Preventing Straggling Heads

There are certain paragraphs that naturally belong with another paragraph. For instance, section headings belong with the paragraphs that follow them, a signature line belongs with the explanation line that may be after it, and a figure belongs with the caption that may follow it. Word makes it easy to keep certain paragraph pairings together. To format paragraphs so they stay together, use the following steps if you are a Word 2007 user:

1. Position the insertion point in the first paragraph of the pair you want to keep together.
2. Make sure the Home of the ribbon is displayed.
3. Click the small icon at the bottom-right of the Paragraph group. Word displays the Paragraph dialog box.
4. Display the Line and Page Breaks tab. (Click here to see a related figure.)
5. Make sure the Keep with Next check box is selected.
6. Click on OK.

If you are using an older version of Word, follow these steps:

1. Position the insertion point in the first paragraph of the pair you want to keep together.
2. Select the Paragraph option from the Format menu. You will see the Paragraph dialog box.
3. Click on the Line and Page Breaks tab.
4. Make sure the Keep with Next check box is selected.
5. Click on OK.