Can not center text

L

lorrwill

This is a very bizarre thing: the text is centered just fine in a letter
sized document, but change the page size to legal and the centering is still
for letter.
I checked the styles and formatting and there is nothing to explain this.
Ditto with clearing all the formatting and then trying to center. I also
tried creating a center tab - also didn't work.

The page does have a page border but I also found nothing in those settings
to explain why the document text will not recognize the new page size.

Any ideas on how to solve this?
Thanks.
 
S

Suzanne S. Barnhill

Though I share CyberTaz's confusion, I'll charitably assume that you're
using landscape orientation. If so, try this:

1. Format | Columns.

2. Set "Apply to" to "Whole document."

3. Click on the preset picture for One (even if 1 column is already
selected); this will check the "Equal column width" box.

4. OK.
 
C

CyberTaz

Am I missing something here?

Everything you mention refers to *horizontal* centering, but Letter & Legal
size don't differ in width, only height (8.5x11 as opposed to 8.5x14). What,
exactly, are you expecting to see happen? The *middle* of an 8.5" wide page
is the middle of an 8.5" wide page regardless of how tall the page may be.
 
L

lorrwill

I should have been more specific. The text moves to the left when the page
size is changed - no longer in the center of the page. We also tried 11 X 17
and other pages sizes and got the same thing. All the settings read as center
but the center of the text is actually in the first third of the page.
 
L

lorrwill

I will try this when I get back to my office. The evil document in question
definitely was not set up with columns but there may be a bit of spaghetti
code tucked away in there somewhere. I have found some buggy behavior in
other Word documents that makes me wonder whether someone did some less than
desirable tweaking to the global template.

Thanks!
 
S

Suzanne S. Barnhill

There's a bug in Word that sometimes results in its thinking that you have a
single column narrower than the margin width or, worse still, two columns,
the first of which is margin width (leaving no room for the second).
Checking the "Equal column width" box cures this.
 
L

lorrwill

Bingo! That fixed it.

Thanks for the help!

Suzanne S. Barnhill said:
There's a bug in Word that sometimes results in its thinking that you have a
single column narrower than the margin width or, worse still, two columns,
the first of which is margin width (leaving no room for the second).
Checking the "Equal column width" box cures this.
Click to expand...
 
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