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#1
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vertical paragraph alignment across columns
Hi. I've been doing a lot of work in Word '03 in pages divided
into two columns. They are not Tables, per se, just a two-column page format. The problem I often have is that assigning paragraph styles with different before and after spacing will send paragraphs across the columns out of verical alignment. Let me try to illustrate: Column One Column Two Heading 3 style para Heading 3 style para normal style normal style -----column break--- ------Page break-------- That exaggerates the problem, because it's usually only part of a line's height out of alignment, but such are the limits of plain text. The problem seems to be due to Word's insistence on assigning the paragraph style of the first line, second column to the break immediately proceeding it. Thus, the column break in column one above is given the Heading 3 style, pushing the first line, second column downward. If I manually remove that H3 assignment from the break, it's taken off the ensuing line as well. So I'm stuck. I've even tried "Don't add space between paras of same style" for H3, but to no avail. Surely there must be some way to ensure vertical paragraph alignment across columns? I'm confounded why Word would attach the H3 designation to the prior break. Thanks, p. |
#2
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vertical paragraph alignment across columns
I'm afraid you're undertaking an exercise in futility: Yes, it "can" be done
but it's a royal PITA and virtually impossible to maintain the alignment if you change *anything* in either column. Snaking newspaper-type columns are not intended for that type of flow. You really need to use a 2-column table with each aligned set of content in a separate row. With the Borders removed & Gridlines off it will provide the "look" you're trying to obtain & will be far easier to control. HTH |:) Bob Jones [MVP] Office:Mac On 12/31/08 1:43 PM, in article , "Paul B" wrote: Hi. I've been doing a lot of work in Word '03 in pages divided into two columns. They are not Tables, per se, just a two-column page format. The problem I often have is that assigning paragraph styles with different before and after spacing will send paragraphs across the columns out of verical alignment. Let me try to illustrate: Column One Column Two Heading 3 style para Heading 3 style para normal style normal style -----column break--- ------Page break-------- That exaggerates the problem, because it's usually only part of a line's height out of alignment, but such are the limits of plain text. The problem seems to be due to Word's insistence on assigning the paragraph style of the first line, second column to the break immediately proceeding it. Thus, the column break in column one above is given the Heading 3 style, pushing the first line, second column downward. If I manually remove that H3 assignment from the break, it's taken off the ensuing line as well. So I'm stuck. I've even tried "Don't add space between paras of same style" for H3, but to no avail. Surely there must be some way to ensure vertical paragraph alignment across columns? I'm confounded why Word would attach the H3 designation to the prior break. Thanks, p. |
#3
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vertical paragraph alignment across columns
The problem is entirely caused by not using tables. There really is no way to
guarantee vertical alignment in snaking columns. This is explained in http://www.word.mvps.org/FAQs/Format...ingColumns.htm. The column break is really just a character, and as such it is part of the paragraph that follows it. Therefore it must have the same paragraph style as that paragraph. You can try inserting a paragraph mark between the column break and the first character of the next heading, and formatting that paragraph mark as Normal style and Hidden. But that probably won't solve the problems. -- 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. On Wed, 31 Dec 2008 13:43:40 -0500, Paul B wrote: Hi. I've been doing a lot of work in Word '03 in pages divided into two columns. They are not Tables, per se, just a two-column page format. The problem I often have is that assigning paragraph styles with different before and after spacing will send paragraphs across the columns out of verical alignment. Let me try to illustrate: Column One Column Two Heading 3 style para Heading 3 style para normal style normal style -----column break--- ------Page break-------- That exaggerates the problem, because it's usually only part of a line's height out of alignment, but such are the limits of plain text. The problem seems to be due to Word's insistence on assigning the paragraph style of the first line, second column to the break immediately proceeding it. Thus, the column break in column one above is given the Heading 3 style, pushing the first line, second column downward. If I manually remove that H3 assignment from the break, it's taken off the ensuing line as well. So I'm stuck. I've even tried "Don't add space between paras of same style" for H3, but to no avail. Surely there must be some way to ensure vertical paragraph alignment across columns? I'm confounded why Word would attach the H3 designation to the prior break. Thanks, p. |
#4
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vertical paragraph alignment across columns
Thanks Bob. I tried this using a full-page 2 column table,
