I am unable to manually adjust the line spacing of text at the top of a page in Word. However, this only happens to text that naturally falls to the top of the page. If I have a page break forcing it to the next page, then I can manually adjust the line spacing. Is there anyway to be able to adjust the line spacing of text, a header for example, without the use of a page break on the previous page? A setting maybe?

I don't understand your question.

You can certainly adjust line spacing. However, this is a paragraph level formatting. If the top line on a page is in the middle of a paragraph, any change you make will be for the entire paragraph, including the part on the preceding page.

Basic Formatting in Microsoft Word

I suspect the issue you're having is that you get a different leading space at the top of the page when you start a new paragraph, compared to when you're continuing one.

Try changing the 'Suppress extra line spacing' at top/bottom of page options and the 'Suppress Space Before after a hard page or column break' option, all under File|Options|Advanced>Layout Options.

__________________
Cheers,
Paul Edstein
[Fmr MS MVP - Word]

Macropod - Yes, that is my problem (thank you!). The settings option you provided certainly works and fixes my issue, but it does not stick. I have to set it every time I open a word document. Any way to make these layout settings permanently?

In the same Options panel, you'll find "Save these settings for:" for each category. Use the dropdown menu arrow for the section you're using, and select "All documents," which will save the change to the Normal template, where you personalized settings are typically saved.

And, just as a side note, the settings Paul mentioned don't appear there in Word 2013. More hide-and-seek with a version change.

Best,
Ulodesk

The settings will stick for whatever document they're applied to; it's a document-specific setting, not a global one. To make it apply to all new documents, make the change to the document template(s). For existing document, you could add a Document_Open macro to the document template(s) to ensure the desired 'ActiveDocument.Compatibility' settings are applied to every document you open.

__________________
Cheers,
Paul Edstein
[Fmr MS MVP - Word]

The settings are available in the same place in Word 2013 - for documents using Word 2010 & earlier compatibility - but are not available for Word 2013's native documents.

__________________
Cheers,
Paul Edstein
[Fmr MS MVP - Word]