Line Spacing is mysteriously locked at about 14 points.

[David Hunter]

XP Office Word 2002. Line spacing for paragraphs is no longer porportional
to the font text size used. I use 12 point font (font style makes no
difference) but the "Line Spazcing"/"Single" setting seems to display and
print line spacing at about what 14 point characters would be spaced. If you
highlight a paragraph and reduce the point size down to (forinstance) 6
points, the characters shrink to 6 points but the line spacing remains at the
old line spacing (for about 14 point characters). With 4 or 6 point fonts
there is enought space between the lines to put a bowling alley! This only
happens on NEW documents. Old documents can change font sizes and the line
spacing changes proportionately just like it should. I have checked both
Windows and Word to be sure the Language is "English" thinking that there
might be Chinese formatting, but to no avail. The normal
Format/Paragraph/Line Spacing/Single has been tried repeatedly. A bad
workaround is manually changing line spacing points each time you change font
size, but that really stinks. Outlook also uses Word for email creation and
it now has the very same large line spacing issues. Many thanks for any
suggestions.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

"Single" spacing for 12-pt TNR is about 14.4 points (120% of nominal font
size). If you've changed the font size of the text and the line spacing
doesn't change, make sure you don't have any larger characters in the
paragraph (including the paragraph mark). If the paragraph contains raised
or lowered characters (including superscripts/subscripts) or underlining,
you may need to change some Compatibility Options to get the effect you
want.

 

[David Hunter]

Thanks for the input. But there are not any larger characters including
Paragraph marks. If you change a paragraph from (for instance) 12 points down
to 4 points, the character size will change to tiny 4pt. characters but the
line spacing remains unchanged at the 12 point spacing (which is really more
like 14 point spacing). So you get tiny character rows seperated by gigantic
line spaces.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

And there's no Spacing Before/After? If you'd like to send me a small sample
of the problem document, I'll have a look.

 

[Klaus Linke]

It can probably be fixed with a macro...

ActiveDocument.PageSetup.LayoutMode = wdLayoutModeDefault

This came up a few years ago. If you have support for Asian languages
installed, you can change it in the user interface someplace ("No grid" on
the "Document grid"
tab of the Page Setup dialog).

To run the macro, open the macro editor (Alt+F11), go to the immediate
window (Ctrl+G), paste or type the line, and hit the Enter key at the end of
the line.

Klaus

 

[David Hunter]

Hello Klaus. Many blessings upon you! The macro you wrote fixed the problem.
I then applied the macro to a new document and saved it as Normal.dot so new
documents no longer have this issue. The alternative Page Setup you mentioned
has no options for altering any grid. Many thanks. David

 

[Hilary Allison]

I was relieved to find your post and answer. This problem has been driving
me crazy and yes, I do have Traditional Chinese installed. The glitch is
that the fix provided by Klaus does not seem to have worked for me. I am
unfamiliar macro editor. Are there other steps I should be taking? There
appears to be no action when I hit the enter key (after pasting in the
appropriate wording). I am using Word 2003 SP2. All help appreciated.