Okay, that's an entirely different situation, and I would approach it
differently. To tell the truth, I would avoid it wherever possible, but in
cases where it is unavoidable, here's how I handle it:
1. Don't even try to do this on a single line; it will be easier to use two
separate lines (paragraphs) and ideally two paragraph styles.
2. Create a paragraph style that includes some Space Before. If you want to
allow generous space for normal handwriting, make this at least 12 points,
or set the paragraph to Exactly 24 pt line spacing. Use normal (12-pt) text
for this style.
3. Create a second style with no Space Before and a smaller font (say,
8-pt). You may want to reduce the line spacing of this paragraph to the
nominal font size or less to bring it very close to the line above it.
4. Apply Style 1, type the line that includes the fill-in blank, and press
Enter at the end of it.
5. Apply Style 2, press Tab, and type the descriptive text. This is
ordinarily italic and in parentheses.
6. Using the ruler, set a Center tab in a position that centers your
descriptive text under the line in the previous paragraph.
7. Press Enter, apply Style 1, and repeat steps 4-6.
As you can see, this is pretty tedious, and it is not very suitable for
running text. That is, if you're trying to do this in a contract with
paragraph text, it really just doesn't work at all. And if you're doing it
in a line-by-line form, you might find it equally space-efficient (and a lot
easier) to put the labels beside the blanks instead of under them.
Another way to approach this problem would be to set the text up as a
fraction, using either the EQ \f field (see
http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/Formatting/CreateFraction.htm) or the Equation
Editor. If you choose that route, you'll need to insert a large number of
nonbreaking spaces as the "numerator" of the fraction, and you'll have to
use Format | Font | Character Spacing to lower the resulting "fraction."
--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
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