3 Ways to Keep Text Together In Microsoft Word

Microsoft Word Tip: 3 Ways to Keep Text Together

Most of the time, we want the text in Microsoft Word to flow smoothly from one line to the next without interruption. However, sometimes we must keep some aspects of our document together on the same line or page. We want the text to wrap automatically, that is, jump to the following line when it reaches the end of the current line, but we don’t want it to break in the middle of a sentence or a heading.

Some examples where we might want to keep text together are:

• July 21, 2022
• Mr. and Mrs. Smith
• 307-200-7567

Fortunately, Microsoft Word provides a few different ways to keep text together on the same line or even on the same page. Three options are:

1. Non-Breaking Spaces
2. Non-Breaking Hyphens
3. Non-Breaking Paragraphs & Lines

Non-Breaking Spaces

A non-breaking space is a type of space that prevents text from wrapping to the following line. Non-breaking spaces are sometimes called “hard spaces” or “fixed spaces.” You can insert a non-breaking space by holding down the Ctrl key, the Shift key, and Spacebar.

Below is an example sentence where you will want to keep two words together:

“The IT technician will be at the office to inspect the servers today between 2:00

PM and 4:00 PM.”

With the non-breaking space, the sentence would read:

“The IT technician will be at the office to inspect the servers today between 2:00 PM and 4:00 PM.”

Non-Breaking Hyphens

A non-breaking hyphen is similar to a non-breaking space, but it’s used to keep two words together that are split by a hyphen. You can insert a non-breaking hyphen by holding down the Ctrl key, the Shift key, and the Hyphen key on your keyboard.

An example of a sentence without a non-breaking hyphen:

“Please reach out to K2 Technologies to schedule a consultation. Our phone number is 307-

200-7567.”

Notice that a hyphen splits the phone number in the above sentence. If we use a non-breaking hyphen, the sentence will read:

“Please reach out to K2 Technologies to schedule a consultation. Our phone number is 307- 200-7567.”

The non-breaking hyphen in the second sentence above tells Microsoft Word to keep the number together on the same line and not wrap it to the following line. Using a non-breaking hyphen forces a line break where you want it, making long reading paragraphs of text more accessible.

Non-Breaking Paragraphs & Lines

Sometimes you don’t want a paragraph to break across two pages or you want a line of text to stay together on the same line. You can use a non-breaking paragraph or a non-breaking line in these cases. Instead of pressing the Enter key several times to add spacing between paragraphs, you can use Word’s non-breaking paragraph feature. This will keep the paragraphs together on the same page.

Follow the steps below to use this feature:

1. Highlight the paragraphs you want to keep together.
2. Click the Page Layout tab.
3. Click the Paragraph dialog box launcher in the Page Setup group.
4. Click the Line and Page Breaks tab.
5. Check the box next to “Keep with next.”
6. Click OK.

Microsoft Word will now keep the selected paragraphs together on the same page. Another way to keep text together is by using a non-breaking line. This will keep a line of text together on the same line.

You can use this feature by following the steps below:

1. Position your cursor where you want to start the non-breaking line.
2. Click the Home tab.
3. Click the small arrow in the bottom right corner of the Paragraph group.
4. Click the Line and Page Breaks tab.
5. Check the box next to “Keep lines together.”
6. Click OK.

You can now type on the same line without worrying about the text wrapping to the following line.

Discover other tips and tricks by checking out our other posts on the K2 Technologies blog. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us.