How to remove spaces between words in Word and when formatting by width. How to remove large spaces in Word

The question is one of the popular ones. That is why he came to our attention. In addition, the answer to this question will be useful both for students and for other users of the Word program. In this article we will tell you how to remove large spaces in Word, doing it as quickly, simply and without errors as possible.

What can cause large gaps in the text? There can be many reasons. Firstly, this occurs when text copied from the Internet is inserted into a document. In addition, large spaces can also arise due to the carelessness of the user who places several spaces after a word. In our article we will look at several ways to remove large spaces in Word. So let's get started.

Aligning text to width - method No. 1

This method is one of the most popular ways to remove large spaces in a Word document. This is quite easy to do. First, select the text where there are large spaces - either using the mouse or using the Ctrl+C key combination. When the text is selected, look for the icon called “Fit to Width” on the toolbar, or press Ctrl+J. Alignment of text occurs by aligning it to the left and right edges, adding spacing in those places where it is necessary. After this, big problems in Word will disappear.

Putting extra spaces is another reason for large spaces. It will be much easier to get rid of them. First, the user needs to show all hidden signs. To do this, on the toolbar, just find the sign called “Display all signs”. It looks like this:

After clicking this button, all hidden characters will be displayed in the document, and you can remove extra spaces.

Removing the “End of line” sign: method No. 3

If you have justified your text, but the last line of the paragraph doesn't look too good, then this section is for you. Now we will tell you how to put a paragraph in order. Follow the following algorithm:

1. First you need to make all non-printable characters visible. Click the sign called "Show all signs."
2. We are looking for the “End of Paragraph” sign; in the document it is represented as a curved arrow.
3. If such a sign appears at the end of a paragraph, it must be removed. All large spaces at the end of a paragraph in Word will disappear.

Removing extra spaces from the document

If the reason for the appearance of large spaces in the text is text copied from the Internet, then getting rid of them will also not be difficult. To do this, the user must use replace, since removing all the spaces throughout the document will be too time-consuming.

When all non-printable characters are enabled, the user must use the replace function. To do this, press Ctrl+H, then put two spaces in the “Find” field. But the “Replace with” field must be filled with one space. In this case, all double spaces will be automatically replaced with a single space.

By the way, in Word versions 2007, 2010 and 2013, the “Replace” function is located in the “Home” section. On the right side of the line. But in the earlier version, i.e. 2003, it can be found in the "Edit" section. However, despite the different versions, the method of eliminating unnecessary large spaces in a Word document will be almost the same.

Is it possible to avoid adding extra large spaces?

Of course you can. And this will save the user from a lot of problems, because he will not have to “rack his brains” on how to get rid of the hated extra spaces. This is quite easy to do. The user simply needs to make visible all non-printable characters in the document, this is what will allow him to avoid adding unnecessary large spaces.

In our article, we looked at several ways to remove large spaces in Word, suitable for many versions of this text editor. As you already understand, there is nothing complicated about this, you just need to strictly follow the written algorithm of actions. Only in this case the result of the work will not disappoint you, and the process itself will not cause difficulties and hassle. Well, in order not to encounter such a problem, it is better to prevent it. How exactly? We also revealed all the secrets. Take action and you will succeed.

When typing text or in a downloaded file in Word, you may notice that there are large spaces between words. Don't be alarmed, this is normal and completely fixable. In our article we will try to figure out why this happens and how to remove large spaces in Word.

Justification

If we look at how to remove large spaces in Word, the first thing we need to talk about is the problem with alignment. After all, it is the most common one. Although its essence lies in the little things, and users make mistakes simply out of carelessness. But first things first. Let's figure out how to remove large spaces between words in Word if the problem is with the width alignment.

There are two solutions. Let's start with the one that turns out to be the simplest. Try changing the alignment - instead of the "justified" option, select "left". Of course, it is possible that this method will not work. After all, often the problem lies in the formatting of the file. Or it may be that this alignment does not suit you. Then use the second method.

