how do you start a a page on a certain line number

[ariannee]

for a reaserch paper i have to start the first page on line 14, and our
teacher said there's a way to set that in word, and we had to use that. not
typing enter 14 times. help !

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Well, you can't start on Line 14; that is, no matter where you start (unless
you press Enter multiple times to insert empty paragraphs, which you've been
told not to do), the first line of the document is going to be Line 1 and
will display as such on the status bar. The concept of starting at "Line 14"
is a pretty strange one, actually, and reflects the influence of a typing
background. It would make a lot more sense to say that you should start at,
say, 3.4" (which is Line 14 of a document with a 1" top margin and the
default formatting of Normal style), or that you should allow a certain top
margin.

I would first, if possible, clarify whether the teacher means Line 14 from
the top of the page (probably) or Line 14 from some specified top margin.
This will at least allow you to determine where Line 14 *is*. Without that
information, there's no way you can go forward.

Once you've established that, there are two ways to accomplish what you
want; both with require a little trial and error.

1. Add Space Before to the first paragraph. This is the easier approach. In
the Format | Paragraph, keep dialing up the amount of Spacing: Before until
the status bar shows the position that you determined is the correct one.
Remember to remove this Space Before from the following paragraph.

2. Add some Space After to the header paragraph on just the first page. To
do this, you'll have to check the box for "Different first page" on the
Layout tab of Page Setup, which will give you a separate First Page Header;
add space in this until the first line on the page is at the desired
position.

There's actually a third way that I sometimes use, though not just to create
white space. You can insert, before your first paragraph, an empty,
borderless single-cell table with row height set to Exactly the amount
required.

 

[ariannee]

well, she did say that typing enter 14 times didn't work because "word
automatically starts at about line 3 because of the margin." we tried to get
her to speciy about the margin but she said to use the standard one.
she wants it done that way because we "should be starting the page like an
author starts a chapter in a book."

 

[Doug Robbins - Word MVP]

As she can't count what isn't there, I would set up a first page header
containing a paragraph with the required space after it.

--
Hope this helps.

Please reply to the newsgroup unless you wish to avail yourself of my
services on a paid consulting basis.

Doug Robbins - Word MVP

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

If she thinks Word starts at line 3, then her concept of the "standard"
margin is rather odd. With a 0" top margin, line 3, single-spaced, is at
0.3". But I assume you're double-spacing, so line 3 would be at 0.7", which
is still smaller than the "standard" 1" margin. Line 4 (double-spaced) is at
1.1", so let's assume that maybe she means that the first three lines would
be in the top margin and the document body would start on line 4.

In that case, you'd need to be at Line 11, double-spaced, which would put
you at about 4.8". That's pretty extreme even for a book and certainly for a
manuscript. I think the woman is nuts, and she deserves whatever she gets
(which is bound to vary considerably). If she can't give more specific
instructions than this, then I don't see how she can hold anyone to her
requirements.