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

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.


"Suzanne S. Barnhill" wrote:

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

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://word.mvps.org
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

"Dan Fingerman" wrote in message
.4...
=?Utf-8?B?R2VuaW5l?= wrote at Wed 17 Nov 2004 08:29:05, in
news
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.

--
DTM :|
www.danfingerman.com

=?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.

--
DTM :|
www.danfingerman.com

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
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://word.mvps.org
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

"Dan Fingerman" wrote in message
.4...
=?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.

--
DTM :|
www.danfingerman.com

That is what I was suggesting.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://word.mvps.org
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

"Genine" wrote in message
...
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.


"Suzanne S. Barnhill" wrote:

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

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://word.mvps.org
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the
newsgroup so
all may benefit.

"Dan Fingerman" wrote in message
.4...
=?Utf-8?B?R2VuaW5l?= wrote at Wed 17 Nov 2004 08:29:05, in
news
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.

--
DTM :|
www.danfingerman.com