Ensuring Space Before at the Start of a Page

Yasmin has a document where each chapter starts with a heading (Heading 1 style) that she has formatted to start on a new page and to include three inches "Before" the paragraph. This is because she wants the heading, signifying a new chapter, to begin three inches from the top margin. However, Word ignores the "Before" space and always starts the heading at the top of the new page. She wonders if there is a way to force Word to take her desired spacing into account.

There are a few ways you can tackle this need. One tried-and-true method is for Yasmin to modify her style definition (the one for the Heading 1 style) in two ways. First, remove the "Before" spacing, setting it to 0 inches, if desired. Second, she can add a frame to the style. Assuming that the Modify Style dialog box is already displayed for the Heading 1 style, these steps can be followed to add the proper frame:

1. Click the Format button and then choose Frame from the options presented. Word displays the Frame dialog box.
2. Using the Height drop-down list, choose Exactly. The At option to the right of Height becomes active.
3. In the At option, indicate the height desired for the frame. In this case, you could enter 216, which means 216 points (72 pt/in x 3 in = 216 pt).
4. Click OK to dismiss the Frame dialog box.
5. Make any other changes you desire in your style definition.
6. Close the Modify Style dialog box.

Now there should be three inches of space before the Heading 1 paragraph, just like Yasmin desires. Actually, the three inches is for the frame, and the text of the heading sits within the frame, so you may have to experiment a bit to get the height of the frame (step 2) just right to make sure that there is three inches before the heading.

Another approach is to keep the "Before" space set in the Heading 1 style, but turn off the "Page Break Before" option. Then, when you add a Heading 1 paragraph into your document, go to the beginning of that paragraph and enter a Next Page section break. Word should honor the "Before" specification following the page break. An added advantage of this approach is that you can set different "First Page" headers and footers and they will always apply to this start of a new section. That way you could, for instance, eliminate a running head for the first page of any new chapter in your document.

A third approach is to change a configuration setting in Word. Follow these steps:

1. Display the Word Options dialog box. (In Word 2007 click the Office button and then click Word Options. In Word 2010 or a later version display the File tab of the ribbon and then click Options.)
2. At the left side of the dialog box click Advanced.
3. Scroll down until you see the Layout Options section of the dialog box. The drop-down list next to the heading should be set to the document on which you are working.
4. Clear the "Suppress Extra Line Spacing at Top of Page" checkbox. (In some versions of Word the option may be entitled "Suppress Space Before or After a Page Break.")
5. Click OK to dismiss the Word Options dialog box.

This will allow your "Before" spacing to work for the headings. Understand, though, that any other styles which add space before a paragraph will also add space if they appear at the top of a page.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (8339) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, 2024, and Word in Microsoft 365.