Insert a table in the footer of the last page.

[Kris]

Hi!

I'm trying to insert a table in the footer of the last page in Word2000 on a
XP Pro SP2 system. To do so I use the fielddefinition {IF
{PAGE} = {NUMPAGES} "xxx"} in the footer. The fielddefintion works correctly
when I use it with text.

But what is my problem? When I replace xxx with a complete table and hit
Alt+F9 or Shift+F9, Word goes berzerk. From the actionmessage in the lower
left corner, I could make up that word is trying to repage the document. But
somewhere there is a problem as word runs through all the pages, but
he/she/it skips the last one and starts repaging all over. A neverending
story so to speak. After waiting 5 minutes and going trough 20 repage cycles,
I hit a mousebottom and word crashed completely.

Does anyone recognize this problem and has a solution for it?

You would be a great help!!!

Thanks in advance,

kris

 

[Herb Tyson [MVP]]

I can confirm that what you're trying to do appears to work fine in Word
2003. I don't know if a bug might've been corrected since Word 2000, or not.

One thing you might try... copy the table into an AutoText entry. Then
substitute an AutoText field for the table in the footer. Supposing that the
AutoText entry's name is Table, your field would look like this:

{IF {PAGE} = {NUMPAGES} { AUTOTEXT TABLE }}

Does that work for you? (Here, it works with or without quotes around the
AutoText field.)

 

[Kris]

Hi Herb,

Thanks for your feedback. I tried what you suggested, but your solution has
the same effect on Word as mine had. In other words, words keeps repaging.

However, I discovered the strangest thing. I tried to insert the same table
using the same field in the header. And ... it worked! The table flickers the
whole time -it is as if the table is selected, unselected, selected, ...- but
when I close the Header, the table is displayed correctly and I can reopen
the header. On reopening, the table starts flickering again, but I can alter
the field. In brief, it works in the header. Copy/pasting the same field in
the footer makes Word go wacko again.

If you have any suggestions, they are more than welcome, but in the mean
time, I'll look for updates or for Office2003.

Thanks,

kris

 

[Bob S]

The technique that you are using is widely recommended, but it has the
problem that you have discovered.

The problem is this; What does Word do if the amount of body text on
the "last" page is large enough that the body text plus the "last page
header or footer" text doesn't fit?

Word paginates the document once to find out what NUMPAGES should be,
and of course does not use the "last page" thing because it doesn't
know what the last page is yet. So the body text fits fine on the last
page and Word decides what that page number will be and sticks it in
the NUMPAGES field. Then Word goes back and paginates the document
again "for real", knowing the value for NUMPAGES, and inserts the last
page item that you specify, but now the body text won't all fit on the
last page, so the last page isn't the last page. So Word goes back and
starts over figuring out what the last page is, but now it fits...

In sum, Word cannot know NUMPAGES until it knows what will fit on the
last page, and it cannot know what will fit on the last page until it
knows which page is last (NUMPAGES).

The technique works fine if the last page body text plus the "last
page extra stuff" doesn't overflow the page, but that is just luck
unless you make sure that the last page header or footer item is no
larger than the header or footer on the other pages.

One technique that you could try would be to place the end-of-document
table at the end of the document rather than in the last page footer.
Perhaps put it in a floating object anchored to the last paragraph,
with position set to cover the footer area, and with a white
background. This is not free of problems either, but they are
different problems; who knows, you might like these different problems
better.

Bob S

 

[jpmoriarty]

This might be incredibly simple and not what you want, but I thought i
might be worth mentioning!

Can't you just do a page break at the end of your document and then pu
your table on that fresh page? Then you can do all your document befor
that page and it will always remain by itself on the last page. Yo
could even do a section break and set up a new type of footer as you'v
described.

I can't think how different that would be to automating the process
but it would make it a heck of a lot simpler.

Just a thought

 

[Kris]

Hi Bob,

thanks for your info. We solved it using a floating object anchored to the
last paragraph as you suggested. Works fine (for the moment).

Kris