Spacing & paragraphs of same style: different behavior on different computers

[Dan Fingerman]

I frequently send documents to many users on my network. These
documents use paragraph styles with spacing after the paragraph but
with "Don't add space between paragraphs of the same style" checked.
This setting works properly on my computer and about half the others,
meaning that there is no space between consecutive paragraphs having
these styles -- either on-screen or when printed.

However, this setting does not work on about half the computers on my
network. On these computers, all paragraphs in the document are
followed by the spacing specified in the style, even if the next
paragraph has the same style. The space is visible on-screen and when
the document is printed. This seems to occur with every style that
has this setting, in all templates. All users are using Word 2002
(10.6612.6626) SP3 on Win2000, version 5.0.2.2195 + SP4 build 2195.

This is baffling and frustrating. Help would be appreciated.

 

[Genine]

Are you all on the same version of Word?

Is the file saved in the format for the oldest version?

Go to tools > Options > Compatibility and check the settings there.

Versions of Word from 2000 onwards use HTML spacing, which messes around
with space before and space after where they follow on from each other. You
might want to check the option to "Don't use HTML auto paragraph spacing" to
ensure that you get 12pts after PLUS the 12pts before if that's how your
styles are designed. Selecting this will set your compatibility to Custom.

 

[libi]

I was about to post a similar message and saw this one.
Where can we find the option "Don't use HTML auto
paragraph spacing"? This option might be the cause of my
problem.

Thank you

 

[libi]

I was about to post a similar message and saw this one.
Where can we find the option "Don't use HTML auto
paragraph spacing"? This option might be the cause of my
problem.

Thank you

 

[garfield-n-odie]

Hi, libi. That option is under Tools | Options | Compatibility. It's
about one-third of the way down the list.

 

[Dan Fingerman]

=?Utf-8?B?R2VuaW5l?= wrote at Mon 15 Nov 2004 02:25:04, in

Are you all on the same version of Word?

Thanks for the reply. Like I wrote in the original message, "All users
are using Word 2002 (10.6612.6626) SP3 on Win2000, version 5.0.2.2195 +
SP4 build 2195."

Any other suggestions of where the problem might lie?

 

[Stefan Blom]

I don't think the Compatibility option you mention is relevant here,
since it was introduced in Word 2000, but the "Don't add space between
paragraphs of the same style" option for paragraph styles was
introduced in Word 2002.

 

[Genine]

Are you using the same version as your users or are you building your
templates and documents on a newer version of Word?

Do all users (including you) use the same printers and the same version of
the printer driver? Word reformats for the default printer on opening a
document. Even slight differences in the driver version can cause differences
in display on screen and on print out. HP drivers are especially known to be
problematic.

Do users have "automatically update styles" switched on under Tools >
Templates and Add ins? If so, switch this option off on the user PCs. MSKB
advises that this setting has unpredictable results in Word 2000.

Alternatively, if you don't want spacing between paragraphs of the same
style, why not remove it from that particular style?

Stefan: Dan claims to be using Word 2000 and yet mentions the add space
setting.

Genine

 

[Dan Fingerman]

=?Utf-8?B?R2VuaW5l?= wrote at Wed 17 Nov 2004 08:29:05, in

Are you using the same version as your users or are you building
your templates and documents on a newer version of Word?

We are all using the same version of Word.

Do all users (including you) use the same printers and the same
version of the printer driver? Word reformats for the default
printer on opening a document. Even slight differences in the
driver version can cause differences in display on screen and on
print out. HP drivers are especially known to be problematic.

We all print to the same two printers, and I am about 80% certain we
have identical printer drivers. I will check tomorrow to be sure and
report back here if I find differences.

Also (I am not sure if I mentioned this in my original post), the
problem does not occur only during printing. The spacing between
paragraphs appears on-screen for some users.

Do users have "automatically update styles" switched on under
Tools > Templates and Add ins? If so, switch this option off on
the user PCs. MSKB advises that this setting has unpredictable
results in Word 2000.

I have this feature turned off, but it is likely that some other users
have it turned on. I have been advising users to turn this off for
years, but I suppose they think this is more of a "guideline," like
updating virus definitions twice a week.

Alternatively, if you don't want spacing between paragraphs of the
same style, why not remove it from that particular style?

I have several blocks of text that I want to look like this relative to
one another, where each block has several lines, none of them reaching
all the way across the page:

block1 block1 block1 block1 block1
block1 block1 block1 block1 block1
block1 block1 block1 block1 block1

block2 block2 block2 block2 block2
block2 block2 block2 block2 block2
block2 block2 block2 block2 block2

block3 block3 block3 block3 block3
block3 block3 block3 block3 block3
block3 block3 block3 block3 block3

The spaces in between these blocks are not simply one line apiece;
otherwise, I might consider simply leaving a blank line. In one case,
it is three lines, and in another case, it has to be exactly 18 points.
Thus, each block has its own paragraph style with the requisite
"after" spacing and "Don't add space between paragraphs of the same
style" checked.

These blocks repeat with the same pattern (but with different content)
at several places in each document, so direct formatting would be
inconvenient. I considered making four styles called BlockBody,
BlockLastLine1, BlockLastLine2, and BlockLastLine3 -- where BlockBody
has no spacing before or after and each BlockLastLine style has the
appropriate "after" spacing. However, this would make editing
inconvenient, because the user would have to manually apply the styles
if the content is edited.

If I can get "Don't add space between paragraphs of the same style" to
work identically on all machines, I believe it would resolve the
problem completely. One reason why this problem is so frustrating is
that it occurs for only about half the users. This is why I assumed it
was a setting/options problem, even though I had no idea where to look
for the culprit setting.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Is there a reason why all the Block1 lines can't be a single paragraph?

 

[Genine]

Why not use soft returns for the first two Block 1 lines in your example. If
your text is justified left then this would solve the problem.

Is there a reason why all the Block1 lines can't be a single paragraph?

 

[Dan Fingerman]

=?Utf-8?B?R2VuaW5l?= wrote at Fri 19 Nov 2004 03:49:01, in

Why not use soft returns for the first two Block 1 lines in your
example. If your text is justified left then this would solve the
problem.

I thought of this, too. Soft returns would do it if I were the only
one editing these documents, but others frequently edit these sections
before they get published. They know about soft returns (in the sense
that I discussed them briefly in a training), but they will complain
that it is a pain to remember to use them. They would get used to it;
but, all else being equal, I would prefer to find a solution that does
not require the users to remember an extra step with each document.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

It seems to me that if a "block" is in effect a paragraph and needs to
behave like one, then it is as unreasonable to cater to users' ignorance or
stubbornness or laziness in this case as it would be if these were
inveterate typists who were pressing Enter at the end of every line of
continuous text.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

That is what I was suggesting.

Why not use soft returns for the first two Block 1 lines in your example. If
your text is justified left then this would solve the problem.