print preview/printer driver questions

[cayce]

I have read the article on the Word FAQ titled "Why does the appearance (or
layout) of my document chnage when I open it on a different machine."

I have a 4 follow up questions:

1. The article speaks about not using page breaks as they exacerbate the
problem. What about section breaks?

2. Does using Word's print preview give a valid and true view of the
document's page layout for the printer selected?

3. Does having the printer's driver loaded onto a user's PC automatically
make that an available printer to the user when they select print preview?

4. Can the driver be loaded on the user's PC without giving them actual
access to that printer?

Here's why I ask.

We have restricted access to a color copier/printer. The support staff, who
get involved in doing the actual hard copy printing of proposals, have access
to the color copier/printer. However, the people who actually produce the
proposals do NOT have access. This cannot change.

I am HOPING that by just having our IT people load the color
copier/printer's driver onto all the involved user's PCs, they'll be able to
choose it from Word's print preview feature; and, that Word as a result will
present to them the real, finished page layout of the document.

My goal it to alleviate print production headaches when you are in the 11th
hour trying to get a proposal out the door and find out page breaks or other
page layout items have shifted.

Advice and suggestions are welcomed.

 

[CyberTaz]

See interjections below:

I have read the article on the Word FAQ titled "Why does the appearance (or
layout) of my document chnage when I open it on a different machine."

I have a 4 follow up questions:

1. The article speaks about not using page breaks as they exacerbate the
problem. What about section breaks?

The article refers (or should) to *Hard* page breaks created by holding
Control while pressing Enter. It is considered by most to be better in many
respects to use a Next Page Section Break where necessary. Or - better - use
Page Break Before as a part of the paragraph's formatting - preferably as a
part of a formatting Style.

2. Does using Word's print preview give a valid and true view of the
document's page layout for the printer selected?

What you see in Print Preview is generated by driver for the currently
selected printer, so it should be as close as your display is able to
produce.

3. Does having the printer's driver loaded onto a user's PC automatically
make that an available printer to the user when they select print preview?

As long as the driver is correctly installed it can be selected regardless
of whether the printer is physically available... which is the answer to
what I _think_ you are actually asking

4. Can the driver be loaded on the user's PC without giving them actual
access to that printer?

This kinda ties in with #3 - the user can't access the printer if they don't
have a connection to it - It sounds like the printer is definitely not
connected locally (directly to the user's computer) so access would/should
be controlled through your network admin. IOW, just installing the driver
doesn't automatically let the user effectively send jobs to the printer. If
he tries the jobs will simply get queued up in the local system until
cancelled.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

To add to what Bob has said, in answer to #1, section breaks should be used
only when they are absolutely required in order to have different
formatting: different margins, different page size or orientation, different
header/footer, etc. They should not be used in place of a page break.

Page breaks should be used only when you want the text following *always* to
begin a new page regardless of what is on the previous page. For example, if
you want Heading 1 always to start a new page, then include "Page break
before" in the formatting for that style. Otherwise, use manual page breaks
very sparingly.

To control the flow of text, apply "Keep with next" and "Keep lines
together" judiciously. Although even a combination of these properties isn't
quite an exact substitute for WordPerfect's Block Protect or the ability to
specify how many lines must be left on a page, they're as close as you can
get in Word.

One property we've repeatedly asked for is a "Keep with previous" property
that could be applied to, say, the complimentary close of a letter or
signature block of a contract. It's easy enough to apply "Keep with next" so
that the closing doesn't get separated from the signature, but in order to
make sure that the entire signature block doesn't get stranded on a page by
itself, it's necessary to mark the paragraph BEFORE the closing as KWN, and
that can be chancy when the content of the letter or contract is still under
revision.

 

[cayce]

Thanks for the input. I have two more questions:

I assume Ctrl + enter for a page break is just a shortcut method, with no
other substantial difference, vs the longer Insert>Break>Page break.

Do either of you have a job aid of frequently used Word shortcuts that you
could steer me to? I have found some online, but being MVPS, either of you
might have something you have compiled that is especially comprehensive.

I appreciate the Keep with next and Keep lines together suggestions for the
paragraph styles. When the new template is handed my way, I will make a point
of checking all the relevant styles to be sure this is enabled.

Also, it sounds like getting the driver loaded onto the user's PCs will
solve the potential for text flow changes wiht unhappy consequence. I am
moving forward to our IT folks to request this.

I greatly appreciate sharing expertise Bob and Suzanne.

Namaste

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

In Word's Help, see the topic "Keyboard shortcuts."

 

[Earl Purple]

One property we've repeatedly asked for is a "Keep with previous" property
that could be applied to, say, the complimentary close of a letter or
signature block of a contract. It's easy enough to apply "Keep with next" so
that the closing doesn't get separated from the signature, but in order to
make sure that the entire signature block doesn't get stranded on a page by
itself, it's necessary to mark the paragraph BEFORE the closing as KWN, and
that can be chancy when the content of the letter or contract is still under
revision.

I would like Keep With Previous for a slightly different reason: when
you have a table or list which contains a heading followed by a number
of items, I would like all the items to appear on the same page
(assuming that the whole entity fits into a page). I would also like
the list items to have one style, so I can apply a "keep with previous"
on that style (as well as keep lines together) and all the items would
be grouped together.

The workaround now is to use a different style for the last item in the
group that has the same style as those above it apart from the "keep
with next" feature. Of course, not only is this more tricky to do, but
should you add any items to the group later you'll have to fiddle about
with the styles.

A group here could mean either a table or a series of numbered or
bulleted paragraphs.

It would also be nice to have some kind of auto-condense feature so
that Word could condense the text nicely when it doesn't quite fit.
This would save having to fiddle about manually with the settings until
you find one that works, although I guess macros could be written to do
this.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

I have the same needs wrt lists--another good reason for "Keep with
previous." Wrt to condensing, there are myriad ways to do it, including the
crude Shrink to Fit button in Print Preview. You might have a look at
http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/Formatting/FitCopy.htm. I find that condensing the
font 0.1 point or the line spacing by 1% often does the trick.