Character spacing keeps adjusting itself

[Douglas Hulick]

I am trying to type a book manuscript in Word 2007. I want a ragged right
margin, but Word keeps adjusting the spacing of the text as I type it so each
line is even. This gives me uneven spacing on each line and a (mostly) smooth
right margin. I have the left justifaction set, but it does not effect the
character spacing. How do I turn this off?

 

[Terry Farrell]

That's called Justification. Edit the paragraph style to Left Align.

 

[Douglas Hulick]

I understand what justification is. The paragraph is already set at left
align (I am assuming you are talking the click-graphic box in the paragraph
tab on the home tab), but the text still justifies. This is what is causing
the problem.

Doug

 

[Terry Farrell]

Did you change the STYLE so that paragraph formatting is set to left align?

Terry

 

[Douglas Hulick]

I have even tried creating new styles. But yes, I made sure the Style also
has a left default. Word still adjusts the spacing between the letters as I
type. I just want standard, non-shifting spacing between chatacters. Sigh.

Doug

 

[Terry Farrell]

This is bizarre. Even with full justification set, Word does not start
adjusting the character spacing until the line is full when it will either
expand slightly and move the last word to the next line or shrink slightly
so that the word being typed fits the current line before wrapping if
possible (only if the WordPerfect Justification option is set). I just don't
see how the spacing will adjust as you type. My suspicion would be that the
printer driver is at fault. Check with the support site for the printer and
see if you have the latest printer driver.

Terry

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

I recall a similar issue recently where a document in Courier New printed
correctly but onscreen the characters were not aligned. The solution (Word
2007) was to change the setting at Office Button | Word Options | Advanced |
Display: Optimize character positioning for layout rather than readability.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
http://word.mvps.org

 

[Klaus Linke]

This is bizarre. Even with full justification set, Word does not start
adjusting the character spacing until the line is full when it will either
expand slightly and move the last word to the next line or shrink slightly
so that the word being typed fits the current line before wrapping if
possible (only if the WordPerfect Justification option is set). I just
don't see how the spacing will adjust as you type. My suspicion would be
that the printer driver is at fault. Check with the support site for the
printer and see if you have the latest printer driver.

You get that behaviour in table cells, if the cell option to "fit text" is
checked. But in that case, you see a blue line under the text if formatting
marks are shown, so it's usually obvious.
It certainly may make sense to look closely at the "Reveal formatting" pane
(Shift+F1), to see if there's anything "funny".

Klaus