To complicate matters, however, Word allows you to configure 'compatibility options' that modify how a document is displayed on the screen.
Under normal circumstances, Word maintains any space before the paragraph, except in two instances: if the paragraph naturally falls at the top of the page (number 2 above), or if the 'keep with next' attribute is set (number 3 above). To understand when Word does and does not remove the space, it is helpful to understand the reasons for which a paragraph may be placed at the top of a page. If the paragraph that is formatted with extra space before it falls at the top of a page, Word will sometimes remove the extra space and sometimes it won't. This is often helpful in page layout to visually separate sections of your document from one another. When you define the formatting for a paragraph (such as a heading), you can instruct Word to add additional space before the paragraph.
