how to remove widows and orphans in microsoft word

This is not desirable, but people do it when they use returns (that is, type blank lines) to create space between paragraphs. You also can defeat the “keep with next” attribute by making the next paragraph blank. You can apply this attribute to other paragraphs that should stay with the next line-for example, a paragraph that introduces a numbered list. Also, its heading styles include a paragraph attribute called “keep with next.” It will push a heading to the next page or column to keep it with the first paragraph that follows. Microsoft Word’s default paragraph formatting includes widow and orphan control: it will push an orphan to the next page or column, and it will push an extra line to the next page or column to prevent a widow. The word-processing and layout programs I’m familiar with prevent them automatically. Words Into Type is blunt about it: “Widows must be eliminated.” Itĭoesn’t address orphans, but if it did, I imagine it would be similarly stern.įortunately, widows and orphans are usually easy to eliminate. (They’re from the Fredericksburg, Va., Free Lance–Star, Sep. The orphaned headings in the picture above make me shudder. Definitions vary, but because I used to work in a typesetting house before desktop publishing was invented (yes, we used stone tablets and chisels), I’ll give my definitions: a widow is the last line of a paragraph that sits alone at the top of a page or column an orphan is the first line of a paragraph or (shudder) a heading that sits alone at the bottom of a page or column. Widows and orphans-how sad is that? In typesetting, the words denote sad situations: a word or a line of type separated from the rest of a paragraph.

How to remove widows and orphans in microsoft word