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Widows and orphans can ruin your presentation

April 24, 2009

Widows and orphans are the terms used to describe a heading left on its own at the bottom of a page or a single line of a paragraph appearing at the top of a new page. Using widow/orphan control and Keep With Next codes ensures your documents are professional presented. 

The Keep With Next code is a little known feature of Microsoft Word.  The code is applied to a paragraph and used mainly for headings in a document to prevent them appearing on their own at the bottom of a page.  Using the Keep With Next code means the document can flow without having to insert page breaks or empty line spaces, it will be less prone to errors in formatting and speeds up the process of producing professionally presented documents.

Word 2007: On the Home ribbon, click on the button to show the Paragraph dialogue box.
Word 2003: Click on Format-Paragraph

The option to choose Keep With Next appears on the Line and Page Breaks tab (pictured).

Increase your speed and use shortcut keys.
Press and hold the Alt key then press letters O, P, X.

If you use the show/hide feature (¶ button), you will see the small square dot at the beginning of your paragraph which means Keep With Next is applied.

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Posted by Jayne Smith | Filed Under Digital Dictation for Business, Digital Dictation for Lawyers, Digital Dictation for Surveyors, General, Training | Leave a Comment