background repagination

[Katarina Wittich]

HI all,
How do I set up my Word X so that it uses background repagination as a
default setting? When I choose background repagination in Preferences
it only works while that document is open and for the next document
it reverts to not repaginating. Also reverts to not repaginating for
the same document once I open and close it. Very annoying!!!!! Help!
Katarina

 

[Beth Rosengard]

Hi Katarina,

[Why is this question popping up so much all of a sudden, I wonder?]

From a previous post by John McGhie:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Yep The preference is buggy. However, it doesn't matter, since Word
ignores it.

It's a legacy of the days when machines were far less powerful than they are
today: there is no longer any need for the setting. But it's one of those
things that is deeply buried in the Word code: they would take it out if
they could, but it's too much work -- it would take development time away
from things that are much more needed.

I suggest that you simply ignore the setting: Word does These days,
Word can paginate in only one place: the background. It will do it in
Normal View whenever it needs to (which is rarely) and in Page Layout View
constantly (because pagination is required to generate Page Layout View).

For best speed, work in Normal View: pagination is suppressed, which makes
Word work much faster, and various non-printing things are shown so it is
easier to edit. For finalizing a document, work in Page Layout View. It's
99 per cent WYSIWYG, but it paginates every time you make a substantive
change, which slows Word down a lot.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

--
Beth Rosengard
Mac MVP

Mac Word FAQ: <http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/WordMac/index.htm>
Entourage Help Page: <http://www.entourage.mvps.org/toc.html>

 

[Katarina Wittich]

Hi Beth,

Thanks for your prompt reply.

So, if I read John's post correctly, there is nothing that can be done
about the annoying refusal of Word X to use background repagination as
a default setting? His post says that Word will repaginate in Normal
when it needs to, which is rarely, but I don't know what that means.
Does that mean it will repaginate only when it is about to print?

I do a lot of work where I like to be able to move things around on a
page and see how it will look in the final version immediately in
terms of where the page break will come. And that is easiest to do in
Normal where I can set and erase page breaks easily. But every time I
want to do that I have to go to preferences and reset the preference
for background repagination. That is a real pain. And I don't want to
have to work in Page Layout because then you can't see the bridge
between two pages at once, since it will only show one page at a time.

So I'm disappointed by Johns answer, if it is saying what I think it
is - which is that we just have to live with resetting the background
repagination for each document every time we want to have it
repaginate automatically when we make changes.

I also wonder if anyone else has has problems with background
repagination when it is on? I was working with it last night and half
the time it wouldn't repaginate once I had made a change and I would
have to close and re-open the document to get it to repaginate.
There's no repaginate command anywhere, is there?

I think this is a real downside, compared to the old Word, which
repaginated just fine.

Take care,
Katarina

Hi Katarina,

[Why is this question popping up so much all of a sudden, I wonder?]

From a previous post by John McGhie:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Yep The preference is buggy. However, it doesn't matter, since Word
ignores it.

It's a legacy of the days when machines were far less powerful than they are
today: there is no longer any need for the setting. But it's one of those
things that is deeply buried in the Word code: they would take it out if
they could, but it's too much work -- it would take development time away
from things that are much more needed.

I suggest that you simply ignore the setting: Word does These days,
Word can paginate in only one place: the background. It will do it in
Normal View whenever it needs to (which is rarely) and in Page Layout View
constantly (because pagination is required to generate Page Layout View).

For best speed, work in Normal View: pagination is suppressed, which makes
Word work much faster, and various non-printing things are shown so it is
easier to edit. For finalizing a document, work in Page Layout View. It's
99 per cent WYSIWYG, but it paginates every time you make a substantive
change, which slows Word down a lot.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

--
Beth Rosengard
Mac MVP

Mac Word FAQ: <http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/WordMac/index.htm>
Entourage Help Page: <http://www.entourage.mvps.org/toc.html>

HI all,
How do I set up my Word X so that it uses background repagination as a
default setting? When I choose background repagination in Preferences
it only works while that document is open and for the next document
it reverts to not repaginating. Also reverts to not repaginating for
the same document once I open and close it. Very annoying!!!!! Help!
Katarina

 

[JE McGimpsey]

So, if I read John's post correctly, there is nothing that can be done
about the annoying refusal of Word X to use background repagination as
a default setting? His post says that Word will repaginate in Normal
when it needs to, which is rarely, but I don't know what that means.
Does that mean it will repaginate only when it is about to print?

