Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated June 8, 2024)
This tip applies to Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, Word in Microsoft 365, and 2021
Mike has a document that has a large table in it. The table is only two columns wide, but it has many rows. The rows are formatted so that they won't break across pages. Mike is concerned, though, that with this setting made, if he later reformats the document layout (like switching from portrait to landscape), that some large rows won't fit completely on a page. He wonders if this setting will then cause the table to not display properly or the document to be unstable.
The easiest way to figure out is some setting or another will cause a problem in a particular scenario is to test it out. In this case, Mike could make a copy of his document and simply change from portrait to landscape orientation. If he did so, he would quickly find that it doesn't present a problem and the document content displays just fine. What does occur, though, is that Word effectively ignores the setting to not break rows across a page. This is necessary because it is impossible to display the row on a single page.
That being said, if you change the orientation of the pages in the document, it is likely that you will also adjust the width of the columns in the table. When you do so, you may find that your rows are able to fit on a single page. In that case, you could end up with a "funky" layout that has one thin row on one page, one full-page row on the next page, and then a thin row or two on the following page. The only way to avoid that situation is to either turn off the restriction against row splitting or make sure none of your rows are very thick.
WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (10152) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, Word in Microsoft 365, and 2021.
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2024-06-08 05:43:37
Ron S
The document will not be "corrupted", if that is what you are asking.
What do you mean "display properly"?
The text will all be there. Word will "decide" where and how it wraps lines and splits pages. Whether you agree with Word on what is "correct", that may be debatable.
You may have to "trick" it into splitting pages in a way that you think is "proper". Mostly you do that using extra blank spaces and/or "soft return", <SHF><Enter>, or "hard return", <Enter>, or by using "hard spaces", <CTL><Shf><Enter>, to force word to keep words on same line. Or by manually splitting the cell and moving the desired text to the next line.
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