<suppressSpBfAfterPgBrk> (Do Not Use Space Before On First Line After a Page Break)

This element specifies that applications should not postpone any before paragraph spacing to the first line containing content after a page break.

Typically, a page break defined using the <br> element (§2.3.3.1) is treated as run-level content, which means that although it delimits the end of the page, if there is no content after it within the current paragraph, that the paragraph shall also end on that page. However, in the case where there is additional run-level content within the same paragraph, that content, although part of the same paragraph as the page break, is displayed on the following page.

This leads to a situation where the only run content on the page with the page break is the break itself, with all subsequent content on the following page. In this case, applications shall apply the value specified by the <spacing> element's @before attribute to the first line on the new page (since it is ostensibly the only page with content in that paragraph).

This element, when present with a @val attribute value of true (or equivalent), specifies the paragraph before spacing shall not be 'postponed' in this way - if the line with the page break has no content, then the <spacing> element's @before attribute is simply ignored.

example: 
<w:p>
  <w:pPr>
    <w:spacing w:before="1000" />
  </w:pPr>
  <w:r>
    <w:br w:type="page" />
    <w:t>This is sample text with 50 points before formatting.</w:t>
  </w:r>
</w:p>

The default presentation would have the necessary amount of space added to the first line on the second page, as the page break was not preceded by any run content (highlighting has been added to the image below in order to illustrate the additional spacing above the first line):

However, if this compatibility setting is turned on:

<w:compat>
  <w:suppressSpBfAfterPgBrk />
</w:compat>

Then the spacing shall not be added above the first line on the page (it is essentially ignored), resulting in the following output:

Parent Elements

<compat> (§2.15.3.9)

Attributes

Description

<val> (On/Off Value)

Specifies a binary value for the property defined by the parent XML element.

A value of on, 1, or true specifies that the property shall be explicitly applied. This is the default value for this attribute, and is implied when the parent element is present, but this attribute is omitted.

A value of off, 0, or false specifies that the property shall be explicitly turned off.

example: 
<w:… w:val="off"/>

The @val attribute explicitly declares that the property is turned off. ]

The possible values for this attribute are defined by the ST_OnOff simple type (§2.18.67).

The following XML Schema fragment defines the contents of this element:

<complexType name="CT_OnOff">
	<attribute name="val" type="ST_OnOff"/>
</complexType>