Margins in MadCap vs Spacing in WORD output

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witia1990
Propeller Head
Posts: 17
Joined: Tue Mar 24, 2020 6:11 am

Margins in MadCap vs Spacing in WORD output

Post by witia1990 »

I have encountered a very bizzare issue. In my documentation I create specific styles for paragraphs, lists, tables, etc.
I have problem with list elements margins. But the problem is very specific.

My original WORD document looks like this:
MS WORD original.png
The Spacing of all list elements in the document is set to 6 pt both Before and After text:
MS WORD originalconfig.png
This is why in MadCap Flare I have set bottom and top margins of both ordered and unordered list elements to 6 pt.
The same configuration of margins I have applied To ol and ul tags.
Here is my style configuration:
List_el_style_config.png
Unfortunately, after built in MadCap, the output MS WORD target has the following problematic issues:
Case1: Last item in any list -> Spacing Before = 6 pt (OK) but Spacing After = 8 pt (???)
Case2: Item of unordered/ordered list between items of different listy type -> Spacing Before = 8 pt (???), Spacing After = 8 pt (???)
Case3: First item in any list -> Spacing Before = 8 pt (???), Spacing After = 6 pt (OK)
MS WORD after built.png
It seems to be a pattern but where this 8 pt come from.
Do you have any suggestions why it is like that?
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ChoccieMuffin
Senior Propellus Maximus
Posts: 2630
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Location: Surrey, UK

Re: Margins in MadCap vs Spacing in WORD output

Post by ChoccieMuffin »

Just guessing, but I think you also need to look at how your ol and ul items are set up. I'm afraid I can't give any detailed guidance on that (mainly because it always confuses the heck out of me!) but I suspect your ol and ul items have margins as well. Here's hoping that either that gives you enough to play with, or someone more knowledgeable comes along to give clearer guidance.
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doloremipsum
Sr. Propeller Head
Posts: 290
Joined: Mon Aug 26, 2019 2:11 pm

Re: Margins in MadCap vs Spacing in WORD output

Post by doloremipsum »

Various thoughts:
  • Check the padding settings as well as the margin settings on the li. Easiest way to see the behaviour is to add a 1px red border to the li, which will divide the padding and the margin. Not sure whether that will come through to Word output.
  • Check the margin and padding on the ul and ol elements themselves (your second level ul might have its own spacing reqs).
  • I suspect the issues might be related to CSS margin collapse behaviour.
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