Word 7 changed a lot of word processing things. One of the most odd (some would say annoying) is its standard paragraph format which seems to always add a puff of space between the lines of each paragraph you type. When you’re trying to type an address, that extra space can be a real pain.

After so many generations of Word, Microsoft changed the Normal paragraph style in Word 2007. Normal is the style for the text you type in Word that you don’t otherwise format.

The standard paragraph in Word is now formatted at 1.15 line spacing with 10 points of space following each paragraph.

To reset the line spacing back to 1, you can press Ctrl+1 on the keyboard.

To reset the spacing on text you’ve already typed, select those paragraphs and then press Ctrl+1.

If you want to remove the air after the paragraphs, you’ll need to visit the Paragraph dialog box: In the Home tab on the ribbon, click the Show Dialog Box button in the lower right corner of the Paragraph area to behold the Paragraph dialog box:

Above you can see (well, maybe not: it’s tiny) that Spacing After is set to 10 points and Line Spacing is set to Multiple 1.15.

I don’t mind the weird spacing myself. First, I don’t mind it because I use templates to write my stuff. The templates are preset with the line spacing and paragraph padding I like.

Second, I also know how to use a soft return.

As you know from reading my books, you use the Enter key when word processing to mark the end of a paragraph, not the end of a line. There’s no need to press Enter at the end of a line because a word processor automatically word wraps your text.

When you need to end a line of text but not a paragraph, then you need to use a soft return. I prefer to call a soft return a line break, because that’s really what it is: a break in a line without ending a paragraph.

To type a soft return (line break) in Word, press Shift+Enter.

After pressing Shift+Enter, you’ll see the next line of text drop down a notch. That’s perfect for typing an address in a letter or making a short list in a paragraph.

You can press Shift+Enter to break up a paragraph into as many lines as you like. You’ll still have to press the Enter key to end the paragraph, but otherwise the soft return will help you get that new line of text when you need it, and avoid the weirdness of Word 2007’s paragraph formatting.