Absolute text positioning for form fill-in

[Cheryl]

Hello, I am trying to fill out a pre-printed form using
Word 2000. I know there is a way to position text on the
page in fine increments, using the edge of the paper
(absolute positioning) as the reference point, but cannot
seem to figure out how to do it. Any hints, anyone?

Thanks,

~~Cheryl

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Theoretically, you can do it with the Advance field, but if you've ever used
that field in WordPerfect, you'll find it doesn't work anywhere near as well
in Word. The alternative is to create text boxes or frames and position them
absolutely.

 

[Greg Maxey]

Cheryl,

You can put the text in a borderless frame and position the frame referenced
to the edge of the paper. You can find the Insert Frame icon on the Forms
toolbar.

 

[Guest]

Thanks, Suzanne! I remember using that feature frequently
in WordPerfect, years ago, with very good success. It's
too bad Word 2000 doesn't have such a useful feature --
as a MS employee, I called their Word techs just to see
if they could suggest something, but they're researching
it and will contact me if they come up with anything...
*sigh*

Thanks!

~~Cheryl

 

[Cheryl]

I resolved this issue by setting my page margins to match the form borders, and created a table with four columns and ten rows, default alignment bottom center. Switched the measurement units to metric for greater precision, then adjusted the bottom border of each row to match the bottom of the form field requiring fill-in, changing the zoom as needed to ensure exact placement. When finished, I erased all the gridlines and printed. Only took 3 tries to get it fairly perfect.

Hope this helps someone else! I still wish Word had an "Advance" feature, though -- that would have been so much easier!

~~Cheryl