# Confusion: \onehalfspacing vs. \spacing vs. Word vs. the world?

I have to write a paper with the requirement to use "1.5 line spacing" 12pt Times New Roman. Naturally I used

\usepackage{setspace}
\begin{document}
\onehalfspacing
Lorem ipsum…


So far so good. But I'm a litte paranoid so I checked it with Word and was suprised to get something completely different, so I made this comparison:

you may have to open that in a new tab.

But seriously? Am I missing something? Everyone recommends using \onehalfspacing but that can't be right? I checked the text with a bare minimum and the results are the same:

\documentclass[12pt]{article}

\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage{mathptmx}
\usepackage{setspace}

\begin{document}
\onehalfspacing
Lorem ipsum...


I guess my question is: what setting should I use?

-
The answers to What does 'double spacing' mean? might explain the unexpected result and provide solutions. –  Gonzalo Medina Aug 4 '12 at 21:19
As far as I understand it the main difference is the definition of "line spacing". (La)TeX seems the to define it as the baseline-to-baseline distance (see en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leading). Word & co seem to use the total width of the inter-line white space as "line spacing". –  hakaze Aug 4 '12 at 21:22
You might want to check with whomever set the requirements. Some people are picky and assume their understanding of what 1.5 spacing means is the only correct one; other, more reasonable people will not be so dogmatic; and if the person who gave the requirement uses *TeX, then the setspace solution will be just fine. –  jon Aug 4 '12 at 23:48
Well, thanks. I'm studying law so I can be glad that people don't require me to use a typewriter. Since this is a "hard" requirement (they can give you a bad mark if you disregard it) I guess the \spaced{1.5} Version is the way to go... –  niclas197 Aug 5 '12 at 7:39

Try

    \linespread{1.3}


This equals 1.5 linespacing in Word.

-
As explanation: \onehalfspacing stands for "a half", while \spacing doesn't seem limited to the spaces between lines, but more a general use of space. –  Dualinity Aug 5 '12 at 20:19
From another source: Use \linespread{1.3} for "one and a half" line spacing, and \linespread{1.6} for "double" line spacing. –  Dualinity Aug 5 '12 at 20:21
Care to share some link or reference to these sources? –  Werner Aug 5 '12 at 21:07
well, atleast not for me: EXAMPLE. I'm kind of frustrated. I don't mind using \spacing{1.5} but I don't understand how this can differ from every (german) LaTeX source that recommends \onehalfspacing ? And even \spacing{1.5} isn't exactly like Word, at least not my Version (Office 2011 Mac). –  niclas197 Aug 6 '12 at 7:08
well I printed and measured it (not really precise but it'll do). While \onehalfspacing has ~3,5mm between the bottom line of "h" and the top line of "T", Word has ~4,25mm and \spacing{1.5} 4,75mm. I tried \spacing{1.4} which is exactly \onehalfspacing and now end up using \spacing{1.45} which has roughly the size of Word for Times New Roman 12pt. –  niclas197 Aug 6 '12 at 8:46