I'm working on a Word 2016 document with various styles/headings.



My "problem" is essentially this: I have a standard paragraph before a Hdg 1.

The paragraph has 12 after. The Hdg 1 has 12 before. This should total 24 in between the para and the Hdg 1 but it doesn't. Word only gives me 12 in between.

The only way I can get 24 in between the para and the Hdg 1 is to increase the Hdg1 before setting to 24. Then I get 24 in between.

But this means when I look at the Hdg 1 style, I see 24 before for a total in between of 36!

I tried this with my old Word 97-2003 and it does what I want: 12 after and 12 before for 24 in between.

Is there something I am missing or is this the way it is with Word 2016?

Thanks for any and all suggestions.

Doug

Microsoft have been sneaky with the Space Before and After and the behaviour has varied with different versions of Word. In some versions of Word, the numbers add together but in others you get a space equal to whichever is the larger number. You may also see some variation if a document is set to Compatibility Mode to an early enough version.

There is a setting in the Advanced Options which does have an impact - Go to File > Options > Advanced, scroll to the bottom and in the Layout Options for section, tick the "Don't use HTML paragraph auto spacing" setting. You may need to tweak this on every document - I don't know how sticky it is in terms of templates and it appears to be document specific so documents you receive from other people may be set differently to your own personal preference.

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Andrew Lockton
Chrysalis Design, Melbourne Australia

Andrew:

Thank you VERY much for your "tip".

Solved my problem immediately! I might have eventually found the solution after hours of playing around.

I appreciate you taking the time to explain what I needed to do. I am forever grateful. Hopefully your tip might help others too.

Thank you again!

Doug