I'd like to set up heading styles with space before when the heading style follows body text but no space before at the top of a page or when following a previous heading.

For example:
Heading 1: 24 points before, except at top of page


Heading 2: 18 points before, except at top of page or following heading 1
Heading 3: 12 points before, except at top of page or following heading 2
etc...

I found a compatibility option that stops the space before setting from being applied at the top of the page, but does anyone know whether it's possible to suppress the space before based on the style of the previous paragraph please?

I'm using Word 2003.

Thanks!

"Spacing before" is suppressed at the top of the page, assuming that the paragraph doesn't appear at the beginning of a new document or at the beginning of a new section. If the style also includes "Page break before" formatting, the spacing won't be suppressed.

The compatibility option "Suppress Space Before after a hard page or column break" (I'm assuming that's the one you are referring to) controls what happens when there is a manual page or column break present.

When a paragraph with "Spacing after" precedes a paragraph with "Spacing before," the larger of the two values will determine the spacing between the paragraphs.

If you select the "Don't use HTML paragraph auto spacing" compatibility option the two values for spacing will be added instead.

__________________
Stefan Blom
Microsoft Word MVP

Microsoft 365 apps for business
Windows 11 Professional

I'm not clear if this can be changed, from this answer.

I'm working with a designer to create a template for a client that has a Style with a 15 before and 15 after spacing. At the top of the next page the 15 before is null, even when a page break or section break is inserted on the previous page (prefer not to have either, but looking for a fix!). The only way I've been able to reinstate the 15 pt spacing is to enter a hard return, but then the opposite problem occurs - too much spacing at top of page.

Is there a way to un-suppress this autoformat? I've been all over formatting/auto formatting windows and can't find a fix (Word 2007).

Any help appreciated. I consider myself experienced in Word (15 years), until something like this happens.

Thanks,
Maureen

After manual page and column breaks, you can suppress the spacing before by selecting "Suppress Space Before after a hard page or column break." You'll find this option in the Advanced section of Office button | Word Options; just click to expand the "Layout" options.

__________________
Stefan Blom
Microsoft Word MVP

Microsoft 365 apps for business
Windows 11 Professional

Hi Stefan,

Thanks for the clear explanation. So just to confirm, if my heading 1 style has 12pt after and my heading 2 style has 18pt before, is there no way to restrict the space between heading 1 and heading 2 to 12pt, while still getting 18pt between body text and heading 2?

As for suppressing the space at the top of the page, I could have sworn when I wrote the original post that it wasn't suppressed by default and selecting the compatibility option "suppress extra line spacing at top of page" made a difference (I'm not using any hard page breaks). I must have been going mad though as trying it now it's behaving exactly as you describe.

Thanks again for your help.

Tim

Well, you could create a style (with 12 pt of spacing before) for use specifically after Heading 1 paragraphs. I'm sure there are other workarounds too, but that one seems easy enough. :-)

Hmm, I haven't experimented much with those line spacing compatibility options (which I believe were created for WordPerfect compatibility).

__________________
Stefan Blom
Microsoft Word MVP

Microsoft 365 apps for business
Windows 11 Professional

I must admit I thought that wouldn't work because in the outline numbering dialogue box you can only associate one style with each numbering level. Should have tried it first... It does seem to work OK when the new style is derived from the heading 2 style.

I still think this is a bit fiddly but it does the job!

Thanks,

Tim

Yes, in a "child" style, you can "copy" an outline number from a "parent" (based-on) style, as long as you don't try to modify the numbering in the "child."

__________________
Stefan Blom
Microsoft Word MVP

Microsoft 365 apps for business
Windows 11 Professional