I am helping my wife with her dissertation using Word 2013.



The text and the footnotes are justified on both sides.

On many/most pages, Word fills up the available space with text, above the start of the footnotes on that page, just fine (1st image).

On some pages, Word leaves a lot of white space above the footnote (2nd image) despite the fact that two lines of text at the top of the next page (to the end of the paragraph [3rd image]) would fit just fine in the blank space on the previous page.

At the moment, I cannot find a way to get any lines from the next page to fill up that available space.

What is causing this and is there a way that I can correct it?

Thank you.

Attached Images

	Normal Spacing.png (31.8 KB, 18 views)
	Too much blank space.png (26.6 KB, 18 views)
	Text from next page that would fit space.png (9.0 KB, 18 views)

Click on the show\hide ¶ button on the Home tab of the ribbon and see if there are any empty paragraphs in that space.

It also could be that the paragraph is formatted to be kept with the next and the Widow/Orphan control is also in effect.

I suspect that Doug has hit the most likely culprits. For more ideas, see Improving the Bottom Line.

Thank you for the suggestions.

I looked and there are no empty paragraphs in the blank space.

Positioning the cursor on the first line of the next page and unchecking Windows/Orphan control from the paragraph dialog box does work in some cases. However, in other cases it does not seem to have any effect.

Were any of the other options checked on the Line and Page Breaks tab of the Paragraph dialog such as the Keep lines together or Page break before?

Is there a footnote associated with the first line(s) on the following page?

None other options were checked. However, I do notice that there is a footnote associated with the first line of the following page in instances where there may be room for that line but not for the footnote on the preceding page (the footnotes are long).

Word will keep a footnote on the same page as the text wherever possible. If there is not room for it on the page where the text would appear without the footnote, it will drag it to the next page. In doing so, it will, I believe, follow any rules set for widow and orphan, keep lines together, and keep with next formatting. So, it can cascade.

I personally prefer footnotes, but might it improve your document if you used endnotes instead?