[RESOLVED] Spacing in Microsoft Word

I am using Windows XP Home Edition OS with Service Pack 2. A setting has changed in MS Word and I am at a loss to find the problem. Whenever I start a new document and type in a line (an address for example) and then press enter to insert the next line, the cursor drops down about an inch even though the line spacing is set at "single" in the paragraph formatting. On other occasions it drops down almost to the bottom of the page?

Any help in resoving this problem would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

Brian :confused:

Line spacing affects the space between multiple lines of one paragraph (aka leading). By pressing Enter you've started a new paragraph, which means the spacing is controlled by the paragraph "before" and "after" spacing settings.

What style is selected by default when you start a new document?

If you're creating a default new document, then you're using the normal.dot template. Unless you've modified the template, you can get back to your old settings by deleting the normal.dot template from the Office templates folder and letting Word re-create it the next time Word starts. If you're not sure if you've modified the normal.dot template, then instead of deleting it rename it to normal.old and see if anything important goes missing.

Hi Prouton,

The style formatting for a new document is "Normal". I tried renaming the normal template to normal.old but the result was still the same, i.e. the cursor dropped down to near the bottom of the page. Perhaps I'm not renaming the template in the right place, I found it under MSOffice, Winword, Template, but it appears as a word document and has no extension such as .dot. Where would I find "normal.dot"? I did a file search, but could not come up with it.

Brian doubly :confused:

In the style window next to the font display click on the arrow to present the dropdown menu. The top entry should be "Clear Formatting", click on that. It should return your documents to normal formatting from then on until you choose another.
Jim

It sounds as though you've got some of Windows default settings fouling things up. For some reason Microsoft thinks it's a good thing to hide the three letter extensions on files, even though most programs rely on them to function correctly. And since each user of the computer is allowed their own settings, the Normal.dot template no longer resides in the program folder, but in the Documents and Settings folder structure, which Microsoft hides from prying eyes.

So, when you execute a search you need to change a couple of settings first: 1) select "Advanced Options"; 2) select both "Search system folders" and "Search hidden files and folders".

Also, MS Word must be shut down while you're doing this.

Hi again prouton and jseidel,

I seem to have several normal templates which is probably the root of the problem (see attachment). Is there one in particular which I should eliminate and/or rename as you suggest or should I rename them all as normal.old1, normal.old2 and so on?

By the way I tried the "clear formatting" in the style window and this did not work either, so the several copies must be affecting this as well.

Brian

Okay, ignore the two entries with the Internet Explorer "E" icon. Delete the one with the tilde (~) in the front. Rename the other three to normal.old. You don't need to add an incremental number, as they're stored in three separate locations on your harddrive. It would appear that you've installed MS Word two times, once in the root of the C: drive, and once in the Program Files folder. I can't say from here which one you're running from.

prouton,

Bingo, that did the trick.

Thanks so much for your help, it is really appreciated.

Best regards,

Brian :)