Gaps in text of embedded Word objects

[foxcole]

At first I posted this in an Excel forum, because I thought it had to do with
embedding Word in a spreadsheet---but it's a bigger problem than that. An
embedded Word instance displays proportional fonts (even just the standard
Arial and Times New Roman) incorrectly, with uneven spacing and gaps
appearing within and between words.

I've tested this in both Office 2000 and Office 2003, and I've tested
embedding a Word 2000 object in Lotus Notes, with the same problem across the
board. It happens in both new Word objects and objects embedded from a file.

I tried changing the zoom to see if that made a difference---but the
rendering is wrong at any zoom. For example, I compared two instances of the
word "program" in the same embedded object. Even at 200% zoom, the letters
"ra" in the first instance were clearly separated, but in the second, they
almost touched. Another example is that I compared the letter "e" throughout
the sample. In some cases was crowded on both sides, sometimes crowded more
on one side than the other, and sometimes had plenty of room all around
(unfortunately, in the middle of a word). The gaps and uneven spacing appear
at all zoom levels and in all instances of embedded Word.

I tried changing each of the compatibility settings, even going into some
that didn't seem like they should affect letter or line spacing at all.
Nothing fixed the display. (Please don't ask about "use printer metrics." I
know about that one.

I'd like to note that I used various Word files for embedding, as well as
typing into a new, clean Word object. I also tried the same Word file in
different applications. All I've been able to do so far is verify that I see
the same problem in every case, and on different machines around the office,
that use different versions of Word, or have various types of display
drivers, etc.

I'm completely stuck now. What can I do, if anything, to correct the spacing
in embedded Word objects?


--
FoxCole

"Drawing on my fine command of the English language, I said nothing."

Robert Benchley (about his response to someone who said at a dinner party,
"Say something funny, Mr. Benchley.")

 

[foxcole]

I'm sorry to bump this so soon, but I do need to find out whether there's an
answer to this question. We're trying to find an easy way to insert help
information into Excel reports that go out to sales reps, branches, managers
and some customers.

I thought Word documents would work best not only because they're easy to
insert dynamically when generating the reports, and to size the embedded
window appropriately, but because we can store the files in one directory and
easily make changes to multiple files.

However, if we can't get the embedded object to render text correctly, the
result not only looks unprofessional but in some cases, the perceived extra
spaces may cause confusion for the reader. We can't have that, of course...

What can I do? Is there a way to make embedded Word objects render the text
correctly, or do we need to find another design solution? I'd be very deeply
grateful for any suggestions.
--
FoxCole

"Drawing on my fine command of the English language, I said nothing."

Robert Benchley (about his response to someone who said at a dinner party,
"Say something funny, Mr. Benchley.")