Adding space before first paragraph of a page

[New Daddy]

Ok, this can't be this difficult. I've gone through this many times through at least 4-5 iterations of Word and nailed it each time.

But I can't seem to add space before a paragraph that starts a phage after a page break. I've checked the usual suspects - as illustrated at https://wordribbon.tips.net/T008254_Eli ... _Page.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; - but still, I can't add space before the first paragraph of a page.

What gives?

[HansV]

Have you tried saving the document as a Word 97-2003 document (.doc)?

[DaveA]

Do you have the paragraph that you are using formatted with leading space?

[Charles Kenyon]

Use a style to start the new page rather than a page break.

Set the style to (1) have page-break-before formatting, and (2) to be in a Frame that uses the space, and (3) has normal or some other non-framed paragraph for the style of the following paragraph.

If for some reason you need a Section Break that starts a new page do not have the style have the page-break-before setting.

I do this with Heading 1. You can have this formatted to look like another style rather than a heading if you want. The style need not be a heading nor have an outline level.

Frames are an older feature of Word that can have real benefits.
http://addbalance.com/word/frames_textboxes.htm

[kdock]

Try this:

Go to Options > Advanced > Compatibility > Layout Options
Put a check mark next to "Don't use HTML paragraph auto spacing"

This is a document-by-document settings, so if you always want to be able to add space above, add it to any template you use to create documents.

Hope this does it Kim

[New Daddy]

Try this:

Go to Options > Advanced > Compatibility > Layout Options
Put a check mark next to "Don't use HTML paragraph auto spacing"

This is a document-by-document settings, so if you always want to be able to add space above, add it to any template you use to create documents.

Hope this does it Kim

Unfortunately, it didn't work.

[New Daddy]

Have you tried saving the document as a Word 97-2003 document (.doc)?

Saving it as Word 97-2003 does do the trick.
However, I need the latest word format (XML) in order to collaborate with my colleagues real-time.

[New Daddy]

Do you have the paragraph that you are using formatted with leading space?

Nope.

[New Daddy]

Use a style to start the new page rather than a page break.

Set the style to (1) have page-break-before formatting, and (2) to be in a Frame that uses the space, and (3) has normal or some other non-framed paragraph for the style of the following paragraph.

If for some reason you need a Section Break that starts a new page do not have the style have the page-break-before setting.

I do this with Heading 1. You can have this formatted to look like another style rather than a heading if you want. The style need not be a heading nor have an outline level.

Frames are an older feature of Word that can have real benefits.
http://addbalance.com/word/frames_textboxes.htm

Involving a [edit] frame (not heading) seems to be making it too complicated for what's supposed to be a simple problem.

[HansV]

And how about using section breaks and changing the top margin of the page layout?

[Charles Kenyon]

Changing margins is not a dynamic solution.The new margin applies to the entire section.

If the area where the larger space is always the first page of a section, you can use space inside the first-page header to move text down. This can be created using space-befolre or after formatting in the header or an empty borderless textbox. If it is not always the first page of a header, the frame as part of a style definition is preferable.

[kdock]

Will this do what you need? Here's a link to what seems like the opposite of your issue, but I tested this and it seemed to work for me.

No option to Suppress Space Before After a Hard Page or Column Break

Suzanne Barnhill is shown as the solution, and again, doesn't seem to address your issue. But if you open the entire thread and scroll down to Stefan Blom's post (there will be another Suzanne Barnhill post), he explains a way that will handle your issue by using a Frame as part of a style. Once the frame was part of the style, I was able to add space above after a next page break.

I hope I'm understanding what you are trying to accomplish, so pardon if I'm off the beam.

Kim

[Charles Kenyon]

Involving a heading seems to be making it too complicated for what's supposed to be a simple problem.

I use a heading style, but the key is to use a style definition. That is not complicated and unfortunately, in Word, the problem is not simple.

[New Daddy]

Involving a heading seems to be making it too complicated for what's supposed to be a simple problem.

I use a heading style, but the key is to use a style definition. That is not complicated and unfortunately, in Word, the problem is not simple.

I misstated before. I meant involving a "frame", not "heading". I'm trying to add "space before" to Heading 1.

[kdock]

So have you tried it? It's actually quite ingenious. Hat's off to Charles and Stefan.

It does address all your criteria: next page break, space before Heading displayed properly, and docx format needed for collaboration.

I wasn't able to persuade Word to display space before in your scenario, even after checking document options that should have allowed it. But when I added the frame to the Heading 1 style, Word recognized and displayed the space before.
Not sure what MSFT had in mind that resulted in this no longer working, but at least there's a way around it.

Kim

[Claude]

I might be barking up the wrong tree here, haven't used Word seriously for about ten years, but, assuming you want a space before the first paragraph on every page, why not simply add spaces to the page title, assuming this is still available these days. (I'm a pre-ribbon generation word user, the main reason I answer very seldom in this forum)

[Charles Kenyon]

I might be barking up the wrong tree here, haven't used Word seriously for about ten years, but, assuming you want a space before the first paragraph on every page, why not simply add spaces to the page title, assuming this is still available these days. (I'm a pre-ribbon generation word user, the main reason I answer very seldom in this forum)

Page title = header?
If so, the header can be used.

Pagination and layout of documents have not changed significantly from Word 97 to Word 2016.

If for every page, simply change the top margin. If only for the first page of a section, use the setting for different first page and put space in the first-page header. If for some pages and not others, use a style that includes a borderless frame for the first paragraph. As is obvious from my previous post in this thread, I really like this last option. I think it gives the user the most flexibility since it can be implemented with just a style change and does not require section breaks which can make editing more complex.

[Charles Kenyon]

Involving a heading seems to be making it too complicated for what's supposed to be a simple problem.

I use a heading style, but the key is to use a style definition. That is not complicated and unfortunately, in Word, the problem is not simple.

I misstated before. I meant involving a "frame", not "heading". I'm trying to add "space before" to Heading 1.

The thing is, a frame can be part of the definition of your Heading 1 style. It is really very easy to do on the Modify style dialog.