Bullets, line spacing, templates, and vodka

In researching single-source layouts, I recently discovered that I can generate a Word document that includes all the drop-down text in a topic. Great news! I can create expandable instruction lists and generate them directly to Word for printed documentation.

So I quickly tested this by creating a new project, creating a drop-down hotspot that contained bulleted instructions, and generating printed documentation that included the drop-down text. Voila! Everything came out fine in Word.

So far, so good. Of course, I want my drop-down text to have one appearance in my online documentation and another appearance in my printed documentation. Easy enough: I can generate the printed documentation, make the changes in Word, save the Word file as a template, and then use the template whenever I need to generate printed documentation.

So far, so good! Well, actually...not so good. See, I'm encountering a strange but repeatable problem working with Word templates: The first item in each expandable list (i.e., a drop-down spot with bullets in it) includes extra space before the paragraph, and the last item in each such list includes extra space at the bottom of the paragraph. This problem does not manifest itself when I generate the printed documentation from a new project, nor does it do so when I change the style in Word after first generating printed documentation. No, this little critter shows up after I create a template, save the template, and then use it to generate my next round of printed documentation.

So, to recap:

1. I can create drop-down hotspots just fine in RoboHelp.
2. I can create bulleted lists just fine in RoboHelp.
3. I can generate printed documentation just fine from RoboHelp.
4. I can format styles just fine in Word.
5. I can save a template just fine from Word.
6. I can select the template just fine when creating printed documentation in Robohelp.
7. The new printed documentation exhibits the weird spacing before and after the first and last items, respectively, in each bulleted drop-down list.

And here's the kicker: According to Word, there is no extra space added to the paragraph. But the extra space is visible to the naked eye, it's apparent when you triple-click a troublesome item to highlight the paragraph, and it shows right through when it's printed. Word, however, insists that this spacing is not there.

Before the usual array of suggestions is, well, suggested, let me point out the following:

1. I'm not running RoboHelp across a network.
2. My project is on my hard drive.
3. I am using only the RH buttons to create bulleted lists.
4. I am not applying list styles to my bulleted lists (i.e., the style is "Normal").
5. I have tested this multiple times with new projects.
6. I am using the latest versions of Word and RoboHelp.

Now I can easily work around this problem: I can create my template without the drop-down style defined, and I can edit the style each time I generate printed documentation; I'm not having problems with other styles, so I'm fine otherwise. But I'd like to know (a) whether anyone has seen anything like this before and (b) whether anyone has a solution. (For the record, I am not yet ready to accept "uninstall and reinstall RoboHelp" as a solution.)

Cheers!