Notepad line spacing

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In Notepad, with Word Wrap enabled, I have single line spacing onscreen (which is what I want) but double line spacing when I print a *.txt file I’ve written.

I’ve used 3 different computers (all running Windows XP) and printers (all HP laser) with the same results. If I output to PDF I get double spacing about half the time.

I can’t find a setting to adjust the line-spacing output. Does anyone know of a solution to give me single spacing in print?

Thanks in advance,
Erik

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What happens when you cut and paste it into Word, and turn on the “display line endings” option (the paragraph mark button just in front of the Zoom percentage)? Do you get a pair of carriage returns? Or what?

John

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File > Page Setup…

Do your margin settings look realistic?

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Margins: 0.75″ left and right, 1″ top and bottom.

Pasting into Word: Double carriage return after each paragraph (as I typed it originally), but within the paragraphs there’s just good ol’ text wrapping, no extra carriage returns.

Thanks,
Erik

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Sounds very odd.
What font are you using?
Are you entering in text via the keyboard, or pasting in from another application?

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Font: Lucida Console, 12pt

I’m typing directly, not pasting.

Thanks,
Erik

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Just as a matter of interest, what happens if you try printing in Landscape format – the same thing?

Can you attach an example txt file? Any old text will do, as long as it exhibits the problems you experience when you print.

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I changed to landscape format and printed single-spaced with no problem.

Then I changed back to portrait and…printed single-spaced with no problem! (Did you know this would happen? If so, what’s the cause?)

Now I can’t duplicate the problem. Later today I’ll reboot, try again, and report back.

Thanks,
Erik

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After rebooting, the problem has returned of typing single-spaced but printing double-spaced. This time, switching to landscape format and back had no effect.

I’m stumped, and would welcome more ideas. In the meantime I’m attaching this morning’s test.txt file in the hopes of demonstrating I’m not doing anything weird.

Thanks,
Erik

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When I download, then open the text file you attached, it is double-spaced. The screenshot below shows the result of opening it in Word, with non-printing characters displayed. Note the two paragraph marks between the first and second lines of text.

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The extra space BETWEEN paragraphs is deliberate. What concerns me is the double spacing WITHIN paragraphs, which is not shown in the screenshot (I realize the screenshot is from Word not Notepad). My goal is for the spacing within paragraphs to be single, as in the second paragraph in the screenshot.

Thanks,
Erik

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I don’t know about you fellas, but that’s not enough sample text to make a judgement. Can you post a longer sample document so I can download it and try to join in?

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Longer text file attached.

Thanks,
Erik

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PDF output attached.

Thanks,
Erik

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Screenshot of txt file, as it appears to me, attached.

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Thanks for the quick responses, Erik. I downloaded the txt file, opened it in WordPad on my XP Pro setup and printed it. When I first opened it in WordPad it was not displayed in word wrap so I clicked that option and it looked as you would expect onscreen. So I printed it and it looked on paper just like this attached screenshot. I don’t know where that leaves us other than maybe somethin unique to you printer. Let’s keep after it…

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Thanks for your quick response, Big Al.

I’d also suspect something unique to my printer, but I have now done this on three different computers, each using a different printer, plus PDF, and gotten the same result nearly every time (about 80-90%…can’t explain the 10% that goes right, either).

For the record, all three printers are HP laser (different models). Two of the computers run XP Pro, the other XP Home. For the PDFs, one computer uses Acrobat Pro 6, the other Acrobat Pro 7.

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It also looks fine on my screen, and prints correctly to my HP LaserJet and to Adobe Acrobat 6 Standard.

StuartR

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Can you try with a different font size and a different font? My instincts are telling me it’s not a printer issue, otherwise you wouldn’t get the same thing with a pdf output.

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Same results in Arial 10pt.

After further experimentation…could Word Wrap be the culprit? After a few go-rounds in Arial 10 and in Lucida Console 12 (my usual Notepad font), I consistently print single-spaced with Word Wrap off, and usually (not always) print double-spaced with Word Wrap on. Of course, “usually (not always)” isn’t the most reliable report. Does anyone else get different results from different Word Wrap settings?

Thanks,
Erik

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No difference here when I tried before (and again today) with and without WordWrap, which I normally have on.

You said you tried with different PCs and printers – was this with the same Notepad file? If so, what happens if you copy the text into a new Notepad document on another PC? It seems strange enough having one machine do this, but three…?!!!

One last straw: try changing your left and right margins a slight amount, say to 0.74″ or 0.76″. (I use metric here so mine are set to an equivalent 20mm.)

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I was using different Notepad files every time.

Changing margins made no difference.

Here’s something odd (that I’ve repeated four times): if I start a new Notepad file, create a few paragraphs of text, and print (to PDF) without saving, it’s single spaced. If I save the file and then print, it’s double spaced (though still single spaced in the Notepad file on the screen). If I then copy that text from Notepad into a new Notepad file and print that without saving, it’s double spaced. Of course, I don’t know what to make of any of this.

Thanks,
Erik

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