I'm writing quite a large piece of work. It consists of about 10 chapters each composed on a separate Word Document. Each Document is about 10k words and includes a number of graphics (newspaper cartoons). When I combine them into a single Word Document (using Copy and Paste) the transferred data has a slightly different format. Which upsets the layout.

It's tedious to correct the layout using the Format/Font and Format Paragraph controls.

I have checked that the page setup parameters are the same.

I'd be grateful for any ideas.

Hi, dms997. One would need a little clarification about what, exactly, is changing that you don't want to change. I suspect that you may be referring to style changes, and that is a big topic to handle in a reply such as this. However, if you can specify what is giving you trouble, perhaps I can help.

Best,
Ulo

Thanks for replying Ulo.

An example of this effect would be that a paragraph of 9 lines in the original will need to go into the 10th line in the copy. It's as if the character spacing is slightly greater in the copied version.

However, I have rechecked that all the parameters are the same in both versions:

in particular, character spacing in both versions is 'normal'; the line spacing in both versions is '1.5'; margins are the same; and the Header and Footer margins are the same also.

Regards dms997

Good morning. On the condition that your font remains the same, your issue is a bit perplexing, assuming the font remains identical between the two documents. I would try choosing a paragraph that adds a line in the new document and:

1. Select it in the source doc and use Paste Special/Unformatted text to bring it into the new doc.

2. Select it in the source doc, Paste it into the new doc, select it there and, holding Ctrl down, press Spacebar and Q in succession, to clear paragraph and character formats.

Does either of these make any difference?

Best,
Ulo

Hi dms,

How are you combining the documents? Do they all use the same paragraph & character Styles in the same way?

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

Ulo, Paul - thanks for the replies

The Styles of both source and copy documents are said to 'Normal'. I've never made use of the Style feature and don't want to get involved with it now.

I've now completed the composite document made up of the individual documents. This process was needed to produce a pdf document of my work. I think I've explored this oddity sufficiently and want to move on.

Thanks for your inputs.

Regards dms997