Starting a first page of a document chapter

[denver9]

When writing a book or other document I prefer to start the first page of a new chapter farther down the page than subsequent pages.
I presently just use the keyboard "Enter" key to position the first paragraph of a new chapter.
Is that the accepted way, or is there a short cut I should be using?

[Charles Kenyon]

Start each chapter as a new Word section.
Have the option for "different first page" turned on for your headers.
Put a large amount of vertical space in your first-page header.
Sections / Headers and Footers in Microsoft Word 2007-2010

[denver9]

Thanks Charles for that info, some good stuff there. However, I do not agree with using a Section break to start each chapter. That would mess up the page numbering. The real question was how to start a new chapter in the middle of the page.
I have been using the keyboard "Enter" key to advance the cursor down the page. Was just wondering if there was a shortcut or formatting procedure to accomplish the same thing.
Sounds like a silly question but in another issue I was using the "Enter" key, at the last page of a chapter, to advance the cursor to the next page so I could start a new chapter. As a result each time I closed the document and reopened it at a later time, I found that the text of the new chapter had moved back to where I had ended the previous chapter. I bought a copy of "Word for Dummies" which said that was a NO - NO. Unfortunately, the "Dummie" book didn't tell me what I should do instead. Much later in the book it mentioned using "Page" breaks which I figured out was what I should have done at the end of a chapter.
The question I asked on this forum is:
Is it OK to use the "Enter" key to advance the cursor down a page before starting the text, or is there a more proper way to do it.
Thanks again.
-Denver

[denver9]

Did I step on someones toes here? My goodness, I would think that someone would be courteous enough to reply. Is Charles Kenyon the only one? (Thanks Charles)
-Denver (Denver9)

[Ulodesk]

The section break will not cause a page-numbering problem if your page numbers a re formatted to "Continue from previous." However, rather than use the enter key, you can create a heading or other paragraph style with extra space above it. If you want your first paragraph of body text to start halfway down the page, place your cursor in the paragraph, open the paragraph dialogue box, and set the number of pt or li or in above; it may require a little trial and error. Once it is as you wish, leaving your cursor in the paragraph, create new style wiht the New Style button at the bottom of the Styles pane, name it, and select your regular body text paragraph style to be the "Style for following paragraph."

[denver9]

Thanks Ulodesk, that is exactly what I needed.
-Denver