single line spacing

[lanks]

Hi all,

I have the same single line spacing problem described at the beginning of this discussion, but Daiya's advice:

"To change in just this document, select all, go to Format | Paragraph. Look down to the find the Spacing: After field, and change 10 to 0"

is not relevant in my case because my settings are already 0 pt spacing before and after.
Any other ideas?

Lanks

 

[CyberTaz]

Then evidently you *don't* have the "same problem" - if you did it would be
fixed by the "same solution"

In order to help out we'll need to know more about:

A) Your version of Word
B) Your version of OS X
C) Your type of Mac
D) A more detailed description of your problem

Use the Show/Hide button (¶) on your toolbar to see what kind of
non-printing characters display where - especially between the paras. Also
try clicking in just 1 para that exhibits the extra space beneath it & check
the Spacing Before/After - it could be that you have different settings on
different paras which could cause a false reading when you Select All.

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

 

[Daiya Mitchell]

Then you don't have the same problem.

Can you explain clearly what you do, what happens, and what you want to
happen instead?

 

[lanks]

Hi guys,

Thanks for the responses (and the grammar lesson

I have actually managed to solve this issue by opening a 'new' document, copying the 'problem' text, pasting it into the new file and saving the document under a different name. Voilá, line spacing returned to the format setting: single.

So unless you really want to solve this one further, I'm happy to accept that there may have been some corruption in the file (it was a bastardised file from a PC version of Word). But the symptoms were as detailed in the opening thread by 'framfrog', as well as several other posts I have read. I'm running Office 2004 for mac on a MacBook Pro with OS X 10.5.1. I opened an old Word file, and the spacing between paragraphs appeared to be greater than one line, despite format settings set to single spacing. I didn't know which to curse, Microsoft or Apple.

Thanks again for your prompt replies. As a mac newbie, I am meeting a couple of 'transition challenges', but I have found the mac user community to be excellent.

 

[Daiya Mitchell]

I'd go with corruption, especially considering the way you fixed
it--paste into a new doc is one of the standard fixes, others here, just
FYI:
http://word.mvps.org/Mac/DocumentCorruption.html

Also, the problem in the original post (although framfrog didn't mention
it, I just guessed because dozens of others had the same problem)
occurred upon creating new documents, not opening old ones. That's
enough to make it not the same problem. Incidentally, that's a
lesson in analysis or possibly logic, rather than grammar . (Sorry,
I'm a teacher--can't help it)

Thanks for the update--it'll likely help someone else later, especially
as that's not a familiar sign of corruption.

 

[John]

Nothing helps me.

Every time I hit enter, I get 1.5 spacing. Every time. HELP!

 

[John McGhie]

Follow the instructions Daiya sent you to in the post above yours

Nothing helps me.

Every time I hit enter, I get 1.5 spacing. Every time. HELP!

--
Don't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/

Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie, Consultant Technical Writer
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
http://jgmcghie.fastmail.com.au/
Nhulunbuy, Northern Territory, Australia

 

[Clive Huggan]

On 25/2/08 9:55 PM, in article C3E8D4BE.114A3%[email protected], "John


I know that when someone has been used to using Word as a typewriter for a
long time, Word 2008's imposition of 10 points of leading ("ledding") after
a paragraph must be annoying and all they want is an immediate solution --
especially if all they type is short letters and memos.

However, for longer documents there are huge advantages to having leading
above or below paragraphs. For example, if you want to squeeze some
paragraphs up to fit some text on a page rather than have it spill overleaf,
it's *very* easy to do it by modifying the leading -- e.g. via the Paragraph
command. Also, headings automatically "glue" themselves to following text,
so you don't have to manually adjust formatting when the document is
completed.

For occasions when you have to avoid leading, such as address blocks in
correspondence, you simply key Shift-Return instead of Return at the end of
the line.

If you're interested in any of this, take a look at the article "The
advantages of including leading (blank space above or below) in styles" on
page 176 of the following reference; "Leading above, or below, paragraphs?"
on page 177; and an article on "minimum maintenance formatting" in Appendix
A starting on page 164.

The reference is 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).

[Note: "Bend Word to your will" is designed to be used electronically and
most subjects are self-contained dictionary-style entries. If you decide to
read more widely than the item I've referred to, it's important to read the
front end of the document -- especially pages 3 and 5 -- so you can select
some Word settings that will allow you to use the document effectively.]

Cheers,

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

 

[Debbie]

I am trying to figure out mail merge. I miss the option to choose, for example, which names in an excel list to include. I have to make a whole different, edited excel list first? Sheesh.

Also, when I set it to make labels for my avery 8160, the space between lines is huge, even though the little box at the side says it's 1. The spaces between the three lines is so large that the whole address (name, street, city/state/zip - only three lines) barely fit on the label and the name is almost cut off at the top. It's legible but looks bad. How to change this?

Thanks so much for your time,

Debbie

 

[Debbie]

Oh now I feel extremely stupid. I figured it out, but it's not very intuitive. I had to change the paragraph spacing, as noted above, from 10 to 0.

Thank you!

