Justified Text Word 2003 SP3

steveh · Post by **steveh** » 27 Jan 2010, 09:29

Good morning

When I create documents I like to justify the text, sometime however for reasons I cannot fathom out or cure the last line of text, especially if it has only 3 or 4 words spreads itself right across the page. Removing all formatting etc. and then re-justifying it does no good. For example, this piece of text ends up like this

To drive at safe speeds in towns and villages you should: Watch out for speed limit signs.
Repeater signs are not common in 30mph zones, and some signs may be small or covered by
mud -----------------------------------------------or --------------------------------------------foliage.

(I had to put the dashes in to give it the effect)

Any ideas on how to stop it? (other than using left allignment)

Post by **HansV** » 27 Jan 2010, 09:40

Normally, the last line of a paragraph is not justified.
But a line with a manual line break (Shift+Enter) will be justified because it's not really the last line of a paragraph.

x.png

John Gray · Post by **John Gray** » 27 Jan 2010, 09:43

I've just tried it on Word 2003 SP3, and I can only duplicate your result if I have ^l (Shift+Enter) at the end of the final line rather than the paragraph mark ^p...

Groan, Hans has even included a diagram!

steveh · Post by **steveh** » 27 Jan 2010, 10:48

Thanks for the responses

As far as I can see there are no manual returns at the end of the paragraphs (I don't use Word much so I might have missed something). In the attached example of one of my pages I have gone to the end of each offending line and pressed deleted and then pressed the space bar but it does not have any effect. You will notice though that the last one on the page is fine.

Post by **StuartR** » 27 Jan 2010, 10:54

If you turn on display of formatting marks then your document looks like this. You need to delete the manual line breaks that you see at the end of each paragraph.

GeoffW · Post by **GeoffW** » 27 Jan 2010, 11:13

StuartR wrote:If you turn on display of formatting marks then your document looks like this. You need to delete the manual line breaks that you see at the end of each paragraph.

In Word 2003, the option is (I think) under tools, options, display.

I have Word 2007, and I had to hunt to find it. It's in the ribbon for "Paragraph", with the backward "P" symbol. Or in the Quick Access Toolbar, Word Options, Display. Not much help to Steve, but I needed to find out for myself. I still have trouble finding things I really need but don't use often. I still revert to Word 2003 shortcut keys for a number of things.

I tend to keep that paragraph display permanently on, as well as Tab characters and hidden text.

John Gray · Post by **John Gray** » 27 Jan 2010, 11:15

Compare what you have with my attachment!

just.GIF

LadyWolf · Post by **LadyWolf** » 27 Jan 2010, 12:28

Hey Steve,
Turn on Show Hide as everyone suggested, easiest way is clicking on

in the Formatting toolbar.

If you want to keep the spacing between paragraphs without using a soft return (represented by the arrows in all the examples above when Show Hide is on) you can highlight all those paragraphs (all at the same time will work), right click on the highlighted selection and choose Paragraph. In the Spacing area, adjust the number for After box. Making it the same number as your font size should get the look you're going for.

If you used Word a bit more, I would suggest you look into Styles. Makes formatting like this a breeze!
Good luck!

steveh · Post by **steveh** » 27 Jan 2010, 14:01

Cheers all for your help and lessons, and you thought I was bad at Excel

Bowlie · Post by **Bowlie** » 27 Jan 2010, 21:25

steveh wrote:Cheers all for your help and lessons, and you thought I was bad at Excel

Another tip - to have your full justification justify even better go to Tools -->> Options --->> Compatibility and select the option "Do full justification like WordPerfect 6.x for Windows"

I've no idea why this isn't the default as IMHO it leaves much fewer blanks in a line. Its probably because Bill G. doesn't like it.

(On Word for the Mac, it's under Word --> Preferences --> Compatibility --> Do full justification like WordPerfect 6.x for Windows)

LadyWolf · Post by **LadyWolf** » 27 Jan 2010, 23:52

Bowlie wrote:<snip>I've no idea why this isn't the default as IMHO it leaves much fewer blanks in a line. Its probably because Bill G. doesn't like it. <snip>

First off... BOWLIE!!!

Welcome home baby!

Now that that's out of the way, in terms of readability, I'm not sure Justification is the way to go too often. (not speaking for Bill G in anyway) There is a place for it in certain instances but in the readability studies I've seen, the ragged right edge is preferrable... especially if it's full page (like for full 81/2x11 printed materials) rather than columns (like newspaper or online columns).

John Gray · Post by **John Gray** » 28 Jan 2010, 06:18

LadyWolf wrote:.. especially if it's full page (like for full 81/2x11 printed materials) ...

Oh dear, Ms Wolf, surely the Â½ symbol would be an improvement? (Alt+171 on the numeric keypad, of course

)

I suspect that is the sole reason that the ISO invented paper sizes like A4 (297x210 mm)...

LadyWolf · Post by **LadyWolf** » 28 Jan 2010, 12:40

Ah... so that's how you do that... though I'm on a laptop and don't have a numeric keyboard... how do I get that to work.

Just had a document come in on A4 paper... had to get the entire thing "fixed" before I could send it to print.

Post by **HansV** » 28 Jan 2010, 13:31

You can also insert the Â½ character by selecting Insert | Symbol...
Make sure that the font is set to (normal text), i.e. the first option in the font dropdown.

x.png

Locate the character you want, select it and click Insert.

John Gray · Post by **John Gray** » 28 Jan 2010, 16:04

LadyWolf wrote:Ah... so that's how you do that... though I'm on a laptop and don't have a numeric keyboard... how do I get that to work.
Just had a document come in on A4 paper... had to get the entire thing "fixed" before I could send it to print.

It's certainly harder to do on a laptop keyboard, but there are (just) a few symbols I remember to save having to plough through Insert -> Symbol:
Â½ Alt+171, Ã© Alt+130, degreee Â° Alt+248.

In fact here's my mapping of some of them...

Keyboard Character Mapping.txt

Bowlie · Post by **Bowlie** » 28 Jan 2010, 20:49

LadyWolf wrote:
Bowlie wrote:<snip>I've no idea why this isn't the default as IMHO it leaves much fewer blanks in a line. Its probably because Bill G. doesn't like it. <snip>
First off... BOWLIE!!! Welcome home baby!

Now that that's out of the way, in terms of readability, I'm not sure Justification is the way to go too often. (not speaking for Bill G in anyway) There is a place for it in certain instances but in the readability studies I've seen, the ragged right edge is preferrable... especially if it's full page (like for full 81/2x11 printed materials) rather than columns (like newspaper or online columns).

It's like I never left ... Here, have a

(I love these things) to celebrate.

I agree that you don't always want full justified - but when you do, the WordPerfect way just looks better.

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