Using SmartArt

Q: In PowerPoint 2003 and earlier, I was able to set my spacing before and after a line by percentage. Now, in PowerPoint 2007, I can only change the spacing by point size. Setting a percentage of the font size for the spacing between paragraphs was ideal - if the font size changed the paragraph spacing changed with it. Is there a workaround that lets me size the before/after paragraph spacing by percentage?

A: This is a common complaint for PowerPoint users who were used to using the “lines” option for before and after spacing.
Unfortunately, there is no workaround to achieve the functionality that was available in PowerPoint 2003, and it has not even been rectified in PowerPoint 2010 (despite all the complaints).  The only thing that comes close is to change the before and after settings to zero and use the Multiple option for line spacing, and then set it to the desired number of lines (e.g. 1.5).  Because text is automatically sized to a best fit, most paragraphs will appear on a single line, with the selected line spacing figure in lines showing between the paragraphs.  You may need to play with this one to get the right number for your scenario.