Breaking an equation in two lines

Hello Glankrol,

Thank you for posting your concern.

Long equations often do not fit on a single line and ways are needed to break them up for display on multiple lines. The parenthesis mentioned in the formula will get bigger if you continuously typing the equation. In the sample formula shown on screenshot below will help us isolate this issue in Word 2016, right-click on the drop-down on the right-side and select linear.

Let us know if this helps.

You can get the equation to split itself by decreasing the width of the text column (that is, by increasing the left and right indents) of the paragraph. Notice where the left and right indent markers are on the ruler in this picture:

When I have a similar issue and I only need to break the equation into two lines, I use a 'stacked' bracket.  Select the first half of you equation. Then in the equation tool bar, choose the bracket structure, then scroll down to the the 'cases and stacks' section.  You will see a structure with two stacked boxes and no surrounding parenthesis or brackets.  You can put half of your equation in the top and half in the bottom.

Has this been fixed yet with an update? I'm still unable to break my own long equation in Word 2016. 

This was not an issue in older versions like Word 2007 thanks to "manual break". I don't understand why useful features get dropped in newer versions of applications.

Have YOU tried it? 

Jay's screenshot showed the effect of increasing the left and right indents so that the equation would no longer fit within the space available between those indents in which case, it "wraps to a new line"

I was still able to use a manual break here as follows:

 a. go into File->Options->Customize Ribbon, click the Customize... keyboard shortcuts button near the bottom left of the dialog

 b. select category "All commands", then locate and select "EquationManualBreak" in the list of commands

 c. click in the Press new shortcut key box and use a suitable keystroke combination, e.g. ctrl-alt-shift-M

 d. click the Assign key.

Then, if you click in the appropriate place in the equation and use that keystroke, you should get a line break.  You do not seem to be able to assign this function to the QAT.

If you send me a copy of the document, referencing this thread in the covering email message, I will investigate the issue.

Unfortunately inserting the manual break

 a. does not work at all points in the equation

 b. only seems to work when you have just inserted the equation and have not yet clicked outside the equation box. 

One way to fix that seems to be to select the equation text, cut it (which will delete the equation), paste it (which will re-insert the equation), then insert the manual break.

I hope there is a simpler way, but it is not obvious to me what exactly changes as a consequence of clicking outside the equation box.