I want to paste from a Word document into Apple Mail and retain double spacing (and, ideally, all other formatting that's been applied to the text in Word). I see there are older postings offering "solutions," but they seem to be several years, and some versions of OS X, out of currency. Any help will be appreciated! (using macOS 12.2.1 Monterey, and MS Word v. 16)
iMac 21.5″, macOS 10.14
Using Word 16.58 on Monterey 12.2.1, I entered some text, changed the font, used some highlight, underscore, bold and italic on random parts of that content, and set its line spacing to 2.0. I then selected that and pasted it into Apple Mail. It arrived looking just as it did in Word. I then sent this via Apple Mail to another mail ISP and back to Apple Mail and the original content was retained with double spacing and all text attributes present.
One thing you should consider is that you have no control over how your literary agent's Mail application handles the content sent to them. It might be destroying the formatting sent via Apple Mail, and you might need to switch to Outlook in case that is their Mail tool of choice.
Using Word 16.58 on Monterey 12.2.1, I entered some text, changed the font, used some highlight, underscore, bold and italic on random parts of that content, and set its line spacing to 2.0. I then selected that and pasted it into Apple Mail. It arrived looking just as it did in Word. I then sent this via Apple Mail to another mail ISP and back to Apple Mail and the original content was retained with double spacing and all text attributes present.
One thing you should consider is that you have no control over how your literary agent's Mail application handles the content sent to them. It might be destroying the formatting sent via Apple Mail, and you might need to switch to Outlook in case that is their Mail tool of choice.
I think I've found a solution, to retain double spacing and other formatting in the body of an Apple Mail message. (I wasn't able to replicate VikingOSX's results seen in the Feb 26 entry in this thread that begins "Using Word 16.58 . . ."; so this may be a complement to that approach.)
This description is what works for me with macOS 12.2.1 Monterey, MS Word v. 16.58, and Apple Mail v. 15. I can't be certain what results you'll get for other OS and app versions, but it's worth a try.
Save a formatted Word file using Save As... and select as File Format: Web Page, Filtered (.htm). There are (or on your system there may be) two Web Page formats; use the Filtered one. A prompt will ask if you want to save in this format since doing so "will remove Office-specific tags. Some Office features may not be available when you reopen this page." You'll be saving a "one-way" file that you shouldn't need to reopen in Word; to update the content of the material to be emailed, revise your Word file and write over the .htm to always have it ready to go. With the prompt quoted here, click Yes to save.
When ready to paste into an Apple mail message, open the saved HTM file, Select All, and Copy. Then Paste into the body of an Apple Mail message. This should retain double-spacing and other formatting attributes. I tested the resulting email by following VikingOSX's suggestion and sending it to a recipient who uses another email app, and that person also replied to send the same email back to me. The formatting was retained throughout that exchange.
It seems to work. I'll be happy to hear of your results in trying it!
To really have Full and Absolute Control of ALL formatting in Apple Mail >> Export to MS Word as PDF and attach the PDF to e-mail message.
Then, regardless what their Client e-mail is - the PDF will remain unchanged including double spacing
Well the fun will begin as each Mail Client will render to its own format not matter how exact it is done on your side.
AFAIK - there are no Universal Standards for e-mail Clients regarding your query >> Double Spacing.
For some reason, my post added an italicized description ("iMac 21.5, macOS 10.14") that was for my PREVIOUS computer. The info in the body of the post is accurate: iMac 24" w/ M1 processor, macOS 12.2.1 Monterey, MS Word v. 16)
Thanks, P. Phillips. The PDF route would work for essentially all needs . . . except one. I'm querying literary agents to get my work published, and they demand (and get their way) that the sample pages/chapters must be pasted into the body of the email--no attachments whatsoever. They the boss. ;-) So, speaking from over here in the hard place, I think we'll have to see if there are any other means for keeping (or formatting) double spacing in the body of an email. Your help is much appreciated! Sigh.
Thanks, VikingOSX--this is very encouraging, especially because we're using the same versions of OS and Word. I'll follow your steps methodically and see what I get.
Might we try a direct exchange as well, if that seems called for? I'm new here and unsure about the propriety of messaging a fellow community member "offline" so do let me know how this suggestion sounds.
Again, big appreciation--and now, testing . . .
Quite the conundrum. It would be helpful to hear back from a couple of agents as to whether they understand that some of their querying authors believe they have no choice but to load the agent with some pretty tightly spaced email reading.
Our only means of communication is here in the Apple Support Community. This is not Apple Support, and simply an international community of fellow users volunteering their industry and Mac experiences in an effort to help with posted questions. There is no personal information exchange permitted per Apple hosting guidelines, and common sense, since these posts are archived by Google and perused by some bad actors looking for personal data lapses before the Apple hosts remove it.
Understood; thank you, VikingOSX!
You are welcome.
how to double-space in Apple Mail