The second method is that we will use hotkeys: CTRL+SHIFT+SPACEBAR. Who doesn’t know, the combination of these keys gives that very short space bar. All you need to do is replace large spaces with short ones.

Problem with non-printable end-of-line character

We have already figured out how to remove large spaces in Word if the cause is incorrect alignment. But although this problem is the most common, it is not the only one. Now we will analyze the situation when the “hero of the occasion” is a non-printable “end of line” character.

We won’t rant about what an unprintable sign is and why it is needed in Word; it’s better to get straight to the point. First of all, you will need to enable the display of these same symbols. This is done by clicking on the corresponding button, which is located on the top panel, in the “Home” tab. However, you can see its location in the proposed image.

By clicking on this button, you will see all non-printable characters, including the “end of line”. It is this symbol that does us harm. It looks like a curved arrow pointing to the left. All you have to do is remove it. After this, the spaces are normalized.

So you’ve learned how to remove large spaces in Word when the problem lies in the non-printable “end of line” character. By the way, this sign is placed when you press the SHIFT+ENTER key combination, so be careful not to accidentally place it.

Tab problem

Large spaces can also be caused by tabs. We also won’t go into what it is. I just want to say right away that this sign is again non-printable, and it is placed when you press the TAB key.

You might have already guessed that since this character is non-printable, its removal occurs, as in the previous example, by displaying non-printing characters. That's exactly how it is. Turn on display and look for short arrows pointing to the right in the text. This is tabulation. Like last time, you need to change all these arrows to spaces, and the text will look normal - large spaces will disappear.

Replacing large spaces with short ones

So, we have learned the last, third way to remove large spaces in Word text. But what to do if there are an unimaginable number of tabs throughout the text. Agree, few people want to remove them one by one on their own. That is why we will now present a method that will help you instantly change all these characters to the short spaces we need.

Probably everyone has heard about “Replacement” in Word. This is the function we will use. To begin, copy one tab character to the clipboard (CTRL+C). After that, run "Find and Replace" (CTRL+H). There will be two fields: "Find" and "Replace". In the first place place the copied tab character, and in the second place a space. Click the "Replace All" button and all large spaces will be replaced with short ones.

How to remove large spaces in Word.

There may be several reasons why there are large spaces between words in Word. In this article I will tell you about some ways to solve this problem.

Aligning text to width

If in your document it is not necessary for the text to be aligned to the width of the page - the first letters of each line are on the same vertical line, as are the last - then you can align all the text to the left. To do this, select the desired fragment with the mouse, or the entire text by pressing Ctrl+A (hereinafter, all key combinations use English letters). Then on the “Home” tab, click on the button "Align text left" or Ctrl+L .

Tab characters

Sometimes tabs can be the cause of large spaces between words. To check whether they are used in the document, you need to enable non-printable characters: click on the icon that looks very similar to Pi. Tab stops in the document are displayed as arrows. If there are any, delete them and add spaces. Spaces in non-printing characters are displayed as a dot: one dot - one space.

If there are a lot of tab characters, you can perform a replacement. Place the cursor at the beginning of the text. Then we select one tab character, i.e. arrow, and copy it – Ctrl+C; press Ctrl+H and in the window on the “Replace” tab in the “Find” field, place the cursor and press Ctrl+V. In the “Replace with” field, put a space. Click the “Replace All” button. Next, an information window pops up showing the number of replacements performed.

End of line sign

If you have all the text selected in width and cannot be edited in any other way, and the last line of the paragraph is very stretched, then perhaps at the end of this line there is an “End of Paragraph” icon. To begin with, we turn on non-printing characters - “End of paragraph” is displayed as a curved arrow. If you have one at the end of the line, then simply delete it: place the cursor at the end of the last word of the paragraph and press “Delete”.

