Controlling Widows and Orphans

http://wordtips.vitalnews.com/Pages/T001149_Controlling_Widows_and_Orphans.html

Summary: You can format paragraphs so that Word doesn’t leave a single line of the paragraph at either the top or bottom of a page. This tip explains the controls in the Paragraph dialog box that allow you to control that level of formatting. (This tip works with Microsoft Word 97, Word 2000, Word 2002, and Word 2003.)

In typographical terminology, widows and orphans are closely related (no pun intended). These terms refer to one (and sometimes two) lines of a paragraph left by itself on a page. A widow is the last line of a paragraph left by itself at the top of a page; an orphan is the first line of a paragraph left by itself at the bottom of a page. You will want to avoid both widows and orphans in your documents, as they break up the flow of the text and tend to distract the reader.

Word allows you to automatically control single-line widows and orphans in your documents. To control widows and orphans in your documents, follow these steps:

1. Select Paragraph from the Format menu. Word displays the Paragraph dialog box.
2. Click on the Line and Page Breaks tab. (Click here to see a related figure.)
3. Make sure the Widow/Orphan Control check box is selected.
4. Click on OK.

Topics: Controlling Widows and Orphans