How do I line up the lines of text with the side numbers in a leg.

[Legalsecretarywannabe]

When I prepare a legal pleading the first line of text is slightly above the
number "1" in the left margin - and the lines are not the same distance apart
as the numbers in the margin, so that only about 2 out of 10 lines are
actually lined up properly. How do I synchronize these things?

 

[Charles Kenyon]

You need to set the line spacing in the paragraph style you are using to
match the numbering along the side. (Also the spacing between paragraphs.)
--
Charles Kenyon

Word New User FAQ & Web Directory: http://addbalance.com/word

Intermediate User's Guide to Microsoft Word (supplemented version of
Microsoft's Legal Users' Guide) http://addbalance.com/usersguide

See also the MVP FAQ: http://www.mvps.org/word which is awesome!
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[Legalsecretarywannabe]

You need to set the line spacing in the paragraph style you are using to
match the numbering along the side. (Also the spacing between paragraphs.)
--
Charles Kenyon

Word New User FAQ & Web Directory: http://addbalance.com/word

Intermediate User's Guide to Microsoft Word (supplemented version of
Microsoft's Legal Users' Guide) http://addbalance.com/usersguide

See also the MVP FAQ: http://www.mvps.org/word which is awesome!
--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
This message is posted to a newsgroup. Please post replies
and questions to the newsgroup so that others can learn
from my ignorance and your wisdom.




Thanks - except it doesn't seem to work - perhaps I just can't find the correct combination of settings. Also, is there a way to do it for the whole document at once, given that there are single space sections and double space sections?

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

In such situations you'd be a lot better off using Word's built-in line
numbering feature rather than fixed numbering in the margin.



correct combination of settings. Also, is there a way to do it for the
whole document at once, given that there are single space sections and
double space sections?

 

[AGolden]

Suzanne,

I was experiencing a similar problem to the originator of this thread, and I
tried your suggestion of using Word's built-in line number. The problem I
get is that the numbers in a legal pleading need to always be double spaced
along the left margin, but sometime the text in the body of the document
needs to be single spaces (like in the caption or certain quotations, etc.).
When I switch to single spacing, the line number then become single spaced.
Any suggestions?

-Anthony

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Isn't that what you want? What is the point of a line number if it doesn't
indicate the number of the line?

 

[AGolden]

Seemingly, that would make sense. Unfortunately various states' rules of
court don't always make sense. The line numbers are generally evenly spaced
whether or not the text happens to fall on a particular number. It works
when you get to the body of a legal pleading because that's almost entirely
double spaced (I say "almost" because it is permissible in many jurisdictions
to use block quotes that are single spaced), but the very beginning of a
pleading that includes the attorney's name, address, court informaiton,
caption, etc. is generally single spaced. When I use Word's line numbering,
I get say numbers 1 through 16 as single spaced (the text for those lines is
single spaced), then lines 17 through X are double spaced because the rest of
the document is double spaced. However, then the line numbers don't look
uniform. I think that's the reason the pleading wizard creates the fixed
numbers anchored to the header. It works well enough, but it would be
cleaner if I could use Word's built-in numbering (assuming it can space the
numbers out evenly even when the text line spacing varies).

Thanks for your help though, I've been reading through your other posts and
the MVP website, and it's been extremely helpful.

-Anthony