Having a fixed text box on each page

[Howard]

1. In Word 2007 I would like to have the Alphabet Sidebar text box appear on
every page and remain in the same place on a page no matter what changes I
make to the page's text that's not in the text box. Now, sometimes the text
box jumps down to the next page when I change the non-textbox text.

2. How can I position the Alphabet Sidebar text box so that it's on the
right side of the page rather than the left?

 

[Jay Freedman]

1. In Word 2007 I would like to have the Alphabet Sidebar text box appear on
every page and remain in the same place on a page no matter what changes I
make to the page's text that's not in the text box. Now, sometimes the text
box jumps down to the next page when I change the non-textbox text.

2. How can I position the Alphabet Sidebar text box so that it's on the
right side of the page rather than the left?

If the contents of your Alphabet Sidebar are the same on every page, anchor it
in the header and position it in the margin wherever you want it. To do this,
first click the outermost edge of the sidebar and cut it to the clipboard.
Double-click in the header area to open it. Paste in the sidebar, and drag it to
wherever you want it (including the right margin). See
http://sbarnhill.mvps.org/WordFAQs/AnchorToHeader.htm for some background.

If the contents change from page to page, then the sidebar must be anchored in
the regular text. You can't entirely prevent it from moving to the next page
when the text to which it's anchored changes in length, but you can minimize
that. Again click the outermost edge of the sidebar, right-click it, and choose
Format Text Box. In the dialog, click the Layout tab and click the Advanced
button. In the second dialog, in the Horizontal section choose Alignment and set
it to Right relative to Page; in the Vertical section, click the Absolute
option.

If the paragraph to which the sidebar is anchored (the one that contains the
cursor at the time you insert the sidebar) moves to the next page, the sidebar
will also move. There is no way to "fasten" the sidebar to a particular page.
You would have to manually move the anchor to text that's still on the original
page. (In Office button > Word Options > Display, check the box for "Object
anchors". An anchor icon will appear in the margin next to the anchor paragraph,
and you can drag that icon to another paragraph.)

 

[Howard]

--
Howard

If the contents of your Alphabet Sidebar are the same on every page, anchor it
in the header and position it in the margin wherever you want it. To do this,
first click the outermost edge of the sidebar and cut it to the clipboard.
Double-click in the header area to open it. Paste in the sidebar, and drag it to
wherever you want it (including the right margin). See
http://sbarnhill.mvps.org/WordFAQs/AnchorToHeader.htm for some background.

If the contents change from page to page, then the sidebar must be anchored in
the regular text. You can't entirely prevent it from moving to the next page
when the text to which it's anchored changes in length, but you can minimize
that. Again click the outermost edge of the sidebar, right-click it, and choose
Format Text Box. In the dialog, click the Layout tab and click the Advanced
button. In the second dialog, in the Horizontal section choose Alignment and set
it to Right relative to Page; in the Vertical section, click the Absolute
option.

If the paragraph to which the sidebar is anchored (the one that contains the
cursor at the time you insert the sidebar) moves to the next page, the sidebar
will also move. There is no way to "fasten" the sidebar to a particular page.
You would have to manually move the anchor to text that's still on the original
page. (In Office button > Word Options > Display, check the box for "Object
anchors". An anchor icon will appear in the margin next to the anchor paragraph,
and you can drag that icon to another paragraph.)

--
Regards,
Jay Freedman
Microsoft Word MVP
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so all may benefit.

Jay,

The contents of the text box varies by page.

In your description of how to handle that situation, you wrote "If the
contents change from page to page, then the sidebar must be anchored in
the regular text. You can't entirely prevent it from moving to the next page
when the text to which it's anchored changes in length, but you can minimize
that."

Can you tell me more about why text box content can move to the next page
when the anchoring text changes in length? What is the relationship between
text box content and the length of its anchoring text?

Thanks.

 

[Howard]

Jay,

Thanks for the response. Please ignore my other reply. After I wrote it I
saw that you had answered my question.

 

[Jay Freedman]

Jay,

The contents of the text box varies by page.

In your description of how to handle that situation, you wrote "If the
contents change from page to page, then the sidebar must be anchored in
the regular text. You can't entirely prevent it from moving to the next page
when the text to which it's anchored changes in length, but you can minimize
that."

Can you tell me more about why text box content can move to the next page
when the anchoring text changes in length? What is the relationship between
text box content and the length of its anchoring text?

Thanks.

Technically, the anchor 'point' is the top left corner of the paragraph
containing the anchor. The sidebar must always be on the same page as the anchor
point.

So it isn't the length of the anchor paragraph that matters, but whether the
beginning of the paragraph gets shifted to the next or previous page. That can
happen because of changes in the amount of material that precedes the anchor
paragraph.

The length of the text box in the sidebar can be anything from one line to the
entire depth to the bottom of the page, but no more than that -- extra text will
disappear below the bottom but won't flow onto the next page. If you need to
make a continuation, that will have to be done manually. In a pair of ordinary
text boxes, you can create a link to send the overflow of the first box to the
second. That isn't possible for Alphabet Sidebars because there's a content
control inside the text box. If necessary, though, you could remove the content
controls and just put the text in the text box itself, and then linking would be
possible.