pasting the text into one full-height row in each column, and it skirts the column break issue perfectly. I'm not sure what you meant by "separate row", but this seems to do the job. Once the column break is passed, the style alignment is regular, as one would hope. p. On Wed, 31 Dec 2008 13:51:02 -0500, CyberTaz wrote: I'm afraid you're undertaking an exercise in futility: Yes, it "can" be done but it's a royal PITA and virtually impossible to maintain the alignment if you change *anything* in either column. Snaking newspaper-type columns are not intended for that type of flow. You really need to use a 2-column table with each aligned set of content in a separate row. With the Borders removed & Gridlines off it will provide the "look" you're trying to obtain & will be far easier to control. HTH |:) Bob Jones [MVP] Office:Mac On 12/31/08 1:43 PM, in article , "Paul B" wrote: Hi. I've been doing a lot of work in Word '03 in pages divided into two columns. They are not Tables, per se, just a two-column page format. The problem I often have is that assigning paragraph styles with different before and after spacing will send paragraphs across the columns out of verical alignment. Let me try to illustrate: Column One Column Two Heading 3 style para Heading 3 style para normal style normal style -----column break--- ------Page break-------- That exaggerates the problem, because it's usually only part of a line's height out of alignment, but such are the limits of plain text. The problem seems to be due to Word's insistence on assigning the paragraph style of the first line, second column to the break immediately proceeding it. Thus, the column break in column one above is given the Heading 3 style, pushing the first line, second column downward. If I manually remove that H3 assignment from the break, it's taken off the ensuing line as well. So I'm stuck. I've even tried "Don't add space between paras of same style" for H3, but to no avail. Surely there must be some way to ensure vertical paragraph alignment across columns? I'm confounded why Word would attach the H3 designation to the prior break. Thanks, p. |
#5
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vertical paragraph alignment across columns
Thanks Jay. Inserting a para after the column break doesn't work,
as it just becomes part of the 2nd column, pushing everything there down even more. I don't understand why the column break is part of the ensuing paragraph. This causes problems in another context - whereby formatting the first line of a page affects the last line of the preceding page. That reference page you included is helpful. p. On Wed, 31 Dec 2008 14:10:36 -0500, Jay Freedman wrote: The problem is entirely caused by not using tables. There really is no way to guarantee vertical alignment in snaking columns. This is explained in http://www.word.mvps.org/FAQs/Format...ingColumns.htm. The column break is really just a character, and as such it is part of the paragraph that follows it. Therefore it must have the same paragraph style as that paragraph. You can try inserting a paragraph mark between the column break and the first character of the next heading, and formatting that paragraph mark as Normal style and Hidden. But that probably won't solve the problems. |
#6
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vertical paragraph alignment across columns
On Dec 31, 3:42*pm, Paul B
wrote: Thanks Jay. Inserting a para after the column break doesn't work, as it just becomes part of the 2nd column, pushing everything there down even more. Not if you give it Hidden format. (Though I don't know what that might do to the Column Break!) I don't understand why the column break is part of the ensuing paragraph. This causes problems in another context - whereby formatting the first line of a page affects the last line of the preceding page. That reference page you included is helpful. p. On Wed, 31 Dec 2008 14:10:36 -0500, Jay Freedman wrote: The problem is entirely caused by not using tables. There really is no way to guarantee vertical alignment in snaking columns. This is explained in http://www.word.mvps.org/FAQs/Format...ingColumns.htm. The column break is really just a character, and as such it is part of the paragraph that follows it. Therefore it must have the same paragraph style as that paragraph. You can try inserting a paragraph mark between the column break and the first character of the next heading, and formatting that paragraph mark as Normal style and Hidden. But that probably won't solve the problems.- |
#7
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vertical paragraph alignment across columns
Ok, thanks. I'll file that away for now. I think I'm going to use
the table idea, to preclude some aggravation. Because I'm often tweaking these files and upsetting the formatting, I value a solution that's pretty hard set. p. On Wed, 31 Dec 2008 15:33:45 -0800 (PST), grammatim wrote: On Dec 31, 3:42*pm, Paul B wrote: Thanks Jay. Inserting a para after the column break doesn't work, as it just becomes part of the 2nd column, pushing everything there down even more. Not if you give it Hidden format. (Though I don't know what that might do to the Column Break!) I don't understand why the column break is part of the ensuing paragraph. This causes problems in another context - whereby formatting the first line of a page affects the last line of the preceding page. That reference page you included is helpful. p. On Wed, 31 Dec 2008 14:10:36 -0500, Jay Freedman wrote: The problem is entirely caused by not using tables. There really is no way to guarantee vertical alignment in snaking columns. This is explained in http://www.word.mvps.org/FAQs/Format...ingColumns.htm. The column break is really just a character, and as such it is part of the paragraph that follows it. Therefore it must have the same paragraph style as that paragraph. You can try inserting a paragraph mark between the column break and the first character of the next heading, and formatting that paragraph mark as Normal style and Hidden. But that probably won't solve the problems.- |
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