Can't Double Space?

[scottroyle86]

So, I have a big paper written and it needs to be double spaced, but its not letting me. I'll highlight the words I want, then go to edit paragraph, double space, and it like flashes, but nothing changes.

What DOES change is the footnotes become double spaced instead?

I've tried page breaks, copying to a new document. Nothing seems to work.

Any advice?

[Zizi64]

I'll highlight the words I want, then go to edit paragraph, double space, and it like flashes, but nothing changes.

Do you mean the spaces betveen the letters or the space betvween the text lines?

[floris v]

Never use direct formatting on a big scale, it's thd best way to makd a mess of your documents. Instead, open the Styles list and modify the paragraph styles where you need double line spacing.

[Bill]

...go to edit paragraph...

Did you mean "...go to edit paragraph style..." (on the context menu)? I'm not aware of any "edit paragraph" command.

If you did edit the paragraph style and the spacing didn't change in the selected paragraph, then the spacing has already been applied directly to the paragraphs and the directly applied setting is overriding the changed setting in the paragraph style. If that's the case, then you need to reapply the changed paragraph style to the paragraphs that you want to be double-spaced.

You probably changed the setting in the Default paragraph style. The Footnote paragraph style that is applied to footnotes inherits settings from the Default paragraph style, so you will need to change the Line spacing in the Footnote paragraph style back to "Single" to fix the spacing in the footnotes.

[RoryOF]

You need to decide if the refusal to Double line space is restricted to certain paragraph styles. If so, it is most likely because the line spacing has been applied as Direct Formatting. which must be removed to allow the underlying line spacing from the defined paragraph style show through.

How to do this?

Work on a copy of your document, as global changes can cause problems. Use Find and Replace.
Drop More options and select "Styles". Find the style in question (from the Find dropdown). Press Find All button, then press Ctrl M. That should remove direct formatting from those styles.

Exit Find and Replace and make whatever adjustments you require to the fundamental definition of that Paragraph style, such as setting its Line Spacing on its Indents and Spacing tab to Double space.

If you only wish to Double Line Space a small number of disparate paragraphs, this is best done on a paragraph by paragraph basis. Place cursor in each such paragraph, press Ctrl M, then make your adjustment in /Format /Paragraph (this is Direct Formatting, which we don't recommend).

In all cases with major reformatting and an important document, we advise working on a copy of the document; if disaster strikes you then have a fallback position.