Before and After Paragraph spacing

[Terry Hollands]

Is it possible to change the spacing before and after paragraphs from 'pt' to
'cm'?
I have a student doing some text processing and she is asked to leave a
space of 3cm between a paragraph. Any other suggestions would be helpful.
Thanks.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Yes and no. The spacing will always be displayed in points but may be
entered in inches or centimeters, which Word will convert to points. Select
the default "0 pt" in the Spacing Before/After box and type in "3 cm" (Word
will convert to 85.05 pt.)

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
http://word.mvps.org

 

[Greg Maxey]

Terry,

AFAIK, no. You can change the default unit of measure to centimeters using
Tools>Options>General>Measurement units but this has no effect on the units
used in space before or after.

Even programmatically you can only get close. You can convert cm to points
using:

Sub GetPointEquivelent()
MsgBox CentimetersToPoints(3)
End Sub

Which returns 85.03937. However if this value is entered into the space
before or after field Word rounds it to 85.05. You could also set it
directly using:

Sub ScratchMaco()
Selection.ParagraphFormat.SpaceBefore = CentimetersToPoints(3)
Selection.ParagraphFormat.SpaceAfter = CentimetersToPoints(3)
End Sub

But again Word rounds it to 85.05.

See: http://www.gmayor.com/installing_macro.htm

 

[Stefan Blom]

You can't change the unit of measurement, but note that it's possible to
type in "3 cm"; Word will convert it to the corresponding value in points
(you won't see the converted value until you close and reopen the dialog
box, though).

 

[Stefan Blom]

You can't change the unit of measurement, but note that it's possible to
type in "3 cm"; Word will convert it to the corresponding value in points
(you won't see the converted value until you close and reopen the dialog
box, though).

 

[DeanH]

Apologies for the repeated solution.
The newsgroup seems to be out-of-sync, Express says no answers yet, MS
Discussion, shows none, and Google Groups show 4!
Also Notification Replies not working either (not for a long time).
Has the problem been reported, being worked on? Anyone out there?
;-)
DeanH

 

[DeanH]

Just type in the Space After box "3cm" and Word will accept it and will also
convert it to 85.05pt for you as well.

 

[Stefan Blom]

It seems to take a long time before messages become visible after posted.
And, once again, messages posted via NNTP don't show up.

 

[Peter T. Daniels]

Once again, nails and hammers. If you type "3 cm" into the "Space
After" (or "Space Before") box, Word gives you spacing that's as close
to 3 cm as it can get. No need either for a macro, or for calculating
the pt equivalent of the cm measurement.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

If NNTP is not being propagated, then I'm wasting my time again. <sigh>

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
http://word.mvps.org

 

[Peter T. Daniels]

The messages are showing up (as promptly as usual) in google groups,
whether posted to the newsgroup or to the MS interface, so it must be
the MS interface that's acting up.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

We know that; it's been reported in the private NGs. Unfortunately, the
people in charge of this can't seem to figure out what the problem is. The
fact is that NNTP is on its way out; we've been told that all MS NNTP NGs
are going to be phased out and moved to online forums at some point (no
timeline has been given).

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
http://word.mvps.org

The messages are showing up (as promptly as usual) in google groups,
whether posted to the newsgroup or to the MS interface, so it must be
the MS interface that's acting up.

 

[Greg Maxey]

Mr. Daniels,

Thank you for passing on what you have learned from Ms. Barnhill's reply
posted 2 hours and 6 minutes previously. I'll take my nails and hammers
over your empty box any day.

Cheers.

--
Greg Maxey

See my web site http://gregmaxey.mvps.org
for an eclectic collection of Word Tips.

Once again, nails and hammers. If you type "3 cm" into the "Space
After" (or "Space Before") box, Word gives you spacing that's as close
to 3 cm as it can get. No need either for a macro, or for calculating
the pt equivalent of the cm measurement.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

While Peter may have been able to see my post, it's quite likely that those
connnecting through the MS Communities cannot, so repetition is not a bad
idea.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
http://word.mvps.org

 

[Greg Maxey]

Ms. Barnhill,

The repetition is one thing and perfectly acceptable. The pretense that the
dilettante had anything to offer before reading your post is another.
Apparently Mr. Daniels leveraged the macro (or the result it provides) to
realize that 85.05 points is as close as Word will get when setting
paragraph spacing to 3 cm.

 

[Peter T. Daniels]

Greg had not seen your and Stefan's postings, because the three of you
posted nearly simultaneously. My posting was not offered as help to
Terry, who got good advice from you and Stefan and less good advice
from Greg, who gave the appearance of being unaware that Word will
translate measures typed in a measurement box into other units without
the intervention of the user..

 

[Stefan Blom]

Let's hope that the web interface have improved greatly when NNTP disappears
for good. Or, even better, let's hope Microsoft reconsiders the decision to
get rid of the NNTP groups.

 

[Graham Mayor]

If it doesn't then for some of us life is far too short for messing around
with web forums.

--
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Graham Mayor - Word MVP


<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>><<>

 

[Greg Maxey]

Mr. Daniels,

As your post was not offered as help (in your own words), you have
disassociated yourself from any credit that Ms. Barnhill tried to give you
and "may "leave some in the group to wonder just why was it offered?

To remove all doubt as to appearances, Greg was not aware. Still, he didn't
need your post to make him so. Ms. Barnhill's post was good advice (again
your own words) and took care of that for both Greg and Terry.

Greg had not seen Ms. Barnhill or Stefan's postings (a slight altering of
your own words), This gives the appearance that you had. Since you didn't
post to help it appears that you were simply parroting what you had just
discovered yourself, thanks to Ms. Barnhill and Stephan, while pouring out
your scorn on more advanced features of Word that you don't understand or
choose to explore yourself. Then unwittingly you use the information those
nails and hammers provide to confirm yourself that the conversion is as
close as Word can get.

The answer to the basic question is still no. Whatever is successfully set
either in the field or programatically the unit of measure displayed is
still points.

Cheers.

 

[Peter T. Daniels]

Why would you suppose that I did not know that if you type a
measurement in a box, specifying a unit other than what the box is set
for, Word will substitute the value for which the box is set?

It seems a fairly basic bit of knowledge (found in the opening pages
of any basic Word book) that anyone who's dealt with any sort of
internationalization would be aware of.