How to Add Single / Double Line Spacing in WordPress

As someone new in using WordPress, you’re probably wondering how to add single/double line spacing (why else would you be reading this :)). Adding extra blank line space in other Word processors is very easy as all you have to do is to press the enter key a couple of times. The formatting options can also be used in adding single or double spaced lined after paragraphs. The problem is, these buttons are not present with WordPress visual editor. To help you go through this problem, we have created this guide to show you how to add single/double line spacing in WordPress easily.

Before we continue, keep in mind that it’s your theme and its styling that controls the actual line spacing.

Adding Double Line Space

WordPress visual editor will consider pressing the “Enter” key on the keyboard as a new paragraph when you are trying to add a line break. This means that the theme that you used will automatically add a double line space.
What you are going to do then is to simply press the “Enter” button right after the line and continue typing in the next line.

Doing so will give a clear distinction in-between paragraphs in accordance with your theme styling.

Adding Single Line Space

If in case that you are writing a letter and you are on the heading part, single-spaced is more preferred than double-spaced.

In order to make is single-spaced, you have to the SHIFT + ENTER keys.
Doing so will start a new line inside an existing paragraph. This means that a single line spacing is needed instead of double line spacing.[/vc_column_text][templatera id=”15800″][vc_column_text]

Modifying the Line Height and Spacing

There are times when adding the proper line spacing in the editor will not exactly display what you want in your theme. In such case, custom CSS must be added in your themes’ options or the customizer.

But what is CSS? CSS is somewhat equivalent to the formatting feature in Microsoft Word. The difference is that plain CSS codes will be written instead of clicking at the different buttons. You might find this hard, but it is actually easy. Understanding it is very easy as instructions are also provided.
When adding customized CSS in your theme, what you have to do is to go to the APPEARANCE > CUSTOMIZE page which will launch the WordPress theme customizer.

Once launched, you have to click the “Additional CSS” tab located at the left column.

The custom CSS box needs the following code:

.post p{
   line-height: 1.8em;
}

This will change the line spacing of the paragraph content into 1.8em (you can use “px” as well for pixels). WordPress automatically adds the .post class into the content area of all posts to ensure that a certain post is only affected, not the paragraphs.

This will only change the spacing of single spacing. If what you want to do is to change the spacing in between paragraphs, a padding should be added.

.post p {
  line-height: 1.8em;
  padding-bottom: 30px
}

The numbers are adjustable the way you need it.

That’s it. There is nothing hard or complicated really in adding single or double line space in WordPress. The process may be a lot different from other word processors, but it is as easy as they do. Furthermore, there is nothing wrong in doing a little exploration in order to familiarize yourself with how WordPress works while you’re building your website.