Widowed line in a table

[chadwilliams]

I have a fully justified paragraph in a cell. The last line of that
paragraph now sits alone at the top of the next page. This is called a
widowed line and it's unprofessional looking. If I do a "keep together", the
whole paragraph goes onto the next page which I don't want. I only want the
last two lines of the paragraph to go onto the top of the next page. (In
Wordperfect, you would use a "block protect" and it would keep the last 2
lines together. Word doesn't have that feature.) If I use a return to break
the paragraph so that the last 2 lines are on the next page, then that last
line won't be fully justified (and I will have turned that paragraph into 2
paragraphs, which I don't want).

So how can I make sure there are no widowed lines in a table?

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Nope, once you have allowed the row to break, you've given Word carte
blanche. Neither "Widow/orphan control" nor "Keep lines together" has any
effect in a table cell, and "Keep with next" operates only between rows.

 

[chadwilliams]

Sorry... so are you telling me that there is nothing I can do but leave that
widowed line where it is????

Do you know of any "work-arounds"??

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

You can prevent the row from breaking and keep the whole paragraph together
(note that "Keep lines together" will *not* do this). You could insert a
line break *and* a paragraph break, which would justify your last line, but
this can cause problems if the table reflows and you end up with a line's
space in the middle of your paragraph. It is not at all satisfactory, but
that's the way it is with current versions of Word, unfortunately.

 

[chadwilliams]

I can't figure out how to insert a line break (shift+enter) PLUS a paragraph
break and yet keep that line fully justified. Can you explain how I can do
this please? Thank you.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

The line break justifies the line (unless you have the Compatibility Option
"Don't expand characters spaces on a line ending Shift-Return" checked). The
paragraph break breaks to a new paragraph. In this case you could probably
accomplish the same thing with two line breaks (to give you an extra blank
line to push the following line of text to the next page). In other words,
what you're doing is converting

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy
nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut
wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit
lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.

to

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy
nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut

wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit
lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.

 

[chadwilliams]

Thanks Suzanne for the great tip on the Compatibility Option. Now I can get
the last two lines onto the next page (so I won't have the widowed line)
while maintaining full justification of the line ending with the
shift+return. The only problem now is that if, at a later date, due to
editing the wordflow changes, then that particular paragraph will need to be
constantly checked. But from what you're telling me, I have no other choice
unless I leave the widowed line. This problem doesn't exist in Wordperfect
because you can "block protect" the last 2 lines in a paragraph in a table.
Hopefully, Word can make that happen too, or in the least, have the widowed
line option work in tables.

Thanks again.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Block Protect is a feature that I suspect has been requested a lot (though
it doesn't hurt to keep pressure on). I suspect if it were easy to do, it
would have been done already. Word and WordPerfect are structured so
differently (see http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/General/WordVsWordPerfect.htm)
that sometimes it's more difficult than we realize to replicate WP features.