With a ruler. Measure the distance from the top of the page to the first
fill-in line/space. Say this is 4". If you're using the default 1" top
margin, then your text needs to be 3" from the top margin. In the Format |
Paragraph dialog, type 3" into the Space Before box (Word will convert this
to points).

Your status bar should show the position as 4", and the vertical ruler will
show it at 3", but you'll probably find that it is really too low because
your text baseline will be below the 3" mark by the amount of the line
spacing. For 12-pt Times New Roman, this will be 14.4 pts (120% of the
nominal point size). Whatever the amount is (you're probably using larger
type for a certificate), you'll need to subtract this from the 216 points
Space Before.

This is pretty much a trial-and-error process; keep printing on plain paper
and comparing to the certificate till you get the position right. Repeat for
any additional lines.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://word.mvps.org
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"Puzzled" wrote in message
...
I have a printed certificate which needs to be completed.
How does one work out the vertical spacing.