Page registration marks in Word?

[Tony Burton]

I'm printing out a book whose page size is smaller than the usual 8.5 x 11. Is it possible to print
them out with registration marks showing the actual page corners? PageMaker does it - I'm hoping
there is a way it can be done in a Word doc also.

 

[Elliott Roper]

I'm printing out a book whose page size is smaller than the usual 8.5
x 11. Is it possible to print them out with registration marks
showing the actual page corners? PageMaker does it - I'm hoping there
is a way it can be done in a Word doc also.

I know of no official way in Mac Word, but you could try the cheats way
by putting suitable graphics in the headers and footers.

I'd not bother. I'd set up the guillotine accurately to the page
measure. I'm pretty sure professional printers do the same. On black
and white product those marks are to tell them they screwed up after
the event. They are usually called crop marks. If the print shop is
doing colour separations, there is different game going on. The
registration marks are printed on each separation CMYandK . If
everything lines up nicely after all four colours have been printed
onto the paper, they come out black without any coloured fringes. There
is no way of telling Word to do seps, so don't even try.

You need InDesign or Quark or (splutter!) Acrobat to play in that
sandpit.

 

[Daiya Mitchell]

I know of no official way in Mac Word, but you could try the cheats way
by putting suitable graphics in the headers and footers.

Here's details on faking it with graphics, if you want to go that route.
It was written for Windows Word, but a quick skim suggests it will be a
fine guide for the Mac.

http://sbarnhill.mvps.org/WordFAQs/CropMarks.htm

 

[Tony Burton]

http://sbarnhill.mvps.org/WordFAQs/CropMarks.htm

Thanks Daiya.

Word sure knows how to make something complicated!

 

[John McGhie [MVP - Word and Word Macintosh]]

Que??? What ARE you smoking

In case you hadn't noticed, Word is a *word processor*. Crop marks are a
DTP function. The fact that Word can do them at all is a bonus, and it just
saved you the price of InDesign

You can blame ME for your troubles if you like; pick on someone your own
size and leave that poor defenceless little software alone, you big bully!

Thanks Daiya.

Word sure knows how to make something complicated!

--

Please reply to the newsgroup to maintain the thread. Please do not email
me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie <[email protected]>
Microsoft MVP, Word and Word for Macintosh. Business Analyst, Consultant
Technical Writer.
Sydney, Australia +61 (0) 4 1209 1410

 

[Kurt]

Que??? What ARE you smoking

In case you hadn't noticed, Word is a *word processor*. Crop marks are a
DTP function. The fact that Word can do them at all is a bonus, and it just
saved you the price of InDesign

You can blame ME for your troubles if you like; pick on someone your own
size and leave that poor defenceless little software alone, you big bully!

Even though it may do crop marks (never tried this), printers cringe
when they see someone bring in a Word doc for printing.

Better if you convert to PDF before you send it to the printer and only
if you don't access to a professional page layout program like InDesign.

 

[Kurt]

Hi Kurt:

{Chortle} I think they've gotten over that by now

There is a trick to it: Call the printer first and ask them which printer
driver they're using for Word. Install that and paginate your document with
it: that way the pagination will shift around very little when you get the
file to the printer.

If you've formatted the document correctly, it won't move at all

Yes, but PDF is generally bulletproof.
I work with a lot of printers, and often finding the person who actually
knows all this stuff can eat up a lot of your time. Big firms are often
the hardest to do this witt with because of their bureaucracies.

Word is still discouraged at most of the high-end printers I deal with.
You might be find better at a local small printer.

"The path of least resistance" is my motto for all of this. Do what the
printers feel the best working with. Ask them first BEFORE preparing
your final artwork.

 

[Clive Huggan]

Yes, but PDF is generally bulletproof.
I work with a lot of printers, and often finding the person who actually
knows all this stuff can eat up a lot of your time. Big firms are often
the hardest to do this witt with because of their bureaucracies.

Word is still discouraged at most of the high-end printers I deal with.
You might be find better at a local small printer.

"The path of least resistance" is my motto for all of this. Do what the
printers feel the best working with. Ask them first BEFORE preparing
your final artwork.

Yes, that's my experience too, Kurt.

Clive Huggan
============