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In Microsoft Word, you can hide the top and bottom margins to reduce the amount of white space that appears between the pages in Print Layout view. The vast majority of the work I do in Word is in the Print Layout view (and this only applies to the Print Layout view), so I find this to be a really handy feature for saving precious screen space. I use it a lot! And it’s really easy to turn on … maybe too easy?
If you’re unaware of the feature and you accidentally turn it on, you might wonder where your headers and footers have gone. They’re still there, and I show you how to see them again in this video.
I demonstrate this feature in Word 2010, but the feature works just the same in Word 2007 and almost the same in 2003 – the only difference being you can turn it on with a single click in Word 2003 … too, too easy?
-- Ron Owens
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Hello,
I can not see the video with IE8 32 bit (Windows XP SP3). I got the following error:
Details zum Fehler auf der Webseite
Benutzer-Agent: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 8.0; Windows NT 5.1; Trident/4.0; .NET CLR 2.0.50727; .NET CLR 3.0.4506.2152; .NET CLR 3.5.30729; .NET4.0C; .NET4.0E)
Zeitstempel: Fri, 8 Apr 2011 02:18:01 UTC
Meldung: ')' erwartet
Zeile: 536
Zeichen: 53
Code: 0
URI: blogs.office.com/.../missing-top-and-bottom-margins-video.aspx
Greetings
This is somewhat OT, but I can't seem to leave a comment unless it is "connected" to an existing blog topic.
Anyway, Ron, I'd really appreciate a blog covering the issue of whether to use "space before" or "space after" paragraphs. I understand the fundamental differences, but I'd love to see a discussion of which to use as a matter of policy for a new document. It has proved to be a big issue in a series of documents I'm editing, which have a number of different authors.
I'm preparing a series of training documents, which use hierarchical section headings to reflect the structure of the content. An example might be:
Lathes (Heading 1)
Types of lathe (Heading 2)
some text...... (Normal)
Basic parts (Heading 2)
Headstock (Heading 3)
Tailstock (Heading 3)
etc.... You get the idea.
Here's the thing: most people want to see a big space in front of a major heading (e.g. Heading 1), a slightly smaller space in front of its sub-headings (e.g. Heading 2), and just a single line space (typically 12 points) between paragraphs of style Normal.
This implies that "space before" would be the best strategy. However, Word defaults to "space after", so you have to change all those styles up front. Also, "space before" causes that space to appear above a heading even it if is on the top line of a page, which is not what you want. In other words, you want headings to have a "space before" EXCEPT when they are at the top of the page.
You can get around this by delving into File | Options | Advanced | Layout.
However, having altered all the inbuilt styles to "space before" and delved into the advanced layout options to suppress the unwanted spacing at the top of the page, I'm beginning to think I'm using Word in a way Microsoft didn't intend!
It gets even more messy when other contributors send in text which has been done in the default "space after".
So, maybe the default "space after" is the normal way to go. That gets rid of the unwanted space at the top of a page. But how on earth do you automatically get a bigger space in front of Heading 1, Heading 2, etc, without cheating and entering multiple paragraph breaks? I'm really strict about not allowing such bodges. Remember: don't tell me to add some "space before" as well as "space after" to the Heading styles, because then you still have to mess about in the advanced layout options to suppress that unwanted spacing at the top of a page!
Clearly I don't understand the underlying philosophy behind Word's default "space after" approach. Perhaps you could discuss this subject "in the round" and talk about when to use the two different approaches, the advantages and disadvantages of each, and why Microsoft chose the "space after" default.
I feel sure many heavy duty users of Word would appreciate some insight from "those in the know" on this topic.
Thanks,
Steve
@ sebgr:
I'm sorry you're having trouble viewing the video. Do you have Silverlight installed?
@ Steve
Steve, I think this would make a great blog topic. Thanks for the suggestion. In the meantime ...
I can say generally that the default Heading styles in Word do have a greater Space Before value than Space After. As I'm sure you know, that added space before the Heading helps it stand out and improves the readability of your document by making it easier to scan. The exact amount of the Space Before will vary depending on which Heading level you're using (1, 2, 3, etc.) and which built-in style set you're using (Default, Distinctive, Elegant, etc.).
