RE: Word: 'body' versus 'normal' style for body paragraphs

["Jonathan West" <jwest -at- mvps -dot- org>]

> Is there a reason I would want to use the 'body' style instead of
> 'normal' for body paragraphs?
>

Yes. 2 reasons spring immediately to mind.

1. You can search your document for text in Normal style, and know that
anything you find has been pasted in without proper consideration for
formatting.

2. Body Text is usually defined has having spacing between paragraphs,
whereas Normal is usually defined without. You should use paragraph spacing
instead of blank paragraphs for two reasons

- If you have your Heading styles set up so their paragraph format is "Keep
with Next" and "Keep lines together", you can ensure that the heading stays
on the same page as the first paragraph of body text. Using a blank
pareagraph just ensures that the heading stays on the same paragraph as the
blank paragraph - not all that useful!

- If you use blank paragraphs, then you will from time to time have a blank
paragraph at the top of a page, pushing the text down to the next line. This
is unsightly. Using paragraph spacing, a new paragraph will always be at the
top of the page after an automatic page break.

I would recommend against changing Normal style so it has the paragraph
spacing directly. If you use Table styles (I don't) then they don't work if
you have modified Normal. Also, many other styles inherit from Normal (e.g.
Footnote text) and will look dd if you change the paragraph spacing.

So, when creating your template, specify The Body Text, and base the other
styles you want to define on that.

Regards
Jonathan West

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