I used to be able to post a poem as plain text and it would post the way I typed it, single spaced with spaces between the verses. Now, no matter what I do, I cannot get any poem to post this way. They are all double spaced with no space between the verses. Can anyone out there in blog land help me to fix this? It’s very frustrating.
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learningtolivelikewaterblog.com 
Are you posting via the mobile app or directly from the website via desk or laptop? If from desk or laptop, what you will do now for spacing if there are issues, is press down shift + enter for one single space in between verses. If you want a single line after one line as well and it is automatically double-lining, do the same thing, shift + enter.
It can be time consuming, but if you’re typing via the mobile app, you may have to draft your pieces in another tool, then copy and paste it to WordPress. WP has made some changes recently and the line-spacing is an issue now via the mobile app.
Thank you so much Tre. I generally write in word, (or open office) and then copy and paste into WP. I’ve lost too many blogs forever typing directly into WP. I type everything single spaced, with a double between verses. But when I paste into WP, it always pastes double spaced, and I wasn’t able to get an extra space between verses. I tried the shift enter thing on my last poem and at least it is now in verses, but not single spaced. I used to get it to paste exactly as I typed it in Word by clicking on the”T” symbol, to past in text. Then it started double spacing everything, but I could get an extra space between verses. This last poem I was not able to change at all.
I wonder if I saved the piece as a Word Doc, instead of just copying and pasting it as an Open Office (.odt) format if it would work. I may try that just to see how it comes out. I have had this problem on the mobile app, but rarely use that for anything except the occasional haiku. Figure it’s ok for 3 lines, lol. Maybe poems I just need to type over again into WP.
Thanks again, so much. At least the poem looks somewhat the way I intended it to now!
Some writing tools will not let you change the formatting when copying and pasting. MSWord may be one of them. But, you’re welcome.
Thankfully, I have no current issues with spacing on WordPress. I’m sorry you’re having trouble.
I just tried copying and pasting from a word doc, and also typing right into WP. Still have the problem. But at I have spacing for my poem verses now!
That’s weird. Is this via the mobile app or through WordPress website?
Lol. Well, I’m happy you have separate stanzas now!
Is the WP website. 😏 and two different laptops. Weird.
Ahh. Another question, since it’s through the website, are you typing your posts via the enhanced option or going through WP Administration, selecting “Posts”, “Add New”, and adding your posts there? WordPress via the website has two different options for posting (I know you know this). Most times, I use the quick “newer” enhancement tool, but for spacing and some formatting, I’ll use the old way.
But only on desktop or laptop. If I’m mobile, via the app, I use the new blog post tool, but if I want to change formatting, font, etc, I do it all on desktop.
First, thank you for taking so much time with me to solve this.
I always click the “Write” button at the top right of the screen. I actually didn’t know any other way. (After 2,300 or so blogs , lol.) I just tried it that way and the problem remains. I am able to paste it, from Word, and have the space between stanzas. But then when I click on preview, the space is gone.
However, I just clicked on the improved editor, and there I can paste, and the spaces between stanzas show up, and show up in the preview. The line spacing is still double, not single, but at least the spaces are there between stanzas from the beginning. It seems odd to me that it is only in poetry that I have this problem. I prose blog copies and pastes perfectly. But now that I know there’s another way to get into a new post, thank you very much, lol, I will fool around with that to see if I can get the spacing the way I want it. It’s just so weird. For 3 years I never had a problem as long as I clicked it to paste as text. Then suddenly I did. I’ll keep working at it, and maybe contact WP help department. Thanks again!
You’re welcome! No problem! Try Shift + Enter in the other mode as well. If that doesn’t work, there was a recent update, make sure you have the most recent version of WP. 😁 Kay. Night night.
Holding down SHIFT and then hitting return, makes it a single space, at least on my Mac!
Thanks…. but I tried that. I think the problem must stem from the fact that I am pasting into the WP writing function. Although, I’ve tried writing it there, not pasting, and it’s still double spaced. Maybe WP gets along better with a Mac. Lol.
Thanks for asking about this. I’ve had the same problem, but am not technically tenacious enough to try to figure it out. Now, I can try some of the tips suggested here.
I still haven’t got it spacing correctly, but I can at least get space between the verses. Seems crazy. I upgraded to the Premium plan, since my old one is about to renew anyway, so when I get a minute I’ll look on there and see if I can resolve it.
Maybe a WP staff person can help.