- Go to the home menu and from the options click on and select line spacing.
- From here you can reduce the overall line spacing of the table. If you need more options click on Line spacing options
- From here you can change almost all the parameters including line space, indent, the distance around the paragraph, and so on.
- Click on OK after you have made all the changes.
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How to remove empty spaces in Word online table?
Login to word online and open the document you would like to format. To insert a table into the document you will need to click on insert and select table. Now specify the number of rows and columns you require and you will have a table to insert content into.
Here is how you can remove the extra space that is in and around the table you have inserted into a word online document.
- Select the table that you would like to format.
- Click on Home in the top ribbon of the document and select the three dots on the extreme right.
- You will have a drop-down menu. From here select the show/hide formatting marks option.
- As soon as you select the option you will see all the spaces and paragraphs or enters used in the table.
- From here you can manually remove all the unwanted spaces.
- If you need to look at more options to format the table and get rid of the spaces you can click on Paragraph options.
- You will have a popup window with options to choose from. Select all the formatting tools that fit your requirement and click on OK.
- All the changes made to the table will show as soon as you close the menu. If you need to make more changes repeat these steps.
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How do I remove spaces in Word android?
If you are working on a word document on an android device here is how you can get rid of the extra space.
- Start by downloading the word application for android and login into your office online account. Once you have logged in all the documents created and saved on the drive will sync to your android device.
- Open the document you would like to work on Enable editing.
- Select the text that needs to be edited. You can also select the entire document if the extra space runs throughout the document.
- Tap on the editing symbol to open the menu
- In the Home, section scroll down to find paragraph formatting
- Tap on Paragraph formatting for more options.
From here you can reduce the line spacing throughout the document. You can also remove the extra space from the before and after paragraphs.
If you have a table in your document, you can use the same steps to remove the extra space. Simply select the table and you will be able to use the paragraph formatting tools to remove the extra space.
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How do I remove spaces in Word iOS?
Here are the steps you can follow to remove blank space in word iOS documents.
- Download the word application from the store on your iOS device. You can log in to your office online account, this way you can access all the documents saved on the drive.
- Open the document you would like to format
- Enable editing, Select the text that you need to remove the space from. You can select a section or the entire document.
- Go to the editing menu, In the Home section, you will see Paragraph Formatting options
- Go to the menu by tapping on it
- From the options available remove the space before and after paragraphs or reduce the space between lines.
These steps can be used to format tables inserted into the word document. You can remove extra space from the paragraph formatting menu.
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How to remove white space in word when printing?
When you are printing a document it may sometimes happen that you notice extra space in and around the document. There are a few reasons why these spaces may occur. This section also takes you through how do you eliminate extra spacing in word online while printing.
Printing a word document without margins in word online
Sometimes, it may so happen that you need to print a word document without the margins. Here are the steps you can follow to print without margins.
- Open the document
- Go to the Layout tab in the top ribbon
- Click on Margins
- From the dropdown menu, you can choose the margins that you would like to use. You can go in for narrow if you are looking for a minimal amount of blank space around the document.
- If you need a customized margin click on Custom Margins
- Use the arrows to reduce or increase the margin size around the document.
- Click on ok once done.
Go to print preview after you have made it and view the document before printing.
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Printing a word document without margins in word
While working on the desktop version of Word here is how you can reduce the white space in documents. Follow these steps to get an answer to how do you eliminate extra spacing in Word online.
- Click on Layout in the top ribbon of the document and open the menu.
- Go to Margins and click on the arrow for a dropdown menu
- Under margins, you will have various options to choose from. The size of the margins is specified in cms so you can get a better idea of the size.
- Choose narrow for a minimal margin.
- If you are looking to further customize the margins click on and select Custom Margins.
- You can move the margins of the document to your liking. You can also choose to apply the margins to a particular page or the entire document.
- Once done click on OK.
Go to print preview to view changes before printing the document.
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How to delete extra pages from a word document?
Blank space in documents can be in the form of blank pages that generally appear at the end of the document. These pages can result from extra Spaces or Enters you hit while working on the document.
Here are the steps you can follow to remove the extra pages that show up in your document.
Removing extra pages in documents by activating paragraph marks
Paragraph marks are great to check for extra character spaces occupied in the document. You can use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + Shift + 8 on Windows and Command + 8 on Mac.
Once you see all the extra spaces you can remove them manually. Select them all using the keyboard or the mouse and hit the delete key. If you are doing it one space at a time use backspace or delete on Windows and Fn + delete or delete on Mac.
By removing the extra spaces scattered through the document you will be able to remove the extra page that pops up at the end.
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Removing extra pages in documents by removing page breaks or section breaks
Extra pages show up in the print preview of documents when you have a section or page breaks. This can cause the text to move around in a way that adds extra pages to the document. Here is how to do it.
- Go to the view tab in the top ribbon of the document, Change the view to draft
- You will see all the page breaks added to the document, Remove the ones that are not required
Your document will now be free from the extra space occupied by the page or section breaks.
Removing extra pages in documents from the navigation panel
A navigation panel in a document helps get an overview of the entire document. Here you can see all the pages in the document as well as how it will look when you print it.
- To activate the navigation pannel go to the view tab in the top menu and click on navigation.
- All the pages will show on the left of the document
- From here you can see all the extra space in the document along with the extra pages.
- Simply click on the extra pages and delete them.
- You can from here fine-tune the formatting of the other pages by clicking and opening them.
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In conclusion
Blank spaces in word documents are a result of extra characters or paragraph space. So, how do you eliminate extra spacing in Word online? You can review the amount of extra space in a document and around photos and tables by activating paragraph markups.
Once you know where the extra spaces are they can easily be deleted by hitting the delete key on the keyboard.
Another way of reducing the extra space is by narrowing the margins or removing them. You can also check for page and section breaks through the document and delete them.
Extra space can also show in the form of line space that can be eliminated from the paragraph section. You can reduce line spacing and the overall white space in the document will reduce.
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My name is Carissa Gudino and I am an expert in word online, using Word Online in my day-to-day tasks. In this blog, I will share with you tips and tutorials on how to use word online to its fullest potential. I work for various clients in various countries like the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, etc. My tutorials are designed to help beginners, as well as more experienced users, learn new tricks and tips on Microsoft word online. Check out more.