Adjust Spacing Between Letters in Word

The short answer

In Microsoft Word, the space between letters is controlled per selection through the Font dialog. On the Advanced tab, the Spacing setting can be Normal, Expanded or Condensed, with an amount entered in points. This is the equivalent of tracking in design software: it adds or removes the same amount of space after every selected character. Word applies it only to live text. A logo inserted as a picture is not affected.

How to change letter spacing in Word

• Select the text you want to change. Spacing applies only to the selection, or to a style if you edit the style instead.
• Open the Font dialog. On Windows, use the small launcher arrow in the Font group on the Home tab, or press Ctrl+D. On a Mac, use Format > Font.
• Go to the Advanced tab and find the Character Spacing section.
• Set Spacing to Expanded to loosen the letters or Condensed to tighten them, then enter the amount in the By box.
• Check the Preview pane and click OK.

The Advanced tab has other settings that change how spacing looks, and they are easy to confuse with spacing itself:

• Scale stretches or compresses the letter shapes horizontally. It is not spacing, and it distorts the typeface.
• Position raises or lowers characters relative to the baseline. It does not affect the gaps between letters.
• Kerning for fonts turns on the font's built-in kerning pairs from a point size you choose. Kerning adjusts specific letter combinations, while Spacing changes every gap evenly.
• OpenType features such as ligatures can merge or substitute letter pairs, which changes how the spacing appears.

These controls can differ between Word for Windows, Word for Mac and Word in a browser. If you don't see the Advanced tab or the Spacing setting, check which version and edition you are using before assuming the text cannot be adjusted.

To apply consistent spacing across a document, add the spacing to the paragraph or character style rather than formatting each selection by hand. Editing the style updates every place that style is used.

Why spacing looks wrong, and what to check first

If letters look too loose, too tight or uneven, the cause is often not the Spacing setting. Check these in order, from most to least common:

• Manual character formatting. Select the text and open Reveal Formatting (Shift+F1 on Windows) to see whether expanded or condensed spacing, or a scale other than 100%, has been applied. This often comes from pasted text. Ctrl+Space clears manual character formatting from the selection.
• The style definition. If the spacing comes back after you clear it, the paragraph or character style probably contains it. Change it in the style.
• Justified alignment. Justify stretches the spaces between words to fill each line, which can look like letter-spacing problems. A line that ends with a manual line break (Shift+Enter) can be stretched noticeably. Try left alignment to test this.
• Kerning. With Kerning for fonts off, some letter pairs can look unevenly spaced at large sizes. Turn it on and compare.
• Font substitution. If the document uses a font that isn't installed, Word displays a substitute with different letter widths. This changes the spacing even though the settings stayed the same.
• Compatibility and layout options. Documents created in older versions or other programs can carry layout options that affect justification and spacing. Look at these last, after the formatting-level causes.

If the word is a logo or wordmark

Word's spacing controls work only on live, editable text. Before trying to adjust a logo in a document, find out what kind of object it is:

• Live text. You can place a cursor in it and the Font dialog applies. Spacing can be changed, but how it looks depends on the font being installed on every device that opens the file.
• An inserted image, such as a PNG or JPEG. It is a raster picture. Its letter spacing is fixed in the pixels and cannot be adjusted in Word.
• An inserted vector graphic, such as an SVG. The letters may be paths rather than text, so the Font dialog does not apply. Some versions of Word can convert an SVG to editable shapes, but that lets you move shapes, not adjust tracking.

Don't rely on the file extension or a sharp on-screen preview to decide what you have. A file labeled as vector can contain an embedded raster image, and a high-resolution image can look sharp at normal zoom. Check whether the object behaves as text, as editable shapes or as a single picture. Saving a Word document as PDF does not turn raster content into vector paths, and it does not turn live text into a production-ready logo file.

For a logo that will be reproduced at many sizes, letter spacing is usually set in vector design software. There the wordmark can be tracked, kerned pair by pair and converted to outlines, so it no longer depends on installed fonts. Word is suitable for a mockup or for typed text in a document, not for producing the master artwork.

Having a logo file does not give you permission to change it. Before adjusting the spacing of an existing brand mark, confirm that you are authorized and check whether brand guidelines specify spacing or forbid modifications.

What this guide cannot tell you

There are no universal spacing values to recommend here. The right amount depends on the typeface, the point size and how the text will be used, so judge it visually at the size it will actually appear. Menu names and option availability also vary by Word version and platform. If your version doesn't match the steps above, the gap is in this guide's coverage of your edition, not in your document.