This option is also possible: you copied the text from the Internet, but between the words there is not one space, but two or three, so the distance is increased. When non-printing characters are enabled, there should be several black dots between words. Removing them throughout the document takes a long time, so we’ll use a replacement. Press Ctrl+H, put two spaces in the “Find” field, one space in the “Replace” field, click “Replace All”. If necessary, you can put three, then four, etc. in the “Find” field. spaces, and replace them with one.

Hyphenation

If the document allows the use of word wrapping, then the distance between words can be edited in the following way. Select all the text Ctrl+A, go to the tab "Page layout", V "Page Options" Click on the transfer icon and select “Auto”. As a result, hyphens are placed throughout the text and the distance between words is reduced.

In this article we tried remove large spaces between words in Word. I hope it worked out for you.

Extra spaces in documents created in the Word text editor are quite common. Novice computer users are especially prone to this problem when they try to align texts by setting numerous spaces, which ultimately results in difficulties with subsequent editing of text documents. You can also find large spaces between words and in documents of experienced users. Here they arise most often due to the peculiarities of text alignment to the width of the document. In this article we will talk about how to correct the situation in both cases.

You can see all the problems with spaces in your document by turning on the mode for displaying hidden formatting characters using this button in the main menu of the text editor.

In a properly formatted document, in which there is only one space between words, there should be only one period between those same words. If there are more dots, it means there are extra spaces in the document that it is advisable to remove. In the example below, all extra spaces are marked with red squares.

How to remove extra spaces in Word
Solutions offered on the Internet recommend using a search for double spaces and replacing them with single ones. But what if you use not only double spaces, but also triple ones or those containing four, five or more spaces in a row? You can, of course, auto-replace first five spaces with a single, then four, then replace triples and get to doubles, but there is a more elegant solution. You must also use search and replace, but use a macro substitution in the form of a regular expression as the search source. It sounds complicated and incomprehensible, but it is implemented quite simply as follows:
Wildcard expressions can also be used to find and replace other characters in a document by replacing the space with the appropriate character.

How to remove extra characters in Word when aligning text width
The problem with wide justified spaces occurs when the length of the words contained in a line does not allow for the intended text alignment other than by setting large spaces between words. Most often this happens in subheadings, when there are few words in the lines, and the text editor cannot automatically hyphenate the words. Enforcing the use of non-breaking spaces can help in this case.

This is done as follows.
The examples discussed above were shown using the Word 2007 text editor as an example. In other versions of this program, namely Word 2003, Word 2010, Word 2013 and Word 2016, everything is done in the same way.

In Microsoft Word documents or, in other words, in Word, large spaces between words are quite common. However, many documents require strict formatting. Therefore, when working in Word, it is useful to know how to remove large spaces quickly and easily.

Ways to eliminate spaces in Word

1. The most common reason for large spaces between words in Word is the alignment of the text. If this is not a prerequisite for formatting the text, you can select all the text or a fragment of it and make the alignment “Left”. To do this, click on the “Home” tab button with horizontal lines aligned to the left.
2. Another way to remove extra spaces is to use the Replace function. In Word versions from 2007 and 2010. it is located on the right side of the control panel on the Home tab. In Word 2003, the “Replace” function must be called through the “Edit” tab. When you click on “Replace” a dialog box will appear in front of you. In the “Find” column you should put two spaces, in the “Replace with” column - one space. After that, you click "Replace All". The procedure should be repeated until the editor replaces all repeating spaces with single spaces and shows you 0 as the result of the replacements.
3. Large spaces between words in Word can create not only double spaces, but also other invisible characters. In order for them to become noticeable, you need to click the “Display all characters” button, which is indicated as “Pi” and is located on the control panel in the “Paragraph” section, on the “Home” tab. Once all the invisible icons are visible to you, you can copy them one by one and paste them into the Replace dialog box. In this case, you paste the copied character into the “Find” line, and leave the “Replace with” line empty and fill it with a single space.