Attaching and pasting

[bwsng]

When I attach a Word document to an email and send it to someone with
a PC, sometimes the document comes out with excessive spacing between
lines. When I copy and paste a Word document on an email, there is
always an extra line or two between paragraphs, or wherever there is a
Return mark. This is a fairly new problem. Any suggestions?

 

[CyberTaz]

Without restating details that have been covered repeatedly in the various
newsgroups, the net-net is that you can do very little to control how
content displays on someone else's system. If the recipient doesn't need
editing capability send them a PDF attachment rather than a doc or pasted
text/html. If they do need to edit, send the PDF anyway along with a zipped
doc, and be careful what fonts & fancies you include in the first place.

Your email software also has - or should have - an option for PC-friendly
attachments, so be sure to use it.

HTH |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

 

[peterthebag]

This might be due to hidden characters. You could check your
documents by selcting show all from the view menu, then you could
remove unwanted paragraph marks with find and replace.

It may be you are using a lot of manual formating, rather than using
styles to format your document. THis can sometimes cause problems.
There is a great document called "bending word to your will" which can
be obtained from:

http://word.mvps.org/Mac/Bend/BendWordToYourWill.html

which gives advice on styles and a number of other word problems and
advises as to how to fix them.

It may help to be sure you only use fornts that come with MS office
itself in sending documents to PC users. Alternatively, PDF is a
good idea.

Peter

 

[John McGhie]

The answer to this is dependent upon three things:

1) Direct or style-based formatting?

2) Which template is the document using?

3) Does the other user have a copy of the same template?

If you are using direct formatting, chances are all of the document is
formatted with "Normal" style. If it is, what happens next depends upon
which template is in use, and whether the template is attached to the
document.

If the template is attached (with "Automatically update styles on open"
turned on in Tools>Options>Templates and Add-ins...) then the document will
set the Normal style to whatever is in the other user's Normal template when
the document opens.

The Normal style forms the basis for all other formatting in the document
(unless you correct that...) and you have no control over, or means to
predict, how the other user has set up their formatting styles.

If the document is not using the Normal template, then we need to ask
whether the other user has a copy of the template the document is attached
to. If they do, is the formatting in it the same as the formatting in the
copy of that template that YOU have.

If the formatting of the document is done entirely with styles, this problem
becomes easier to manage, because the styles will determine the formatting
directly. If the document is formatted with direct formatting, then the
result is the "addition" of the two sets of formatting.

If you lick the Show/Hide button to reveal your paragraph marks, you will
get a clearer idea of what is happening. All of the formatting for a
paragraph is stored in the paragraph mark at the end of the paragraph.
Chances are, you will not find any extra paragraphs inserted: the problem is
that your document is adopting the formatting of the template on the
recipient's computer.

Hope this helps

When I attach a Word document to an email and send it to someone with
a PC, sometimes the document comes out with excessive spacing between
lines. When I copy and paste a Word document on an email, there is
always an extra line or two between paragraphs, or wherever there is a
Return mark. This is a fairly new problem. Any suggestions?

--
Don't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/

Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie, Consultant Technical Writer
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
http://jgmcghie.fastmail.com.au/
Sydney, Australia. S33°53'34.20 E151°14'54.50
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]

 

[bwsng]

John,

Thanks so much for the guidance. The link you sent is a treasure trove
of information, and I can't wait to get into it. I am not too familiar
with templates and have no clue what Direct or style-based formatting
is, but I will be learning. Actually, changing the font seemed to
solve the immediate problem, but I would like to be able to not have
to do that. Thanks again!

Bette

 

[bwsng]

Peter,

Thank you for the suggestion to use styles to format the document, and
especially the link to Bend Word to Your Will. It is exactly what I
need.

Bette