How to Adjust Paragraph Spacing in Word for Mac

This tutorial shows how to adjust paragraph spacing in Word for Mac. We will begin by changing the spacing before and after individual paragraphs. Then, we will adjust the space before and after all the paragraphs in a document.

Don’t miss the brief discussion at the end about Word’s built-in paragraph spacing options—and why you may not want to use them.

These steps don’t affect the line spacing within the paragraphs. We will cover line spacing in Word for Mac in a separate tutorial.

Table of Contents

How to Adjust the Space Before and After Individual Paragraphs
How to Adjust the Space Before and After All Paragraphs
What about the Built-In Paragraph Spacing Options?

This tutorial’s companion video shows all the steps in real time.

Watch more than 250 other writing-related software tutorials on my YouTube channel.

The images below are from Word for Microsoft 365 for Mac. These steps also apply to Word 2021 for Mac, Word 2019 for Mac, and Word 2016 for Mac.

Are you on a PC? Please see “How to Adjust Paragraph Spacing in Microsoft Word.”

How to Adjust the Space Before and After Individual Paragraphs

Select the Home tab.

Home tab in Word for Mac — Figure 1. Home tab

(Optional) Select the Show/Hide button to reveal your formatting marks, including paragraph marks.

Show/Hide button in Word for Mac — Figure 2. Show/Hide button

Select the paragraph or paragraphs you want to adjust.

Selected paragraphs in Word for Mac — Figure 3. Selected paragraphs

Select the Line and Paragraph Spacing button.

Figure 4. Line and Paragraph Spacing button

Select Line Spacing Options from the drop-down menu.

Line Spacing Options in Word for Mac — Figure 5. Line Spacing Options

Enter an amount into the Before or After text box in the Paragraph dialog box.

Pro Tip: Avoid entering numbers in the Before and After text boxes at the same time because multiple adjustments may cause unwanted results.

Before and After text boxes in the Paragraph dialog box in Word for Mac — Figure 6. Before and After text boxes

Ensure that Don’t add space between paragraphs of the same style is not selected.

"Don't add space between paragraphs of the same style" option in the Paragraph dialog box in Word for Mac — Figure 7. Don’t add space between paragraphs of the same style option

Select the OK button.

OK button in the Paragraph dialog box — Figure 8. OK button

The spacing should be adjusted for the selected paragraph(s).

Selected paragraphs with spacing adjustments in Word for Mac — Figure 9. Selected paragraphs with spacing adjustments

How to Adjust the Space Before and After All Paragraphs

This process adjusts the paragraph spacing for the entire document without affecting heading spacing.

Place your cursor in one of your paragraphs.
Select the Home tab (see figure 2).
Select the Styles Pane button.

Styles Pane button in Word for Mac — Figure 10. Styles Pane button

Your paragraph style (which is usually “Normal”) will be automatically selected in the Styles Pane.

Select the Select All button.

Select All button in the Styles Pane in Word for Mac — Figure 11. Select All button

Your paragraphs should be selected, but your headings should not be selected.

Select the Line and Paragraph Spacing button (see figure 4).
Select Line Spacing Options from the drop-down menu (see figure 5).
Enter an amount into the Before or After text box in the Paragraph dialog box (see figure 6).

Pro Tip: Avoid entering numbers in the Before and After text boxes at the same time because multiple adjustments may cause unwanted results.

Ensure that Don’t add space between paragraphs of the same style is not selected (see figure 7).
Select the OK button (see figure 8).

The spacing should be adjusted for all the paragraphs in the document. The heading spacing should not be affected.

Paragraphs with spacing adjustments in while document in Word for Mac — Figure 12. Paragraphs with spacing adjustments

Select the X to close the Styles Pane.

Closing X in the Styles Pane in Word for Mac — Figure 13. Closing X

What about the Built-In Paragraph Spacing Options?

The Paragraph Spacing menu in the Design tab includes six built-in options. You can use these options instead of custom paragraph spacing. However, these options will also adjust the line spacing within your paragraphs.