Is that documented anywhere? If not, how did you figure it out? Also, I
suspect it may work well only at normal text point sizes. Change the font
size to 72 and see what happens!

Another explanation is that it works in conjunction with the "HTML auto
paragraph spacing" option. See "WD2000: How to Use the HTML Paragraph Auto
Spacing" at
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=207893

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://word.mvps.org
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

"Herb Tyson [MVP]" wrote in message
...
Auto adds the "appropriate" spacing between paragraphs based on the
current
point size to achieve effective double spacing between paragraphs. For
example, if my current point size is 12, I *could* add before and after
spacing of 12 points. This would double space between paragraphs -- but
only
when the point size is 12.

If I later change the point size to 8, 10, 14 or 24, the before/after
spacing of 12 will now seem too large or too small. If I set before/after
to
Auto, however, Word will automatically scale before/after spacing to match
the current point size, thus achieving the correct effect automatically.

--
Herb Tyson MS MVP
http://www.herbtyson.com
Please respond in the newsgroups so everyone can follow along.
"LGFN" wrote in message
...
In the Paragraph dialog box, Indents and Spacing tab, under the Spacing
category - "Before" and "After", it's 0 pt, I press the Down button,
what's
that?, what's "Auto"? for what is it made for? for what can I use it?
anybody
has some idea?