Labels and inside margins

[Pierre]

When I add a 0.12 inch inside margin to my labels, it is added TO the height,
rather than INSIDE the label, which throws off my printing alignment... any
thoughts?
.... and YES, my label rows are set to 1.25" "Exactly" in the ROW options.

Thanks,
Pierre
Montreal

 

[Doug Robbins - Word MVP]

What is the purpose of the margin? You should be able to achieve the same
effect by applying the appropriate formatting to the paragraph - space
before or indent?

--
Hope this helps.

Please reply to the newsgroup unless you wish to avail yourself of my
services on a paid consulting basis.

Doug Robbins - Word MVP

 

[Pierre]

LOL.. well in that case, what's the point margins all together?

I must say that was quite an impressive reply coming from an MVP don't you
think?

Still, here is my answer to your question.
The reason being that with margins, I don't have to eyeball the blank space
I want to leave on the upper and lower part of the label because I am in fact
cutting them out and inserting them in plastic shelf-talkers for product
display.
But that should be neither here nor there.. the problem I have, I think, is
a fundamental one with Word, where it allows for a margin (within the cell)
yet it ADDS on this figure to the height of the cell...
So never mind WHY I need the margins... although I appreciate your trying to
help, I doubt that "working around" something that SHOULD work, is much of a
solution at all... but maybe that's just me.

PS: your solution also suggests that I use spaces and/or indents, but if you
read my query again, you might realise that I am indeed talking about the
upper and lower margins of my labels...

Pierre
Montreal

 

[Herb Tyson [MVP]]

What version of Word is this, and how are you adjusting the inside margins?
Using the label settings themselves? Using table cell settings after the
labels have been inserted? (Once we know exactly which dialog box you're
using, it should be possible to say why you're seeing the result you're
seeing, as well as how to get the result you want.)

 

[Pierre]

Hello Herb,
I am using Word 2003 and modifying the margins with "table properties" in
the right-click menu, after having selected the whole table with the
uppermost left-hand selection handle. In the TABLE tab, I choose advanced
and enter the top and bottom margins there. In the ROW tab, I enter 1.25"
and choose "Exactly".
These options seem pretty straight forward, yet my left-hand ruler shows
that each label row now has a height of 1.37" and 1.38" alternating... and
since this new-found size, can only fit 7 rows instead of 8 as specified in
the labels options of my custom labels "details" area... which even after
making the modifications stated above, still show up as having a vertical
pitch and label height of 1.25", and 8 rows per page.

In hoping that you can come up with an explanation... until then, I remain
baffled.
Pierre
Montreal
PS: Meanwhile, what I DID do is simply chose an "exact" height of 1.13" and
I was able to get the job done, but remain unsatisfied as to why such a
seemingly logical and simple task has become so complex... and irritating. I
guess the Dr. Spock in me finds this highly illogical !

 

[Peter Jamieson]

For reasons I do not know - could be just the way MS does it, could be some
typographical tradition - the row height (i.e. distance from the gridline at
the top of one row to the gridline at the top of the next is
the row hieght you specify in Table|Table Properties|Rows
plus
the maximum of the bottom cell mergin you specify in Table|Table
properties|Table|Options and the individual cbottom cell margins you have
specified in each cell in the row, if you have specified any.

In other words, changing the top cell margin merely causes the top of the
text to move downwards in the cell. Changing the bottom cell margin moves
the cell boundary downwards.

And that is probably one of the biggest oversimplifications I've ever
written I really don't know how all these variables are used in Word.
The above was researched using the values you specified (so you could have
done it yourself, really!), i.e. with a fixed row height. So if you happen
to have cells of different heights, cells split into two rows, non-fixed row
height, I don't know what the impact is. Perhaps one of the folks in the
microsoft.public.word.tables group has a complete algorithm.

So in other words, what you probably need to do is decrease the value in
your Row Height box by 0.12".

 

[Pierre]

Hi,
Your suggestion is what I did end up doing in order to solve my problem.
Thanks for the explanation, at least I know I am not just going crazy, but I
think that someone should probably explain MARGINS to the guys at Microsoft,
right?

.... OR just take the bottom margin (for cells) and rename it "gutter" which
is more what it is.

In any event, thanks again.