Blank spaces

[JP]

I am building a company policy manual using the "multilievel list function"
about 50% of the time I wind up with huge gaps between paragraphs. I can
usually delete the blank space down to 2 or 3 blank lines but then if i try
to close it up to make it look right it winds up deleting the paragraph break
and removing the formatting on the following paragraph.

Many times I will get it close to looking right and then it will open back
up (usually jumping to the next page) as soon as I "touch" it with the cursor.

Thanks in advance for any help you might be able to offer.

 

[Stefan Blom]

Look at the settings for Line Spacing and Spacing Before/After (Paragraph
dialog box).

 

[JP]

Stefan, Thanks for your response. Spacing is set to single, before and
after are both set to 0 pts. The box labeled "don't add space between
paragraphs..." is UNchecked. All the boxes under "pagination" and
"formatting exceptions" on the next tab are UNchecked as well.

Thanks, JP

 

[Peter T. Daniels]

First, do you have Show Non-Printing Characters turned on, so you can
delete any empty paragraphs? (Ctrl-Shift-8)

Second, check the settings for "Keep With Next" and "Keep Lines
Together" and maybe even "Widow and Orphan Control," all of which are
on the second tab of the Format Paragraph dialog. At least the first
two and maybe the third should be unchecked.

 

[Stefan Blom]

Is this, by any chance, a multilevel list created with heading styles? If
so, you should clear the "Keep with next" attribute for most styles (with
the exception for, say, Heading 1); otherwise you'll run into trouble as
Word tries to keep all paragraphs together.

 

[JP]

OK, that almost worked! "Keep with next" and "keep lines together" were
both checked in heading 1 so I left them checked. I UNchecked them in
headings 2,3,4 etc. When I unchecked them, the text jumped up to where I
need it. Only problem is that when I moved on to uncheck the next heading,
the previous heading re-checked itself somehow and the text jumped back down.
How do I get them to stay checked? and will Word remember this set up once I
move on to a new document?

Thanks again and I apologize if this is an elementary problem, I thought I
knew Word pretty well until I tried to address this!

 

[Stefan Blom]

Did you remember to modify the actual styles? Assuming that you are using
Word 2007, here's how to do that: Display the Styles pane, for example by
pressing Ctrl+Alt+Shift+S. Right-click the style that you want to modify,
and choose Modify from the context menu. In the Modify Style dialog box,
click Format, Paragraph. Make the desired changes. When you are done, click
OK. Before clicking OK to close the Modify Style dialog box, be sure to
select "New documents based on this template." Repeat for the other heading
styles. When/if you are prompted to save your template, choose to do so.

 

[JP]

Thanks so much, that fixed it. Is there any way to apply these settings to
pre-existing documents or will I need to modify styles on each of them?

 

[Peter T. Daniels]

You can use the Organizer to copy styles from one document (or
template) to another.

You don't seem to have said which version of Word you're using, but
you didn't object to Stefan's instructions for Word2007, so ... With
the document open whose styles you want to update, Ctrl-Alt-Shift-S,
click the rightmost of the three buttons at the bottom ("Manage
Styles"). In the Organizer, click the RIGHT-HAND "Close File" button,
then the "Open File" button it turns into, change the dropdown to "All
Word Files," and navigate to a file that has the correct styles. Then
select the ones in the right-hand window that need updating and choose
Copy in the middle column. When it asks you if it should replace the
styles in the target document, click "Yes to All."

When you've clicked your way out of all those screens, your document
will have popped into the proper shape.

 

[JP]

Thank you, it is Word2007. Will try your advice first thing in the morning.
JP