Conditional page layout based on style

Question

I made a movie script template for Word. I've associated style for each of the different components of the text (scene header, action, character name, dialog, etc...). Each style is formatted as it should and can be accessed by shortcuts.  It works quite well.

I now have a first draft and need to print the script. There are formatting rules as how a page must look like. Here's what I need Word to do.

/ Some styles must be linked so they will always appear as one block on the page, never being separated on two pages. Ex. Character name and dialog. We can't have the name of the character on the last line of page 2 and the dialog up on page 3, the block character name + dialog must appear on 3.

/ That same character name + dialog block must be on one page and never broken over two pages. (The proper rules of formatting are more complex but that would enough for my need.)

I need to automate this because editing the text "by hand" makes no-sense. The text is constantly changing and so are the page breaks.

I know conditional page break can be inserted using field codes. I began toying with field codes but it will take some time until I can use them properly. I have gain a grasp as what filed code can do and I'm not sure they can achieve what I need.

Advices are welcomed.

Answer 1

In the Modify Style dialog for each of the styles you use for these parts of the script, click the Format button at the bottom left and choose Paragraph from the menu that pops up. In the Paragraph dialog that appears, go to the Line and Page Breaks tab.

The check boxes in the Pagination section control how the text in that style behaves with respect to automatic page breaks.

• For your purposes, Widow/Orphan Control should probably be turned off, because it tends to complicate the other settings. Its purpose is to prevent an auto page break that would leave one or two lines of the beginning or end of the paragraph alone on a page.
• Turn on Keep With Next to prevent an auto page break between the current paragraph and the next one (not necessarily of the same style). So your Character Name style should have this turned on to keep the character name and the dialog on the same page.
• Turn on Keep Lines Together to prevent an auto page break within the current paragraph. Your dialog style should have this turned on. The dialog style should also have Keep With Next turned on, but it should be turned off in the last paragraph of that dialog block. You can do that manually, or create a separate style that you apply only to the last paragraph of each block.
• A style (such as the title of an Act) that needs to start a new page each time it's applied should have Page Break Before turned on.

If a block of dialog is longer than one page, Word has to guess where to put the automatic page break. That can change as you edit text in the preceding pages, and there isn't much you can do about that. Some suggestions are in http://wordfaqs.ssbarnhill.com/BottomLine.htm .

Don't try to fake this with field codes. It will drive you mad.

Answer 2

Wonderful! Thanks Jay, that is exactly what I was looking for. I use a french version of Word and the "Keep with next" and "Keep lines together" have cryptic translation that didn't allow me to guess their purpose.