Conditional End of Page Break

[CJH]

I work with large documents with headings and signature
blocks. I want the headings to stay on the same page
with at least 2 lines of text in the following paragraph
and I want the signature block to be on the same page
with at least 2 lines from the preceding paragraph.
I'm using a style for the headings. How do I tell that
style to move the heading to the next page if it can't
fit at least 2 lines of text in the following paragraph
at the bottom of the page?
Also, when I try to use Format> Paragraph> Line and Page
Breaks> Keep With Next or Keep Lines Together for the
signature block problem, it moves the entire paragraph
instead of just the last 2 lines, to the next page.
Obviously, I'm missing something.

Your help is appreciated.

CJH

 

[Chad DeMeyer]

For the first question, set Keep with next on the Heading style and
Widow/orphan control on the style used for body text.
For the second question, the Widow/orphan control setting can be used to
keep at least two lines of a paragraph together on the next page, and Keep
with next will keep it with the signature block. Keep lines together will
force the whole paragraph to move to the next page if any part of it won't
fit on the previous page, so that is not what you want.

cjd

 

[CJH]

Thanks so much for your help. So far, so good. In
keeping with this theme though, I find the document will
still put a page break between the last line of the
paragraph and the signature block style. Is there way to
make sure that 2 lines of text stay with the rest of the
signature block, including the empty space before the
signature line?

 

[Sara]

What you are looking for is the equivalent of Block
Protect in WordPerfect and, unfortunately, Word does not
have such a feature. Perhaps you can email them and ask
them to create one!

 

[CJH]

Actually, what I really want is the WP Conditional End of
Page which allowed you to set how many lines to keep
together (i.e. 8). I was hoping that because I'm still
learning Word, it was someplace that I just wasn't
looking yet. Don't suppose there's a macro out there
that some bright soul has created that will do the same
thing? Thanks for all the help.

 

[Chad DeMeyer]

The macro would have to resort to breaking the paragraph into two paragraphs
by typing a paragraph mark at the point where you want the page to break. I
don't think that's what you want.

cjd

 

[Tracy]

You can directly format that last paragraph before the signature block
as Keep With Next and Word will push a couple of lines of it to the page
with the signature block. Note that Word defines a paragraph as
anything that ends with a paragraph mark, i.e., any place you have
pressed Enter. So if you have used returns to insert spacing between
the last paragraph of the document and the signature block, Keep With
Next will instruct Word to keep your paragraph on the same page as the
blank line below it, not on the same page as the signature block.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

It is interesting to see that you have the same expectation I used to have
about this: that "Word will push a couple of lines of it to the page with
the signature block." What Word actually does is push the *entire paragraph*
(no matter how long) to the next page. In effect, "Keep with next" here
activates "Keep lines together." Although I consider this behavior entirely
illogical and unexpected, apparently it is by design. <sigh>

 

[Tracy]

Why so it does - I'll be dipsy doodled! I guess I never thought about it
because people I have worked with have usually just been concerned with
sending the signature block to the next page by itself and not with
specifically what goes with the signature block.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

FWIW, I have protested this illogical design, and there's a chance it might
be changed in a future version if enough people express an interest in and
desire for more logical behavior. A feature that has frequently been
requested, as well, is a "Keep with previous" setting so that a signature
block could always be kept with the previous paragraph without having to
format a specific paragraph as "Keep with next." If I remember, I'll post
this as a suggestion through the Office Community Web portal, and users can
vote on it.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Okay, I've posted a suggestion. This NG is not among those currently offered
by the Web portal, so I posted in word.pagelayout. I *think* this link will
take you directly to that post:
http://www.microsoft.com/office/com...yout&mid=64c58128-c3db-4bbf-ac16-d798690820a3

 

[CJH]

You're right, that's not what I'm looking for. Thanks
anyway.

 

[CJH]

Too bad. It looks like I'll have to do it manually.
Thanks for the info. I even tried changing my signature
style for a 24 pt spacing before (and don't add space
between paragraphs of the same style) hoping it would
recognize the entire style as one paragraph, but no such
luck. Thanks any way.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

You can keep the last paragraph of a letter (all of it, unfortunately) with
the signature block as follows:

Last paragraph (apply "Keep with next")

Complimentary Close (format this style with some Space Before and After and
"Keep with next")

Signature (format this style with "Keep with next" [and Space Before if you
didn't use Space After on the Complimentary Close])

You should allow the equivalent of three to four lines' space (depending on
the size of your signature) between the Complimentary Close and the
Signature. This works out to about 36-48 pts Space Before or After.

The tricky part is that you cannot make KWN part of the style used for the
Body Text of the letter. You can either use a Body Text Last style for the
last paragraph or apply KWN manually (easy to do with a toolbar button you
can add from Tools | Customize), but if the last paragraph is deleted or
another is added after it, you still have to manipulate this manually.
Admittedly, this is not a good solution, which is why a "Keep with previous"
setting would be so helpful.

 

[proman]

You may be able to use or adapt this for your signature
block issue.

I have a standard paragraph I use before my signature
block. I was able to tweak the wording so that the last
two lines fit in the row of a table (with the previous
lines in the row above). Rather than signature styles, I
then put my signature block in the table rows below (using
Borders/Shading to make the lines for the signatures and
Cell Alignment to make the names appear beneath the
lines). Selecting the entire row with the last two lines
and then hitting "Format/Paragraph/Keep With Next" keeps
that row with the signature block.