How to Adjust the Space between Words in Word for Mac

We recently adjusted the space between words in Microsoft Word for the PC. Today, we’re going to look at how to increase or decrease the space between words in Word for Mac.

A Word of Caution: You can change the space between words by adding multiple spaces. I strongly advise against this practice for long blocks of text because adding unnecessary spaces (rather than making individual spaces bigger, as shown in this tutorial) can have unwanted effects on other formatting in your document.

Do you want to change the space between letters in Word for Mac? Please see my other tutorial “How to Adjust Letter Spacing in Microsoft Word (PC & Mac)”

This tutorial is also available as a YouTube video showing 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 should also work in other recent versions of Word for Mac.

How to Adjust the Space between Words in Word for Mac

Select the Home tab in the ribbon.

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

(Optional) Select the Show/Hide button to reveal your document’s formatting marks.

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

Select the part of the text you want to change. (Pro Tip: Press Command + A to select the entire document.)

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

Review your current font size in the Font Size menu. The default space between words is based on your current font size.

Font Size menu in Word for Mac — Figure 4. Font Size menu

Select the Edit menu.

Edit menu in Word for Mac — Figure 5. Edit menu

Select Find in the drop-down menu.

Find option in the Edit menu in Word for Mac — Figure 6. Find option

Select Advanced Find and Replace in the submenu to open the Find and Replace dialog box.

Advanced Find and Replace option in Word for Mac — Figure 7. Advanced Find and Replace option

Alternative Route to the Find and Replace Dialog Box

Here is another way to open the Find and Replace dialog box:

Press Shift + Command + H on your keyboard.
(Alternative) Select the Edit menu followed by Find in the drop-down menu and then Replace in the submenu.

Replace option in the Edit menu in Word for Mac — Figure 8. Replace option

Select the Settings button and then select Advanced Find & Replace in the Find and Replace pane.

Advanced Find & Replace option in the Find and Replace pane in Word for Mac — Figure 9. Advanced Find & Replace

Select the Replace tab.

Replace tab in the Find and Replace dialog box in Word for Mac — Figure 10. Replace tab

Place your cursor in the Find what text box and then press your spacebar once to create one space.

Find What text box in the Find and Replace dialog box in Word for Mac — Figure 11. “Find what” text box

Place your cursor in the Replace with text box and then press your spacebar once to create one space.

"Replace with" text box in the Find and Replace dialog box in Word for Mac — Figure 12. “Replace with” text box

Select the expansion arrow. (Skip this step if your dialog box is already expanded.)

Expansion arrow in the Find and Replace dialog box in Word for Mac — Figure 13. Expansion arrow

Select the Format button.

Format button in the Find and Replace dialog box in Word for Mac — Figure 14. Format button

Select Font in the Format menu.

Font option in the Find and Replace dialog box in Word for Mac — Figure 15. Font option

Type a larger or smaller font size in the Size menu in the Replace Font dialog box. Alternatively, select a size from the drop-down menu.

Size menu in the Replace Font dialog box in Word for Mac — Figure 16. Size menu

Select the OK button.

OK button in the Replace Font dialog box in Word for Mac — Figure 17. OK button

Select the Replace All button.

Replace All button in the Find and Replace dialog box in Word for Mac — Figure 18. Replace All button

A dialog box will report the number of replacements.

- Select No if you only want the replacements in the text you selected in step 3.
- Select Yes if you want to expand the replacements to your whole document.

Replacement dialog box in Word for Mac — Figure 19. Replacement dialog box

Select the Close button.

Close button in the Find and Replace dialog box in Word for Mac — Figure 20. Close button

The spacing between words should now be changed in your selected text.

Selected text with increased space between words in Word for Mac — Figure 21. Selected text with increased space between words

(Optional) Reselect the Show/Hide button to hide your formatting (see figure 2).

Related Resources

How to Use the Format Painter in Microsoft Word (PC & Mac)

How to Change Page Orientation in Microsoft Word (PC & Mac)

How to Create a Custom Heading Style in Microsoft Word for Mac

Updated March 05, 2023