Debbie

 

[CeruleanSins11]

I actually did what the first respondent stated in her answer, but this still didn't solve my problem. The only thing that finally made it work was checking the box for not adding space in between like paragraphs. That fixed the "problem" for me.

 

[John McGhie]

OK, you have proved that the problem is "Space after" on your styles, and
you have not "fixed" it, you have hidden it.

Not a problem if you don't send documents anywhere else, or get documents
from anywhere else.

If you do, you need to modify the styles you use to have the spacing that
you like. And you need to save those changes to your Normal template. You
should undo the setting you have just made while you do that, so you can see
what you are doing.

See here: http://word.mvps.org/Mac/Word2008Issues.html#DoubleSpacing

Note: If you use Styles, Normal style is not the only one potentially
affected. In a default template, ALL styles inherit their settings from
Normal style, so usually changing Normal style fixes it. However, if you
have customised your styles (as you should!) then you may have to update
several of them to set the Space After property to what you want.

Similarly, if you use templates, Normal Template is not the only template
that can be affected.

But for most folks, the critical thing is to check the "Add to template"
checkbox so your changes are written back to the template. Otherwise, you
have to change every document you create.

The fix only affects NEW documents. You have to change existing documents
individually.

Hope this helps

I actually did what the first respondent stated in her answer, but this still
didn't solve my problem. The only thing that finally made it work was checking
the box for not adding space in between like paragraphs. That fixed the
"problem" for me.

--

Don't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/

Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.

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

 

[Clive Huggan]

Be a devil, "CeruleanSins11"! It's 20+ years since people stopped using
typewriters and it's time to stop emulating some of their crudities that end
up taking up so much time and making documents look like, well, typewriting.

Consistent with what John has been saying: consider the advantages of being
able to creep paragraphs closer together to get them all on the one page
when they are just that tiny bit too much for the page (or push them further
apart). Or having a heading glue itself to the paragraph below it, so you
don't have to put in a manual page break above a heading that's on the
bottom line of the page.

There are a dozen other advantages of using Word's styles as they were
designed: take a look at 'Some advantages of using styles' on page 91 of
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). You'll find
Appendix A: The main ³minimum maintenance² features of my documents, on page
164, useful too.

[Note: "Bend Word to your will" is designed to be used electronically and
most subjects are self-contained dictionary-style entries. If you decide to
read more widely than the item I've referred to, it's important to read the
front end of the document -- especially pages 3 and 5 -- so you can select
some Word settings that will allow you to use the document effectively.
Also: in Word 2008, which I don't use yet, some of this information be
accessible through a different interface, but that should only be a minor
inconvenience.]

Cheers,

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

 

[John McGhie]

Hi Cerulean Sins:

Ignore this Philistine!!!

I am sure you are above such disgusting behaviour as " creep paragraphs
closer together to get them all on the one page when they are just that tiny
bit too much for the page (or push them further apart)"

I mean, there are some sins that it's just not nice to talk about, right?

Mr. Huggan, this is a Family Newspaper, we prefer not to see such wanton
displays in here, thank you!!

Unless I do them, of course. Then it's all right...

Cheers

Be a devil, "CeruleanSins11"! It's 20+ years since people stopped using
typewriters and it's time to stop emulating some of their crudities that end
up taking up so much time and making documents look like, well, typewriting.

Consistent with what John has been saying: consider the advantages of being
able to creep paragraphs closer together to get them all on the one page
when they are just that tiny bit too much for the page (or push them further
apart). Or having a heading glue itself to the paragraph below it, so you
don't have to put in a manual page break above a heading that's on the
bottom line of the page.

There are a dozen other advantages of using Word's styles as they were
designed: take a look at 'Some advantages of using styles' on page 91 of
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). You'll find
Appendix A: The main ³minimum maintenance² features of my documents, on page
164, useful too.

[Note: "Bend Word to your will" is designed to be used electronically and
most subjects are self-contained dictionary-style entries. If you decide to
read more widely than the item I've referred to, it's important to read the
front end of the document -- especially pages 3 and 5 -- so you can select
some Word settings that will allow you to use the document effectively.
Also: in Word 2008, which I don't use yet, some of this information be
accessible through a different interface, but that should only be a minor
inconvenience.]

Cheers,

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

OK, you have proved that the problem is "Space after" on your styles, and
you have not "fixed" it, you have hidden it.

Not a problem if you don't send documents anywhere else, or get documents
from anywhere else.

If you do, you need to modify the styles you use to have the spacing that
you like. And you need to save those changes to your Normal template. You
should undo the setting you have just made while you do that, so you can see
what you are doing.

See here: http://word.mvps.org/Mac/Word2008Issues.html#DoubleSpacing

Note: If you use Styles, Normal style is not the only one potentially
affected. In a default template, ALL styles inherit their settings from
Normal style, so usually changing Normal style fixes it. However, if you
have customised your styles (as you should!) then you may have to update
several of them to set the Space After property to what you want.

Similarly, if you use templates, Normal Template is not the only template
that can be affected.

But for most folks, the critical thing is to check the "Add to template"
checkbox so your changes are written back to the template. Otherwise, you
have to change every document you create.

The fix only affects NEW documents. You have to change existing documents
individually.

Hope this helps

--

Don't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/

Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.

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