Reduce linespread between \item globally

Question

Because of a page limit for a report, I would like to decrease the linespread between individual \items. I know this is generally not a good idea, but I really need the space.

How can I achieve this globally, say, with a couple of lines of code in the preamble?

Answer 1

The enumitem package lets you set this globally. You can even specifiy a negative seperation between the items.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{enumitem}
\setlist[1]{itemsep=-5pt}
\begin{document}

\begin{itemize}
 \item Some
  \item Items
\item and distances
\end{itemize}

\setlist[1]{itemsep=-10pt}
\begin{itemize}
 \item Some
  \item Items
\item and distances
\end{itemize}

\setlist[1]{itemsep=50pt}
\begin{itemize}
 \item Some
  \item Items
\item and distances
\end{itemize}

\end{document}

Answer 2

Instead of using the itemize environment you can use the compactitem environment of the package paralist.

\documentclass{article}

\usepackage{paralist}

\begin{document}

\begin{itemize}
 \item Some
 \item Items
 \item and distances
\end{itemize}

\begin{compactitem}
 \item Some
 \item Items
 \item and distances
\end{compactitem}

\end{document}