I don't think you're reading John's response correctly - he's saying
repagination *only* happens in the background - turning it off in the
preferences does nothing and is a waste of your time (except that going
to preferences may let Word know that it has enough time to repaginate),
but whether the checkbox is checked or unchecked doesn't make Word work
any differently. In order to force pagination, you can choose Page
Layout or Print Preview.

I do a lot of work where I like to be able to move things around on a
page and see how it will look in the final version immediately in
terms of where the page break will come. And that is easiest to do in
Normal where I can set and erase page breaks easily. But every time I
want to do that I have to go to preferences and reset the preference
for background repagination. That is a real pain. And I don't want to
have to work in Page Layout because then you can't see the bridge
between two pages at once, since it will only show one page at a time.

You can see two pages at once in Page Layout (select Two Pages from the
Zoom dropdown), and you can view lots more at once in Print Preview (up
to 170 pages on my system - I'm not sure whether the monitor size makes
a difference).

You can also edit in Print Preview. Just click the magnifying glass icon.

 

[Elliott Roper]

Hi Beth,

Thanks for your prompt reply.

So, if I read John's post correctly, there is nothing that can be done
about the annoying refusal of Word X to use background repagination as
a default setting? His post says that Word will repaginate in Normal
when it needs to, which is rarely, but I don't know what that means.
Does that mean it will repaginate only when it is about to print?

I think this is a real downside, compared to the old Word, which
repaginated just fine.

Yep. You will note that it repaginates when in page view mode. You
can't stop it repaginating. Sometimes it prefers to repaginate rather
than echo your keystrokes.

Me I like page view, even with all that overhead, mostly because I
can't stand the way Word tosses a coin before deciding how much
interword space it is going to display on screen.

So I recorded this macro and assigned a keystroke combo to it.
Sub pageWidth()
'
' pageWidth Macro
' Macro recorded 05-01-2004 by Elliott Roper
'
If ActiveWindow.View.SplitSpecial = wdPaneNone Then
ActiveWindow.ActivePane.View.Type = wdPageView
Else
ActiveWindow.View.Type = wdPageView
End If
ActiveWindow.ActivePane.View.Zoom.PageFit = wdPageFitBestFit
End Sub

You can use it to do what you want. Hit whatever keystroke you assign
to the macro when you paste it into your macro library, watch it
repaginate, then hit cmd-opt-n to put the window back into normal view.

Yes yes yes it is a klugy hack.

 

[Katarina Wittich]

Hi JE,
Well, it definitely does make a difference whether I check background
repagination in preferences or not. When I don't turn it on, it
doesn't repaginate the document unless I am printing it. When I do
turn it on, it repaginates while I am working, but spottily. So
background repagination is not on all the time, I think he's just
saying that there is no foreground repagination, I guess.

I tried picking "many pages" in the Page Layout, but I can't see much
of either page because Page Layout puts so much blank space between
the end of one page's last line and the next pages first line that
most of my screen is occupied with blank space.

And it's a pain to have to switch to Page layout to make it repaginate
and then have to switch back to work in Normal. So there is no command
for repagination?

Thanks,

Katarina

 

[Katarina Wittich]

Hi Elliott,

ahhh, you have to translate for me as I am not much of a computer
person. What does your macro do? Is it a substitute for a repaginate
command?
If so, tell me exactly how to enter it into my computer as I have
never created a macro before and will be lost without explicit
instructions.

Thank you very much,

Katarina

 

[Elliott Roper]

Hi Elliott,

ahhh, you have to translate for me as I am not much of a computer
person. What does your macro do? Is it a substitute for a repaginate
command?

Only by accident. It hops into page view and sets the view to occupy
the whole width of the window. Once there, Word will repaginate.
The advantage compared to setting page view via the menu is that you
may assign a keystroke to it. I recorded it because I like to flick
into page view to see what things *really* look like, and back out
again when I get too irritated waiting for Word to catch up. Page width
is nice because you can make the type grow or shrink depending on what
you are examining.

If so, tell me exactly how to enter it into my computer as I have
never created a macro before and will be lost without explicit
instructions.

OK, copy the macro out of the post. In Word, choose
Tools->macro->macros..
alongside 'Macros in', choose Normal (Global Template)
choose edit

scroll down to the bottom of all your macros (there may be none) and
paste my macro text you cut from your newsreader.

