line spacing for smaller fonts

[sbro]

Version: 2008
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)
Processor: Power PC

I've read so many posts on line spacing -- most of them concern the new default line spacing/paragraph spacing in Word. One thing that I've discovered is that no matter how small I make the font (below 12 pt), the single-spacing line spacing stays the same as it is for 12-point font. In other words, the line spacing no longer changes automatically to be proportionate to the font size. I know that I can go in and set the paragraph spacing to be exactly whatever size, but I would really rather not have to do this to get single spacing every time I shrink the font. Does anyone know why this happens (it didn't in Word X -- my last version) and whether I can fix it?

Thanks!
sb

 

[John McGhie]

The rule is that "single" line spacing is 120 per cent of the font height of
the largest character on the line.

If your line spacing won't drop below 12 points, you have a ten point
character somewhere on the line, or you are not looking at "Line" spacing.

This is why it's important to keep your non-printing characters displayed
when trying to achieve precise results with Word. If you turn them off, you
can't see things such as a 12-point space on a 6 point line.

Hope this helps

Version: 2008
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)
Processor: Power PC

I've read so many posts on line spacing -- most of them concern the new
default line spacing/paragraph spacing in Word. One thing that I've discovered
is that no matter how small I make the font (below 12 pt), the single-spacing
line spacing stays the same as it is for 12-point font. In other words, the
line spacing no longer changes automatically to be proportionate to the font
size. I know that I can go in and set the paragraph spacing to be exactly
whatever size, but I would really rather not have to do this to get single
spacing every time I shrink the font. Does anyone know why this happens (it
didn't in Word X -- my last version) and whether I can fix it?

Thanks!
sb

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John McGhie, Microsoft MVP, Word and Word:Mac
Sydney, Australia. mailto:[email protected]

 

[CyberTaz]

John's points are accurate & valid, but even so there is nothing to prevent
abnormally small line spacing from being used -- it just causes the lines of
the paragraph to overlap accordingly. Therefore, I'm unclear on exactly what
you might be checking or changing.

It sounds more to me that either directly or through a Style's specification
the Line Spacing for those paragraphs is set to Exactly or At Least
[probably 14.4 pts or something close to that]. Select the text then go to
Format> Paragraph & see what the Line Spacing is set to. Change it to Single
by modifying the Style you're using or by changing the Line Spacing there.

For general clarification, Line Spacing controls the amount of space between
the lines within a paragraph. Paragraph Spacing determines how many
*additional* or *fewer* points of space are added to the line spacing to
alter the spacing between one paragraph & the next.

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