Text cut off when cell margin is used

[BruceM]

This is in part a tables question, but there is another part of it that is
not about tables, but I couldn't figure out where to post it other than in
the General section.

Here's the tables question: When a cell's text alignment is bottom, letters
such as lower case "g" that extend below the line end up touching or nearly
touching the cell's bottom border. Setting the paragraph spacing to 1 or 2
points after fixes the problem, but setting the cell margins has an adverse
effect unless there is paragraph spacing after the paragraph. If the
paragraph spacing after is 0, the bottoms of letters such as "g" are cut off
if the cell has a bottom border; however, if the space after is 1, a border
of any size seems to work as intended. Am I stuck with this limitation for
cell margins?

Here's the vagrant question: I have discovered what seems to be a problem
with paragraph borders. When I use a double line border (the one with both
lines the same thickness) and use line thickness of 1/4 point, setting the
border options to allow 2 pts. or greater top and bottom results in the top
of the text being cut off. The same thing occurs with the double line
border, line thickness 1/2 point, and border options set to allow 3 pts. or
greater top and bottom. It also seems to occur with the triple line border,
but it does not seem to be a problem with single line borders or two line
borders where the lines are of unequal thickness. When I set the double
line thickness to 3/4 point the problem seems to go away. If this is not a
bug it is certainly an inscrutable feature.

 

[Shauna Kelly]

Hi BruceM

No-one has ever suggested that Word is not inscrutable!

setting the cell margins has an adverse effect unless there is paragraph
spacing after the paragraph

The following works for me:
- text in a cell that is Bottom-aligned
- paragraph spacing before/after of 0pt
- bottom cell margin of 1pt.

When I do that, the descenders (such as "g") don't hit the cell border.

I can't reproduce your paragraph border problem. Sorry. However, things to
check might include:
- paragraph space before and after
- paragraph line spacing
- the particular font in use
- the particular printer in use (bearing in mind that Word constantly
interrogates the printer and works within its capacities)
- printer driver
- video driver (OK, I'm clutching at straws now).

Hope this helps.

Shauna Kelly. Microsoft MVP.
http://www.shaunakelly.com/word

 

[BruceM]

Shauna,

Thanks for your reply. I have been directing people to your web site to
learn about styles for some time now. With Word 2003 (I should have
mentioned the version in the original posting) the only reliable way for me
to solve the problem is with paragraph spacing after. Some fonts such as
Arial seem to behave better than others, but the problem persists whether
the tables are in headers or in the body of the document, and regardless of
the format of the cell's borders (including invisible borders).

Regarding the paragraph border, it is specifically an issue with
equal-weight double or triple lines lighter than 3/4 point, along with the
top and bottom border being set at the described distances from the text.

Both problems persist regardless of the default printer or any other printer
choices. The workarounds aren't that difficult, so I'm not going to spend a
lot of time wondering about this, but I must say that I am disappointed by
the things that didn't change between Word 2000 and Word 2003. Tables and
numbering (outline numbering, in particular) seem not to have improved. I
use custom styles for outline numbering, but if I follow the number with a
tab, and set the spacing after the number to something other than what Word
wants, the old tab continues to haunt the paragraph. I can usually clear
and reset it through the Tabs dialog in the Style formatting, but it
shouldn't be necessary to go to the extra step. There are some other
annoyances, too, but I won't bother with that for now. I just continue to
use long-established workarounds. Now if they would just get rid of the Alt
+ Click opening the Research dialog.

On the plus side, some things such as Style formatting and the availability
of Style information are considerably improved in Word 2003.