In Word is there a way to have a numbered list with an extra space between items?

Question

For example is there a way to have

1. lorem ipsum...

2. blah blah blah

3. insert text here

as opposed to

1. lorem ipsum...
2. blah blah blah
3. insert text here

As it is now if an extra line is created and the numbering is started again Word automatically skips back up the previous line. I'm particularly interested in Word 2013 but would hope that 2010 would have a similar configuration.

Solution 1

Here are three ways of doing this:

1 - Return and Backspace

To do this write out your list then add a carriage return (Enter) at the end of each sentence. This will add an empty numbered line beneath the sentence. With that line selected press Backspace once, this will delete the number and reorder the numbering of the rest of the list, while keeping the blank line.

2 – Adjust Line Spacing Once

This is the better option. Select the list and hit the little arrow under Paragraph on the Home tab. From here you can adjust line spacing. Add a higher number After each line or increase the spacing overall, either will work.

3 – Adjust Line Spacing Permanently

This is the best option. When you make a list the styles pane will automatically select List Paragraph as the style for your list. If you right click and select Modify on the block shown here you can change the spacing for all lists in your document, and even for all lists you make from now on!

Solution 2

I'd suggest that you create a new STYLE for these lists.

In the style definition, add the spacing you want and save this to your template.

Note that you may want to create several new styles with these settings so you don't have to manually change the settings on every documents.

Comments

[dbza]

Are you referring to line spacing? (paragraph) try selecting and press ctrl+5 ?

[G-Man Says 'Reinstate Monica']

(A) IMHO, your illustration for option 1 would be clearer if you had done it with “Show ¶”. Regarding your options 2 and 3, (B) This is a fairly subjective, aesthetic decision, but I find that increasing “Spacing Before” produces more pleasing results than increasing “Spacing After”. (C) You might want/need to uncheck the “Don’t add space between paragraphs of the same style” checkbox (image).