Last Updated on July 22, 2026
If you are a regular user of Microsoft Word or any word processing program I’m sure that you know that you can change the typestyle or font to suit your needs. If it wasn’t for fonts we would all have the same boring looking letters, flyers and other documents. Most computers will have many fonts to choose from but keep in mind that your font choices will be based on what fonts you have installed on your computer.
Fonts help set the tone of a document and can influence how the information is perceived by the reader. A playful font might feel appropriate for a flyer or invitation, while a clean, simple font is often better suited for professional documents or reports. Choosing the right font can make content easier to read and more visually appealing, which is why understanding how fonts work and where they come from is useful for anyone who regularly creates documents.
Windows comes with preinstalled fonts and when you install other programs sometimes they install additional fonts as well. You can also download fonts online or buy fonts online that come with hundreds or thousands of fonts. If you see a font on another computer you like then you can copy it to a flash drive and install it on your own computer. To see all the fonts installed on your computer as well as preview how they look you can open your Fonts applet in the Windows Settings app or the classic Control Panel.
With so many fonts available, it is easy to build a large collection over time. Not every font will work well in every situation. Some fonts are designed for headings, others for long paragraphs, and some are meant purely for decorative use. Knowing how to preview and manage your fonts helps you make better design choices. This ensures that your documents remain readable and consistent, regardless of how many fonts you have installed.
There may come a time when you find a font you really like and want to use it in your Word document but the spacing between the letters doesn’t look right and they seem too close together making the words look “squished”. Fortunately there is a way to adjust this spacing and it’s pretty easy to do.
Adjusting Character Spacing in Word
1. Highlight Your Target Text
To make the change in the font spacing you will need to first highlight the text you want to change. Click and drag your mouse cursor over the exact words or paragraphs that need adjusting. Click on the Font Dialog Box Launcher arrow once your text is fully selected. The Font Dialog Box Launcher arrow is located on the bottom right corner of the font area on the Word ribbon.
2. Open the Character Spacing Menu
After you open the Font dialog box you will then go to the Character Spacing section. Click the Advanced tab at the top of the window to reveal these hidden typography settings. From here you will choose a specific spacing option for your font. You can choose either expanded to stretch out the font or condensed to shrink it up tightly.
3. Define the Spacing Increment
After that you will have to choose exactly how much space to add or remove. Enter a specific number in the By box next to the spacing dropdown menu. You can also use the up and down arrows to incrementally change the value. Watch the preview window at the bottom of the dialog box to see your changes happen in real time.
4. Review Your Formatting Changes
Here is an example of some text before and after the adjustment so you can see how much of a difference the letter spacing can make when you want to stretch out the font. This simple tweak makes crowded typography much easier for your audience to read. Click the OK button to apply these spacing rules directly to your document.
5. Scale the Text Horizontally
There is also an option to stretch or scale the text horizontally by using the Scale option. In the Scale box, choose a specific percentage that you want to scale the text. Numbers above 100% stretch the text extremely wide. Numbers below 100% compress the text into a much narrower footprint on the page.
