preserve/keep original vertical spacing and layout after deleting paragraph or sentences

[seanseaghan]

Hi,

I am working with 10 (soon to be 14 and later on 18) word.docs that are
about 25 pages each. These are kinda / sorta annual statement type
reports. Each year, certain paragraphs change substantially, are
deleted entirely (no longer applies), or new paragraphs / sentences are
inserted.

Example: say at the top of page 12, I want to delete an entire
paragraph, or a piece of it. Word automatically shifts upward
everything after what was deleted, disrupting the layout and indivdual
page headers and footers. Since these word.docs are not final, I want
the space that was occupied with what was just deleted to remain - it
may be used for a replacement paragraph or sentence later, or it will
remain blank, which is OK. I want everything that was after the area
of deletion to stay where it was originally.

These word.docs are mega-important, and ASAP turnaround is required. I
currently have 10, which will become 14, and later 18. Using the enter
/backspace /delete keys to shift things back to their original
locations, or to restore some aesthetically OK appearance (and
re-working headers / footers) is becoming increasingly time consuming
and burdensome. In short, I want the word.docs to behave as if each
page is a separate compartment - deleting a paragraph in one page will
not affect the text layout & header/footers of any subsequent pages.

If anyone can provide a solution, or anything that can at least
mitigate this problem, I would sincerely appreciate it. I have
researched this issue without success.

PS - I inherited these word.docs from prior users, and re-building from
scratch won't be an option due to time constraints.

Thanks in advance for any replies.

 

[Jay Freedman]

Word is essentially a flow-oriented layout program. In order to keep
empty space, *something* has to be there.

The simplest way, I think -- assuming that the final form of the
documents is the printed page and not an electronic copy -- is to
change the text color to white instead of deleting anything. That way
the text continues to occupy the same space as before, but simply
won't print. To see what text is in the "blank" space, select the
blank text and apply highlighting or paragraph shading to it.

--
Regards,
Jay Freedman
Microsoft Word MVP
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