Centering pages for print in Word 2003...

[alex gross]

Hi, Suzanne, i am quite near the end of my task of typesetting my
book using Word 2003. I have just about everything in order
except the last step, and I am hoping you can help me with this,
otherwise I shall have to request the printers to solve this problem
in the course of producing the book, which could not only cost me
too much but end up getting the book's pagination wrong..

The final page size of my book sounds weird, but it is actually a
standard US & European size: 6,14" high x 9.21" wide, which is
expressed in millimeters as 234 x 156, with the height coming first.

This page size comes out printed on standard 8 1/2" x 11" office
paper, but not centered, far too close to the top of the page.
My final task is that I must exactly center these odd-sized pages
onto the standard US paper, so that the left & right marins are equal
to each other and the top and bottom margins are also equal to each
other. Otherwise the pages will not print correctly.

My left & right margins are close to perfect. But so far I am going
somewhat crazy trying to center & equalize the top & bottom
margins,.. So far as I can tell, the problem may lie in my headers &
footers, which I am so far unable to push up & down within the
required vertical page size. When i increase the "distance from
edge" of these headers & footers in the page layout tab on the
header & footer toolbar, i end up with less actual printed matter
deposited onto each page, which ends up increasing the size of the
book (its total number of pages) to an impossible degree.

Do you know of any solution to this, Suzanne...???

all the best!

alex gross

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

I'm not sure why you have to have the page area centered on your paper, but
here's some information that may help. The header margin determines the top
of the header. Anything you add to the header is added below that line. The
footer margin defines the bottom of the footer, with added content moving
up. Ordinarily you have enough difference between the header/footer and
top/bottom margins to allow space between the header/footer and the document
body, but if you add excess content to the header/footer, it will push the
document body down/up. More at
http://sbarnhill.mvps.org/WordFAQs/HeaderFooter.htm.

In order to lay out a page of a specific size on larger paper, you need to
(at least mentally) draw the page dimensions on the larger sheet, centered,
then calculate the desired margins for the printed page within that frame.
Add the amount outside the frame to the amount inside the frame to give the
desired header/footer margin. To assist the printer, I generally add crop
marks; see http://sbarnhill.mvps.org/WordFAQs/CropMarks.htm.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
http://word.mvps.org