Need help w/card template please

[Meenie]

Hi,
I have a blank card, 5 1/2 x 8 1/2 (it has my company's logo on the front)
and I want to put my own text inside.
All the templates in Word have pictures on the front AND they don't say
their size, only give an avery number - so I'm not sure which to use.
Can you help ?

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

I'm going to make some assumptions here:

1. That you are talking about a card that is 5½" x 8½" folded; that is, the
unfolded size of the card is a full-size 8½" x 11" sheet.

2. That you're printing the inside of a single card at one time.

3. That you have Word 2000 or above.

If all those assumptions are true, then the inside of your card is basically
Letter size (portrait or landscape depending on whether the card is folded
at the top or side), but you want to type on just half of it. Although you
could just set your margins to do this, an easy way to get the jump on this
is to choose "2 pages per sheet" under "Multiple pages" on the Margins tab
of Page Setup (that's for Word 2002/2003, may be slightly different for Word
2000). Choose Portrait or Landscape depending on your card arrangement.
Leave page 1 blank and set the margins such that page 2 will place your
desired card content appropriately. And of course if you want to print
something on page 1, you can do that, too.

 

[Meenie]

Actually I figured it out (finally) It was giving me a fit I had to go
into print properties to get what I needed:
what I have is an actual card that is 5.5 inches wide by 8.5 inches in
length on cardstock paper. It has an embossed logo on the front and the
inside is blank.
I needed to type my invitation message so that it appears on the bottom half
of the inside (i.e. when folded it's centered in the area you see when you
open the card.
I have word 2003 and I will be printing one card at a time
I went into page setup and chose "custom" so I could make it that size, but
when I print, the print is way to the left side (although I chose "centered"
and made the text box as big as the card.
My question after all that, is: Is there a template for doing this on a
blank cardstock card, rather than having to do it all manually?
Thanks

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Although you can set up custom paper sizes in Word, not all printers handle
them equally well. You have two choices:

1. Print your document on Letter-sized paper to see where it prints and then
feed your card in that position, or

2. Set the document up on Letter-sized paper, adjusting the margins as
needed to put the print where it needs to be.

My guess is that you have a printer with centering guides for smaller paper
sizes, yet the printer is printing custom sizes on the left. If that is the
case, you can either feed the paper on the left, where the printer expects
to find it, or feed the card in the center but create the document
full-sized with wide left and right margins to center the text where the
card is.

 

[Meenie]

Thanks Suzanne,
When I went to page setup and selected the custom sizes of my card, it
printed to the left. BUT when I thought to go to the Printer Properties and
set it up as a custom size there, it printed correctly (yaay!)
Thanks for all your help - I printed it out in case I have other problems in
the future - your suggestions may come in handy!
Meenie

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

You're lucky that your printer is one that allows you to define custom
sizes; not all printers do.