I'm trying to increase my line-spacing of a paragraph while keeping a visually attractive 'padding' that is equal at the top and bottom of the line. Increasing line-height currently 'pads' the bottom of the line (see screenshot).
Is it possible to somehow vertically align the text in the middle of the line, or might there be another solution?
It looks like you have your text double spaced. Instead of increasing the line spacing, add spacing (try 12pt) before and after the paragraph. The colored box will stay tight to the text, but it will be even on both top and bottom. If you want the border to be further away from the text, use the Options button in the Borders and Shading dialog to set the distance of the border from the text.
Another alternative, if you need to use double spacing, would be to increase the top border to compensate for the additional width that the double spacing adds below your text.
I don't think the provided answers solve this question.
As soon as you use any other line spacing than 1 line, the 'padding' (shading) will shift, as it doesn't include the space preceding the first line.
There is no 'options' or 'advanced' setting for shading, only for borders and page borders. Increasing paragraph spacing before the paragraph also doesn't include the shading with it.
The best alternative I can think of, is using a one-cell-table for your text, and use no border but only filling on that. This gives you much more control of the alignment of your text within the coloured space.
