Double Spacing in Windows (Word 2003) vs. Mac (Word 2004)

[dholschuh]

So, I brought my dissertation into Word for Windows on Virtual PC
because I wanted to use the far superior PDFMaker in Windows to create
my final PDF (with TOC Bookmarks, which the Mac version doesn't do).
But even with having the same fonts in Virtual PC as in Windows, the
double spacing in Windows is just that much larger that the page breaks
are all different. Why is that? You would think MS would make something
as simple as double spacing the same on both platforms.

Sometime I think Office for Mac is intentionally broken. Yeah, I know,
the MacBU people are great, and on their blogs their hearts seem in the
right place, but there must be some corporate culture getting in the
way or something. I've had way too much trouble getting Word to spit
out a decent PDF today, evidently because of the way Word for Mac
prints sections as separate documents and because the "hooks" are not
there for the features that exist in the PDFMaker in Windows (such as
automatic TOC bookmarks). Now I can't move the document into Windows to
create the bookmarks. And that's not even talking about the recent
breaking of PowerPoint so it can't reliably handle hyperlinks to other
slides. I love my Mac, but I love it a lot more when I'm not using
Office. (There I got that off my chest! Thanks for listening.

Doug

 

[Daiya Mitchell]

Hi Doug,

Happy to listen. There is nothing you can do about the spacing, I'm afraid,
and something certainly changed with line spacing in Word 2004 that has
caused a few complaints, however‹

Ideally, your Word document should be set up such that adjusting page breaks
doesn't change anything other than the total page count (which can be an
issue in some contexts, certainly, but I imagine not dissertations). If you
use Word appropriately, then the TOC can be updated to automatically reflect
new page numbers, any cross-references can be updated, things that were
supposed to start at the beginning of a new page will still, etc, etc, etc.
Then moving the document into Windows should not break anything.

What problems did the different page counts cause in your dissertation? We
may be able to suggest fixes for that.

Re separate PDF documents, I use CombinePDFs to stitch them back together.
http://www.monkeybreadsoftware.de/Freeware/CombinePDFs.shtml
I think there is a Merge PDFs out there as well.

You can blow off more steam by using Help | Send Feedback in any Office
program to reach the MacBU.

Re the PDF "hooks" issue, this blog post suggests you can direct some hate
Adobe's way as well.
http://www.bynkii.com/archives/2006/09/one_reason_why_acrobat_irritat.html

 

[Clive Huggan]

Hello Doug,

Further to Daiya's comments, if you want some ideas on how to format Word
documents so you have minimal problems between PC and Mac, and even
different Macs, see appendix A: The main ³minimum maintenance² features of
my documents, in some notes on the way I use Word for the Mac, titled "Bend
Word to Your Will", which are available as a free download from the Word
MVPs' website (http://word.mvps.org/Mac/Bend/BendWordToYourWill.html).

Cheers,

Clive Huggan
Canberra, Australia
(My time zone is 5-11 hours different from the US and Europe, so my
follow-on responses to those regions can be delayed)
============================================================

 

[dholschuh]

Daiya thanks for the reply. You mention that:

Ideally, your Word document should be set up such that adjusting page breaks
doesn't change anything other than the total page count (which can be an
issue in some contexts, certainly, but I imagine not dissertations).

What problems did the different page counts cause in your dissertation? We
may be able to suggest fixes for that.

The big problem with the different pagination from Mac to Windows is
that I need to put tables and figures in the text, but in an unusual
way. Any table or figure needs to appear, by itself, on the next page
after it is called out in the text. The only way I can figure out how
to do this is to put a hard page break at the end of a page where a
table is called out and then to put the table on the next page, and
then put another page break so that the text continues on the following
page. I guess it would work if there were some way to link a table to
its callout and then tell Word to have this table appear on the next
page (and move it if the callout ever moves). But I don't think Word
does this. Unless you know of a way! The big problem seems to be that
the first page of text (with the callout) needs to continue to the
bottom of the page before the break for the table page (it can't end
right after the callout).

Anyway, I *could* go through and just fix all these page breaks, which
would probably take less time than going into Adobe Acrobat and adding
all the TOC bookmarks, but if Word for Windows is doing double spacing
differently than the Mac version, I wonder what else is different as
well. I don't want to have to proof the whole document again, worrying
that a special character dropped out or something similarly small and
unnoticable like that.

But thanks for the reply.

Doug

 

[Daiya Mitchell]

Okay yeah, your life sucks, nothing we can do to help there. That's a
nightmare in Word any which way. Sorry. At least students get cheap
Acrobat.

Congrats on being at final dissertation processing.

Daiya

 

[CyberTaz]

Is the para containing the reference one that starts before the Table/Figure
& continues on the page after? If not you might want to try this...

Click in the first cell of a Table & use Format>Paragraph - Line & Page
Breaks, Page Break Before.

For a figure, keep in mind that the Figure *has* to be anchored to a para
(even though it is the only para on the page) so format that para as above.

Do the same for the para that follows the Table/Figure (There is a request
pending for a "Page Break After" feature, but don't hold your breath ).
You can build the format property into a Style.

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

 

[John McGhie [MVP - Word and Word Macintosh]]

Hi Doug:

That one is easy. Set your table Inline with Text on a paragraph with a
style you create (perhaps named "TablePositioning"). Assign the Page Break
Before paragraph property to that style.

All Tables will now begin a new page.

Below the table, add a single paragraph (with a style TableLegend). That
paragraph may be empty if need be. Assign a Space After of several hundred
points to that style.

That space will push all other content to the next page. However, the space
itself will be ignored if it extends beyond the bottom of the page. So
effectively that paragraph will ensure that the page is empty below it.

Cheers

Daiya thanks for the reply. You mention that:


The big problem with the different pagination from Mac to Windows is
that I need to put tables and figures in the text, but in an unusual
way. Any table or figure needs to appear, by itself, on the next page
after it is called out in the text. The only way I can figure out how
to do this is to put a hard page break at the end of a page where a
table is called out and then to put the table on the next page, and
then put another page break so that the text continues on the following
page. I guess it would work if there were some way to link a table to
its callout and then tell Word to have this table appear on the next
page (and move it if the callout ever moves). But I don't think Word
does this. Unless you know of a way! The big problem seems to be that
the first page of text (with the callout) needs to continue to the
bottom of the page before the break for the table page (it can't end
right after the callout).

Anyway, I *could* go through and just fix all these page breaks, which
would probably take less time than going into Adobe Acrobat and adding
all the TOC bookmarks, but if Word for Windows is doing double spacing
differently than the Mac version, I wonder what else is different as
well. I don't want to have to proof the whole document again, worrying
that a special character dropped out or something similarly small and
unnoticable like that.

But thanks for the reply.

Doug

--

Please reply to the newsgroup to maintain the thread. Please do not email
me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie <[email protected]>
Microsoft MVP, Word and Word for Macintosh. Business Analyst, Consultant
Technical Writer.
Sydney, Australia +61 (0) 4 1209 1410