No More Splitting
Here's the scenario: you're working on a table in MS Word when suddenly, a row splits in two. That is, part of the row is on one page and the other part is on the next page.
You're looking everything over, while thinking to yourself, "This just won't do. The topic in each row can't be split apart."
At this point, you're trying to come up with a solution. You need an efficient way to keep the row together.
So, what can you do?
I suppose you could add blank lines to the row just above the split and force Word to put it all together on the next page. I've seen several people use that tactic.
The drawbacks though include the "funny" way the row will look with the extra space. It's just visibly much taller than the other rows in the table and it has a lot of unnecessary white space.
Another problem will appear the moment you try to edit the table above the row with all the blank lines. Added lines above will push those blanks to the top of the next page. So, now, you're busy trying to remember to take them back out.
All in all, it's a bad plan.
Looking for a better idea?
Yes?
Good, because I'd like to offer you one today!
Believe it or not, but there's a setting in Word that allows you to control this very situation.
The only trick here is knowing where to find the right checkbox.
(Since the location of the checkbox varies based on the version of Word you're using, I'll need to give several sets of directions).
If you're running Word 97, the following directions are for you:
- First, place the cursor in the row you want to change. (To change settings for multiple rows, highlight all of them before you begin this process).
- Next, you need to go to the Table menu, Cell Height and Width choice.
- When the window opens, you're looking for the Row tab.
- In the middle of the tab, uncheck the "Allow row to break across pages" checkbox.
- If you'd like to also make changes for another row, use the Previous Row and Next Row buttons to move through the table and make multiple changes at once.
- When you're finished making changes, click OK.
It's time to move on to the instructions for the versions of Word between 97 and 2007:
- Again, begin with the cursor in the row you'd like to keep from splitting. (To change settings for multiple rows, highlight all of them before you begin this process).
- Now, go to the Table menu, Table Properties choice.
- As before, you're looking for the Row tab.
- Things are exactly the same here. Uncheck "Allow row to break across pages."
- The Previous and Next Row buttons are the same too.
- Click OK when you're done.
And, as always, Word 2007 is different, so here are your instructions for that:
- Highlight the row or rows you don't want to break into two pages.
- You're looking for the Layout ribbon on the Table Tools ribbons that open when working with the table.
- On the Layout ribbon, you need the Properties button.
- Uncheck the "Allow row to break across pages" checkbox.
- If necessary, use the Previous Row and Next Row buttons to navigate elsewhere and make other changes.
- Click OK when you're done.
For all versions, the basics you need to remember are to uncheck the box to keep the row completely on one page and check the box to allow Word to split the row between pages.
There you have it. Complete control over which rows Word splits and the ones it doesn't!
~ April
