Before and After Paragraph Spacing

  • Thread starter Thread starter faceman28208
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faceman28208

For my government work I have been trying to work out spacing
precisely.

I am correct in the following:

If A and B are paragraphs, occurring sequentially, then the space
between the bottom of A (to descender) and the top of B (ascender) is

The leading of A + the maximum of (A.After and B.Before Spacing)

In other words the before and after spacing are not added together,
the spacing is based upon the larger of the two values.
 
If I understand you correctly...

Go to Format Paragraph dialog and clear the option 'Don't add space to
paragraphs of the same style'. That options inhibits space accumulation for
paragraphs using the same style so that if Space after is 18pt and Space
before is 12pt, the space presented is only 18pt (the larger of the two
numbers) and not 30pt as expected.

Note that when you come to sort out the space at the top of the pages, in
the Compatibility dialog there are several 'Suppress additional space'
options that you may find useful.
 
Also, if you want Word to add Spacing After and Spacing Before together when
they "meet" (as opposed to choosing the larger of the two values), select
the "Don't use HTML paragraph auto spacing" Compatibility Option.

To see the compatibility options in Word 2007: Click the Office button, and
then click Word Options. In the Advanced category, click to expand the
"Layout Options" (at the bottom).
 
Also, if you want Word to add Spacing After and Spacing Before together when
they "meet" (as opposed to choosing the larger of the two values), select
the "Don't use HTML paragraph auto spacing" Compatibility Option.

To see the compatibility options in Word 2007: Click the Office button, and
then click Word Options. In the Advanced category, click to expand the
"Layout Options" (at the bottom).
Click to expand...

Apparently the spacing options are convoluted.

In my tests I was using a combination of heading n and body text
styles. The Word Don't use HTML paragraph... option was unchecked as
the default.
The Paragraph option "Don't add space ..." was unchecked.

And I was getting the behavior I described above.

The reason I was asking, here was I read in a book that the above and
below spacing gets added together.-- something I was not seeing. From
the kindly supplied information here, this appears to only occur when
the "Don't use HTML paragraph .." option is selected.

Any idea which is the better method in practice to use? My gut tells
me that adding the spaces together is a more predictable method,
 
For which version of Word was the book written? Older versions of Word
always added the values together. I don't remember when the behavior
changed, maybe in Word 2000.

What is better is largely a matter of taste, of course. If you use Spacing
After for, say, Heading 1 paragraphs and you don't want any extra spacing if
the first paragraph after the heading is another heading, say Heading 2 with
Spacing Above, then obviously it is convenient that the values won't be
added together.

--
Stefan Blom
Microsoft Word MVP



Also, if you want Word to add Spacing After and Spacing Before together
when
they "meet" (as opposed to choosing the larger of the two values), select
the "Don't use HTML paragraph auto spacing" Compatibility Option.

To see the compatibility options in Word 2007: Click the Office button,
and
then click Word Options. In the Advanced category, click to expand the
"Layout Options" (at the bottom).
Click to expand...

Apparently the spacing options are convoluted.

In my tests I was using a combination of heading n and body text
styles. The Word Don't use HTML paragraph... option was unchecked as
the default.
The Paragraph option "Don't add space ..." was unchecked.

And I was getting the behavior I described above.

The reason I was asking, here was I read in a book that the above and
below spacing gets added together.-- something I was not seeing. From
the kindly supplied information here, this appears to only occur when
the "Don't use HTML paragraph .." option is selected.

Any idea which is the better method in practice to use? My gut tells
me that adding the spaces together is a more predictable method,
 
It did originate in Word 2000, when many other Web-centric features were
introduced. I tend to go for the predictable myself, and always keep "Don't
use HTML..." checked. I find that Ctrl+0 on a given heading will usually
remove enough Space Before to do the trick.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
http://word.mvps.org
 
It did originate in Word 2000, when many other Web-centric features were
introduced. I tend to go for the predictable myself, and always keep "Don't
use HTML..." checked. I find that Ctrl+0 on a given heading will usually
remove enough Space Before to do the trick.
Click to expand...

If I had my way to do this kind of exact formatting, I'd have them
just do styles in Word and import into Indesign. Something that might
have been possible of Adobe's marketing folks were....err..... at all
competent. Our's is not to wonder why.....
 
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