Using Windows 11; Latest version of Office 365.




I have for a very long time searched and followed instructions to change Microsoft's ridiculous assumption that double line spacing should be default. Hard for me to imagine this is actually an accepted practice. Be that as it may, even with attempts to change the default settings and attempts at creating a template to have single line spacing and a font other than Calibri, every new instance of Word defaults to Calibri and double line spacing.


Truly, is there a way to eliminate this absurdity?


TIA
doco

The defaults for the current version of Office 365, shown in the attached screenshot, do not include double-spacing. In fact double-spacing has not been set in any version of Word.

If your defaults are set to double-spaced, then that may be from another source.

To set your preferred defaults display the Manage Styles dialog from the icon at the bottom of the Styles Pane (Alt+Ctrl+Shift+S). Make sure that the option "New documents based on this template" is on before clicking OK.

Since Office 2007 the default fault is set by the theme that has been applied. Creating your own theme is simple to do using the options on the Design tab. To apply the theme, you'll need to locate and open your Normal.dotm template using File | Open in Word (using any other method will create a new document instead of opening the template for editing).

Attached Images

Screenshot 2024-01-29 194732.png (23.1 KB, 10 views)

Yes, the default is more than single-spaced. It is because this is easier to read.
Change Default Settings by Suzanne Barnhill, MVP

And, by the way, the default font is changing from Calibri to Aptos. Suzanne's page deals with making it permanent for documents created based on the Normal template.
You may want to create and use your own custom Theme, which will have the fonts you want in all built-in Word styles.

Here are some references that should help you if you regularly use Word to get your work done.

• [Quick] Style Sets and Word Themes in Microsoft Word
• The Importance of Styles in Microsoft Word
• Basic Concepts of Microsoft Word - from Shauna Kelly
• Templates in Microsoft Word

Are you referring to the spacing added as you press Enter to create a new paragraph, or the spacing between text lines within a paragraph?

Recent versions of Word include some Spacing After with the Normal style. You can change that in the Paragraph dialog box and use the Set as Default button to copy the setting to the Normal template.

Note that you shouldn't press Enter at the end of each text line, though. Only do that when you intend to start a new paragraph. Within paragraphs, let Word manage the line breaks automatically.

__________________
Stefan Blom
Microsoft Word MVP

Microsoft 365 apps for business
Windows 11 Professional