Big row table doesn't span across pages but lenghtens the current

[Franco Fassio]

Hi,

I'm trying to sort out a problem that's driving me crazy. Something gone
wrong with some documents at my company and I have to understand what
happened in order to avoid any future issues.

In these documents I have a table with just one big row and two columns. The
left column contains a long text and the right column contains its
translation in another language, so I expect this big single row to span
across several pages. And, usually, it does. We have to use tables like this
because Word does not allow "parallel" columns.

And now some of these documents behave this way: if I type text in a column,
the column does not span on a new page but it lengthens the current page at
will. If you are typing in draft mode, it's hard to notice that, but if you
print the page or switch to print view, you can see the text "sinking" at the
bottom of the first page, below the bottom margin... and all the text below
this margin is gone, until you switch back to the draft view.

What I checked by myself
(I'm using the Italian version of Word, so I also have some troubles to
translate and understand the hints I'm founding around the web):

- page size is A4
- row table option "Allow row to break across pages" is selected.
- paragraph options “Keep with nextâ€, “Keep lines together" and
“Widow/Orphan control" are all unselected
- table in not in a hidden frame (according to this page:
http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/TblsFldsFms/ControlPgBrksInTables.htm)

This behaviour as been verified with Word 2007 and also is occurring with
previous versions of Word. These documents are always saved in .doc binary
format and edited by many users with different versions of Word,

.....

Before giving up and ascribe this behaviour to some unidentified document
corruption, I'm posting this question here and see if I can have some useful
suggestions from you wise guys.

Thanks!

 

[Stefan Blom]

On the Table tab of the Table Properties dialog box, make sure that the
"Text wrapping" is set to "None" (in Word 2007, you can display this dialog
box by clicking the Table Tools: Layout ribbon tab, and then clicking the
Properties button Table Properties).

--
Stefan Blom
Microsoft Word MVP


in message
news:[email protected]...

 

[Franco Fassio]

I already checked that since it's a suggestion I found in the url I quoted
about hidden frames... sorry, I forgot to mention it in my message

Thanks anyway!

 

[Stefan Blom]

Click the Page Layout tab on the ribbon. In the Page Setup group, click
Columns, and then click More Columns. (In Word 2003, it's Format | Columns).
Click the "One" option (even if it already appears to be selected), and then
click OK.

If the above doesn't work, make sure that the table is not inside a frame or
text box (neither of which can span a page break).

--
Stefan Blom
Microsoft Word MVP


in message

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

And of course make sure that "Allow rows to break over pages" is set.

 

[Franco Fassio]

I did everything but the problem is still there.

I also tried a drastic approach:

- deleted everything in the document (selected everything with ctrl-click
with the mouse pointer on the left margin and then pressed the delete key).
- document seemed to be totally empty (except headers and footers)
- drawn a new 2x1 table
- typed text in the left cell... the text sinks below the first page margin
:-(

Of course if I try the same with a new document, the cell correctly breaks
in the new page...

unfortunately it's not possible to attach this document to this post and let
you see... and I don't know if policies allows me to upload the file
somewhere and put the link here..

Thanks for your valuable help!

 

[Stefan Blom]

You can send the document to (e-mail address removed), and I'll take a look.

--
Stefan Blom
Microsoft Word MVP


in message

 

[Stefan Blom]

Follow-up: It seems to have been a case of corruption. Copying the contents,
except for the final paragraph mark, to a new blank document fixed the
issue.

--
Stefan Blom
Microsoft Word MVP


in message

 

[jackiegorman]

I had the exact same problem and corrected it by making a minimal adjustment
to the bottom margin of the page. I don't know why it worked but it did.

Jackie