The macro name at the top will change to pageWidth. Close the window.
Choose view ->word document to dismiss the macro editing stuff.

Now assign a key combination to it:-
Tools->customize...->keyboard

in the categories box select macros. The right hand box will show all
your macros. Select pageWidth. Select the box labelled press new
shortcut key, and type the combination of keys you want to invoke it
with. I used ctrl-opt-w (believe me, I found it easy to remember) Use
anything you like as long as you don't over-write any other that you
want to keep using.

Hit assign, and you are done. close all the customize boxes and check
the macro works when you press the key combo. If all is OK, say yes
when you next quit Word and it asks if you want to save your normal
template.

This is a goofy way to write macros, but it works for nicking 'em off
usenet. You might want to practice by recording your own, and then
graduate to using all the rest of the macro editing and testing tools.
Then you can come back here and answer my questions ;-)

Here it is again ready for copying:-
Sub pageWidth()
'
' pageWidth Macro
' Macro recorded 05-01-2004 by Elliott Roper
'
If ActiveWindow.View.SplitSpecial = wdPaneNone Then
ActiveWindow.ActivePane.View.Type = wdPageView
Else
ActiveWindow.View.Type = wdPageView
End If
ActiveWindow.ActivePane.View.Zoom.PageFit = wdPageFitBestFit
End Sub

 

[JE McGimpsey]

Well, it definitely does make a difference whether I check background
repagination in preferences or not. When I don't turn it on, it
doesn't repaginate the document unless I am printing it. When I do
turn it on, it repaginates while I am working, but spottily. So
background repagination is not on all the time, I think he's just
saying that there is no foreground repagination, I guess.

True - it does either turn off or turn on background repagination. I
meant it was a waste of your time because you can't get continuous
repagination in Normal mode the way you want.

I tried picking "many pages" in the Page Layout, but I can't see much
of either page because Page Layout puts so much blank space between
the end of one page's last line and the next pages first line that
most of my screen is occupied with blank space.

If you choose Two pages on my machine, it puts the pages side by side...

If I just format to some percentage less than full page width, I can
scroll to see the bottom two-thirds or so of one page and the top
two-thirds of the next.

And it's a pain to have to switch to Page layout to make it repaginate
and then have to switch back to work in Normal. So there is no command
for repagination?

Nope. Elliot gave you a macro, which automatically switches you to page
layout. If you're just switching to paginate however, assigning keyboard
shortcuts would be quicker.

 

[Clive Huggan]

True - it does either turn off or turn on background repagination. I
meant it was a waste of your time because you can't get continuous
repagination in Normal mode the way you want.


If you choose Two pages on my machine, it puts the pages side by side...

If I just format to some percentage less than full page width, I can
scroll to see the bottom two-thirds or so of one page and the top
two-thirds of the next.


Nope. Elliot gave you a macro, which automatically switches you to page
layout. If you're just switching to paginate however, assigning keyboard
shortcuts would be quicker.

If you don't want to use a special keyboard shortcut for Elliott's nice
little macro, or prepare the macro itself, the command for repagination when
you are in Normal view is in effect Command-Option-p [wait for repagination
to complete] Command-Option-n.

-- Clive Huggan

 

[JE McGimpsey]

If you don't want to use a special keyboard shortcut for Elliott's nice
little macro, or prepare the macro itself, the command for repagination when
you are in Normal view is in effect Command-Option-p [wait for repagination
to complete] Command-Option-n.

thanks, Clive - I reassigned those keys so long ago, I forgot they were
the default (though I should have known, duh!).

 

[Clive Huggan]

If you don't want to use a special keyboard shortcut for Elliott's nice
little macro, or prepare the macro itself, the command for repagination when
you are in Normal view is in effect Command-Option-p [wait for repagination
to complete] Command-Option-n.

thanks, Clive - I reassigned those keys so long ago, I forgot they were
the default (though I should have known, duh!).

Glad to have been of *some* use, John! My tendency *not* to re-allocate
keyboard shortcuts much results only on from my clients often asking me to
show them how to improve something in Word on their PC (invariably it's on
the run, while we are discussing strategic planning -- they are mostly
chief/senior executives and don't have time to go to training courses). So I
need to know the defaults straight off the top of my head. So far, they have
the totally misleading impression that I "know everything" about Word
<ho-ho-ho!>, with the big pay-off being that they have learned to use my
styles-based templates when we develop the documents. And *that* is worth
doing anything for!

CH