The Normal styles in Word generally have a greater Space After value than the Space Before value -- again, exact values will depend on which built-in style set you're using. This is where you want to adjust space between paragraphs.
If the styles you're using in your training document all started off with greater Space After values, I'm wondering if they may have been custom styles built up from the Normal style. Just a guess.
I get it, though, that you understand how to tweak these settings, but you're ending up with unwanted space at the top of the page when you apply the Heading 1 style to the top line of text. A workaround would be to create a custom style for those first headings at the top of a page. You just apply your Heading 1 style, tweak it to have no Space Before, and then save it as a new style -- you might name this style "Heading 1 Top". You'll still have the same document structure, Outline view will still work for you, and you can still use the Navigation Pane (if you're using Word 2010).
I hope that helps!
@Ron
Yes, Silverligt is installed. But I can't watch any video which is presented with silverlight at the officeblog. I only see a black box. My Browser gives me a similar error message like the one I posted some days ago on every site at this blog, if the site contains a video in silverlight. I think there is a problem in the automaticly generated html/xhtml-code at officeblog.com. The silverlight videos at microsoft showcase works fine.
@sebr
Hopefully this will help:
1. Open up "Internet Options" and go to the "Security" tab.
2. Click "Trusted Sites" and then the "Sites" button.
3. Uncheck the box “Require server information (https:) for all site in this zone”
4. Add the following site "http://*.microsoft.com"
5. Close box and click “OK” to close Internet Options
Further to my previous suggestions about a blog on paragraph spacing strategies, I've been experimenting with Word 2010 and it seems even more complicated than it first appears.
Using the standard Normal.dotm template, do this:
Insert a paragraph of style Heading 1
Insert three paragraphs of style Normal.
Confirm that the Heading 1 has zero "space after". Confirm that Normal has 10pt "space after".
Now we can do some weird stuff. Place the cursor anywhere in the body text (just to be on the safe side). In the Style section of the ribbon, right click the Normal style button (which should have the orange border round it), and use Modify | Format | Paragraph to change the "space before" to 6pt. OK your way out, watching the text in the document carefully.
The 6pt space before is ONLY added to the first paragraph, just below the Heading 1. The others remain unchanged. Double click in the margin to the left of the second or third paragraphs to select them, and you can confirm that the blue highlight does NOT extend 6pt above the body of the paragraph, whereas it does if you do the same with the first paragraph.
In other words, the 6pt "space before" is suppressed if the paragraph above is also style Normal. Why? I don't want that. And there seems to be no way to switch it off.
Even weirder: repeat my paragraph above beginning "Now we can do.....", but choose 12pt for the "space before". Again, the paragraph just below the Heading 1 obeys perfectly, but the second and third paragraphs do not.
Just to finish off, set the Normal space before to 18pt. At last! Our second and third paragraphs do, indeed, get some space before. But only 6pt!. It seems as if style Normal deliberately subtracts up to 12pt of "space before" if the paragraph above it is also style Normal. If it's style Heading, you get all 18pt.
EXCEPT that it's even more complicated than that. Remove the "space after" from Normal, and it start's obeying the "space before" setting!!
No wonder I was confused. This behaviour desperately needs exploring and explaining for those users like me for whom controlling paragraph spacing is critical. It really should be fully documented by Microsoft, somewhere.
Thanks again, and sorry to keep banging on about it. :-)
Got it, I think. The spacing between any two paragraphs (of any style) seems to be the GREATER of the "space before" and "space after" settings, NOT the SUM of them.
So if your first paragraph has a "space after" of 12pt, your second paragraph can have any value of "space before" from 0pt to 12pt without altering the spacing at all. Only when you go above 12pt "space before" on the second paragraph does the actual spacing increase.
This seems like a subtle attempt to "dumb down", to be honest. But I don't mind that much: so long as I've understood it I can make a sensible strategy for paragraph spacing.
Steve,
Yes, you've got it. That is how it works.
I asked around to get a little more context, and Rob, one of our Development Managers tells me that Word didn't always work this way. It used to take an additive approach, adding the space before and after. The change was made in Word 2000 in order to be more consistent with the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Box Model approach to paragraphs.
Glad you were able to make sense of it all.
Thanks for all your help, Ron. Don't forget, we still need a blog on all this, though! :-)
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