I created a Word document using Word 2011 for Mac. I moved it to a PC and opened it in Word 2013 only to discover that the automatic page breaks had moved.



Word leaves an unnessecary big space at the bottom of some of the pages. There is room for one or two or more lines, but Word moves them to next page.

I know how to use page margins and they have nothing to do with my problem.

I also unchecked "Widow/Orphan control", "Keep with next", "Keep lines together" and "Page break before" but no effect.

I've read through several guides how to remove unwanted page breaks, but none of them addresses my problem. They only discuss how to make the page break appear EARLIER in the text. I want it to appear LATER since I can see there is space for more text in the page.

Thanks!

/Kungen

I suspect that you are using the Enter key to space text vertically on your page.
Showing non-printing formatting marks in Microsoft Word

Moving a Word document to a different computer will often change the appearance and pagination. What happens when I send my document to someone else? Will Word mess up my formatting?

Hej Charles, thanks for the answer!

About the return key: I use it only to end a paragraph and to add space between paragraphs. I'm not sure how this has anything to do with my problem.

About the templates: I guess I should follow the advice and try to "tick the Automatically Update Document Styles box", then. But in the help page you kindly linked to, it doesn't say how to do that in Word for Mac 2011. How do I do that?

Thanks!

/Kungen

Here's an example of the difference between the document opened in Word for Mac 2011 and Word for Win 2013.

Attached Images

	klipp_Mac.jpg (157.3 KB, 21 views)
	klipp_PC.jpg (110.1 KB, 21 views)

Your screen shots only seem to depict the kind of text re-flow that happens whenever a different printer is active. This could even happen on Macs and is perfectly normal with Word documents, since Word queries the active printer and uses data returned from it to optimise the page layout. The result can often be seen in differences in line-wrapping and pagination. You should check too that the fonts used in the document are actually installed on the PC (or at least embedded in the document); otherwise Word will substitute other fonts and that will likely cause the text to flow differently.

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

Word repaginates the document according to the printer driver currently selected. Different printers have different capabilities (eg how close to the edge of the paper they can print) and display content differently. Even on the same computer, changing the printer can result in changes to pagination.

Because your document is being displayed on Windows and Mac it is a safe assumption that two different printer drivers are associated with the docs.

In addition, the typefaces on both machines will also differ although the line breaks in your posted screenshots appear common to both machines.

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Andrew Lockton
Chrysalis Design, Melbourne Australia

You do not want to check that box to update styles!

The link I should have given is:
Why has my page layout changed when I open my document on a different machine?

Hi, Macropod and Guessed - thanks for your answers.

OK, the printer's might cause changes, but I still don't know how to get it the way I want. Do you?

There is plenty of space left on the page and there must be a way to force Word to accept more lines on a page before the break. In some cases it's even obvious that three more lines would fit in. I can't see why any printer settings should prevent it. And I've unchecked "Widow/Orphan control", "Keep with next", "Keep lines together" and "Page break before".

/Kungen

You can't force Word to ignore the page layout data provided by the printer. You can:
• use a different printer that accepts more data per page; and/or
• change the document formatting.
The latter includes changing margins, line spacing paragraph before/after spacing, font typeface, font point size, and so on.

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

OK. Thanks to all of you for your answers!

/Kungen

I don't know the solution to your problem but rather than fiddling the paragraph settings, I would be looking at the page setups on both systems to see if a difference has crept in there somewhere.

There is an option to resize to fit A4/US Letter that may be set on one machine but not on the other.

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Andrew Lockton
Chrysalis Design, Melbourne Australia

But that isn't the issue here.
That's simply not true - or is at best ambiguous. Default page sizes (as determined by Normal.dot, for example), have no effect on actual page sizes. Word does not change a user-specified page size back to the default.
That has nothing to do with the OP's problem.

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

Well, that was very friendly.

Anyway, I've seen all these effects when converting a file from one version of Word to another. Especially from a newer to an older version.

Regardless of what it should or should not do, just check the page size, margins and fonts. If any of these are different from the original version on the original machine the layout will be changed.

A tiny change is margins (rounding from mm to inch units say) can be enough to make one line roll over.

I mentioned setting pagebreaks in the style definition as that formats correctly without you having to manually insert breaks.

I've dealt with enough files with headings pushed to a new page with linebreaks that this is worth saying, obvious though it seems.

If layout really is so critical, you should finalise in a DTP layout program, like InDesign, PageMaker, etc., rather than Word which feels free to move things around.

Converting between Word versions has never changes page sizes or margins. I have no idea what gives you the idea it can. Likewise, regardless of whether a document has manual page breaks or paragraph-formatting page breaks, the result for the printout is the same. Changing them is not a magic bullet. The idea that a change in measurement units from inches to mm can change things is likewise nonsensical - those are display measurements only (Word actually works in twips behind the scenes). In any event, nothing of what you posted addresses the OP's issues. Whether you think my response very friendly concerns me a world less than steering the OP away from ill-informed misdirection.

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

Gweilo, thanks for trying to help, but you're not helping. My problem has nothing to do with the things you suggest. Please don't hang around in threads guessing, making people confused. Stick to things you have genuine knowledge about.

Thanks Macropod (And earlier Charles Kenyon) for making it clear what this is about. To me as a consumer it's a bit strange that the printer's non-changeable settings is allowed to alter (the conditions for) my layout - that there is no basic standard all machines must adhere to. But that's really off topic. I've got my answer and I just have to accept this.