A challenging question on text boxes-word 2000

F

fw76

Dear all
I have a problem: Imagine I have 2 pages full of text.between them I'd like
to put a page full with several pictures . I would like this text box to be
as big as the area between my margins so that no text from the 2 mentioned
pages appear on it. Moreover I would like this text box to stay in place,
actually page 2. Moreover, I would like the 2 pages full of text to be placed
in page 1 and 3. I would like the text to float nicely between page 1 and 3
without any break of any kind.
results: Due to the size, the text box moves although I said it shouldn't
(do not move with text). If I manage to make the text box stay at the right
place, a line of my text from the 2 text pages typically hides behind my text
box although i did not allow overlap.
Do you have a solution to this?
by advance, Thanks.
 
S

Suzanne S. Barnhill

A text box is a drawing object. Objects in the drawing layer must be
anchored to text in the text layer. You cannot have a text box on a page
with no text. Period.
 
F

fw76

I did not know this, thank you. Would you have any suggestion on how to
achieve what I wish to do? This should possible with Word.
 
G

Greg

This is crude, but perhaps you could put a 1 point period
on each page, anchor 3 full page textboxes (one to each
period), create a link from textbox 1 to text box 3,
format textbox 1 and 3 with no fill or border.
 
S

Suzanne S. Barnhill

This doesn't help, Greg. You can anchor a text box just as well to an empty
paragraph, but the problem is that this paragraph will interrupt the text
flow. There is no way to have a full-page wrapped graphic--that is, one that
text on the previous and next pages can flow back and forth around.
 
S

Suzanne S. Barnhill

Word is not page layout software; it's designed to allow text to flow
freely, not to be built up in static pages. The way I approach a problem of
this sort is as follows:

1. I don't even try to introduce any full-page graphics until editing is
complete. I may insert a marker such as "[Figure 2 goes here]."

2. When editing is complete, so that I'm sure the page makeup will not
change, I insert a manual page break at the end of the page before the
full-page graphic (more on this later).

3. Since a wrapped graphic has to be anchored to a text paragraph, you might
as well make it inline instead. You can insert graphic and caption together
in two text paragraphs or in two single-column rows of a borderless
table--whatever works for you.

4. Let's say the graphic is on page 2, with text on pages 1 and 3. If page 1
ends in the middle of a paragraph, you will have some additional work to do
if the paragraph (a) is justified, (b) has a first-line indent, or (c) has
Space Before. For (c), it's easier just to format body text with Space After
instead. For (b), you will need to either manually remove the first-line
indent from the first paragraph on page 3 or (better) apply an unindented
style. I have Body Text and Body Text First Indent styles for this purpose
(and others). For (b), you will need to insert a line break (to justify the
last line), and then format the paragraph mark (on the next line) as 1 pt to
keep it from breaking to the next page.

FWIW, if you can rethink your design so that each "full-page" graphic can
coexist with a couple of lines of body text on the page, your task will be
much easier. You can anchor the graphic to the paragraph in which it is
referenced and set its position to Top or Bottom Relative to Margin, which
will assure that it stays in the same place, regardless of what page it is
on (but it will always be on the same page with the paragraph to which it is
anchored).
 
G

Greg Maxey

Suzanne,

I will have to try this again when I have time. I used three margin sized
text boxes in three sections anchored to a 1pt empty space, I linked the
first to the third and formatted them with no fill or borders (they looked
like a blank page), the second I left with fill and borders. I am pretty
sure that as I typed in the first TB it spilled over and filled the third
leaving the second on page 2 unaffected. I could be wrong.
 
S

Suzanne S. Barnhill

Well, yes, you could do this using text boxes on all three pages, but if you
consider that "page 1" and "page 3" are really just shorthand for "page
before the full-page graphic" and "page after the full-page graphic" and
that the text in question might actually be hundreds of pages long, with
numerous full-page graphics (whereas Word limits the number of linked text
boxes to 32 *and* severely limits formatting inside text boxes), I think
you'll see this is not really a viable solution.
 
G

Greg Maxey

Suzanne,

I disagree. While it is clearly not a viable solution for the larger
problem you identified, it is a crude solution for the problem at hand
(i.e., the OP wants text to flow from something (humor me and call it a
page), to something else (call it a page too) on the other side of a full
page graphic without messing with the graphic. Adapt, improvise, and
overcome. :)
 
S

Suzanne S. Barnhill

The OP is the final arbiter, but I would be very surprised if his document
is only three pages long.
 
G

Greg

I just tried to answer the question asked :)

-----Original Message-----
The OP is the final arbiter, but I would be very surprised if his document
is only three pages long.





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Click to expand...
 
C

Chad DeMeyer

Although it requires unorthodox use of advanced Word functionality, there is
actually a way to do this, contrary to conventional wisdom. I gleaned this
from a post by MVP Graham Mayor in microsoft.public.word.drawing.graphics.

"A slightly unusual suggestion will do the job.
Open the header view and place your image on the page with a wrapping option
set (not in-line) as appropriate where you require it to appear. Select the
image and save as an autotext entry. Delete the image.
Whilst still in the header area enter the following field
{IF {Page} = 2 {Autotext name}}
(insert the autotext at the appropriate point with the autotext tool from
the header toolbar.) Toggle the field display and the image will
'disappear'.
Close the header. The image will only appear on the second page at the point
you placed it.
 
S

Suzanne S. Barnhill

But text still won't wrap around it, will it? That is, will this image cause
text to quit on the previous page and restart on the following page?
 
C

Chad DeMeyer

Suzanne,

It looked good on paper, but when I tested it crashed Word when trying to
scroll through the document. :(
Also, even if the image was sized to fill the whole page with wrapping set
to Square or Top and Bottom, Word still insisted on running one line of text
behind the image on page 2. So I guess in point of fact it doesn't work.

Regards,
Chad
 
S

SCSC

I have the same formatting desire and have been struggling with it all
morning. The only solution I've found is to use STAROFFICE which does
exactly what we're talking about here, according to my co-worker who just
tried it out.
 
S

Suzanne S. Barnhill

I answered a similar question in word.tables this morning and have provided
a similar (but much less detailed) solution to you in response to your
previous message.
 
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