Hello all. Just found this group, researching master documents.
Anyway, I created a new template from scratch, preparing to consolidate
a set of existing docs. Created styles in the new template, and found
a problem. The new styles allow me to set and change space before in
the paragraph dialog, as expected. Space after changes display as
specified ... I can see the extra space visually as the dialog closes.
Not so with space before. Any space before that's less than 12 points
is accepted, but results in no visual change when the dialog closes.
If I type 12 or more points, then the change does happen. This affects
all styles. All.are set to single space. Is there some kind of global
line spacing setting apart from styles? Thanks!

I suspect you're misunderstanding the terminology.

"Space Before" and "Space After" refer to space *before the paragraph* and
*after the paragraph*. The space between lines *within* the paragraph are
altered by the "Line spacing" setting.

If you're trying to reduce the space between lines of text within a
paragraph to less than the nominal point size of the font, you have to set
the Line Spacing dropdown to "Exactly" and enter the number in the box to
the right. For example, with 12 pt Times New Roman, a line spacing of
exactly 12 pt will move the lines closer together (by 2 pt, the default
leading of that font size), although it may also result in cutting off some
descenders.

All other settings in the Line Spacing box (Single, Double, At Least,
Multiple) allow Word to expand the spacing beyond the numerical setting or
the default spacing to accommodate taller characters.

--
Regards,
Jay Freedman
Microsoft Word MVP FAQ: http://word.mvps.org
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

mad dog wrote:
Hello all. Just found this group, researching master documents.
Anyway, I created a new template from scratch, preparing to
consolidate a set of existing docs. Created styles in the new
template, and found a problem. The new styles allow me to set and
change space before in the paragraph dialog, as expected. Space
after changes display as specified ... I can see the extra space
visually as the dialog closes. Not so with space before. Any space
before that's less than 12 points is accepted, but results in no
visual change when the dialog closes. If I type 12 or more points,
then the change does happen. This affects all styles. All.are set
to single space. Is there some kind of global line spacing setting
apart from styles? Thanks!

On the Compatibility tab of Tools | Options, check the box for "Don't use
HTML auto paragraph spacing."

--
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.

"mad dog" wrote in message
oups.com...
Hello all. Just found this group, researching master documents.
Anyway, I created a new template from scratch, preparing to consolidate
a set of existing docs. Created styles in the new template, and found
a problem. The new styles allow me to set and change space before in
the paragraph dialog, as expected. Space after changes display as
specified ... I can see the extra space visually as the dialog closes.
Not so with space before. Any space before that's less than 12 points
is accepted, but results in no visual change when the dialog closes.
If I type 12 or more points, then the change does happen. This affects
all styles. All.are set to single space. Is there some kind of global
line spacing setting apart from styles? Thanks!

Suzanne:

Right in one. Thank you so much for your timely help!

Michael Devito