Re: word tables and "invisible" page breaks

[Ed Gregory <edgregory -at- home -dot- com>]

There are many little gotchas when a Word table runs to or near your bottom
margin. I keep view all turned on anytime I am working with a Word table
(and that's probably half of my time for the past several months.)

Extra carriage returns are easy to elimintate, with view on or off. Just
Ctrl-End and start backspacing until the extra page disappears or you get
into your table text.

Might not be carriage returns, however. For example, your paragraph style
might specify n-points between paragraphs, at the bottom of the previous
paragraph. If so, then your final paragraph is pushing the table's bottom
border unnecessarily. Just format that one paragraph so that there is no
extra spacing.

Check linespace. If your text is 1.5 lines, or double-spaced, Word splits
that space above and below the actual text. If so, change your linespacing
to single-spaced and, if necessary, force a few points of space before your
current paragraph. 

Squeeze out a point or two of space higher in the document. Spread it out
judiciously so that there is no noticeable change in spacing of the table.

Don't end your final cell with a carriage return or paragraph, if you have
that choice, or end it with a carriage return and give that final, empty
paragraph miniscule linespacing.

All of the above are, however, last-ditch steps. They assume that the
document is done and will not grow by a single line. If something happens
to force your table to grow, your carefully crafted final paragraph will
have been for naught.

Better still:  re-examine your design. Add space throughout so that the
overflow to what was an extra blank page becomes normal-looking runover.

Good luck.

Ed Gregory
http://www.members.home.net/edgregory