Paper size - no options listed, only "Custom"

[Bert Coules]

I just installed Word 2000 on my laptop. The installation went perfectly
smoothly, and everything works just as it should - except that in Page
Setup/Paper Size the only option is "Custom". Nothing else is available.

I've never known this happen before. What have I done wrong, and how can I
fix it?

Many thanks.

Bert

 

[Terry Farrell]

Install a compatible printer driver and set as the Windows default.

 

[Bert Coules]

Install a compatible printer driver and set as the Windows default.

Ah, thank you. Yes, my laptop doesn't have any printer drivers installed at
all, but it would never have occurred to me that not having a printer
installed would have that particular effect.

Bert

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Word gets all its page setup information from the printer driver.

 

[Terry Farrell]

You are fortunate that Word even starts without a printer. Word uses the
printer driver to lay out the document on screen so that it closely
resembles the printed output. Normally, no printer, no Word.

Terry

 

[Bert Coules]

Terry and Suzanne,

Thanks for the answers.

I use a laptop for working on documents when I'm away from home, to modify
and resave them for transferring back to my main PC: no need of a printer
there. And in fact, I can't recall the last time I printed a major Word
file at home either: all my drafting and editing is done onscreen, not from
hard copy, and once a MSS is in a submittable form, off it goes by email to
a publisher or producer. At a pinch I could live without a printer
altogether. But I still need page setup, and I can't believe I'm the only
one who works that way.

As someone remarked in an answer to an earlier question of mine, "Word
doesn't do logic".

Bert

 

[Ann]

Terry and Suzanne,

Thanks for the answers.

I use a laptop for working on documents when I'm away from home, to modify
and resave them for transferring back to my main PC: no need of a printer
there. And in fact, I can't recall the last time I printed a major Word
file at home either: all my drafting and editing is done onscreen, not from
hard copy, and once a MSS is in a submittable form, off it goes by email to
a publisher or producer. At a pinch I could live without a printer
altogether. But I still need page setup, and I can't believe I'm the only
one who works that way.

As someone remarked in an answer to an earlier question of mine, "Word
doesn't do logic".

Bert

Would installing one of the free pdf printer drivers work for
page setup in Word?

Ann

 

[Bert Coules]

Would installing one of the free pdf printer drivers work for page setup

in Word?

My impression - which might be completely wrong - is that any printer driver
would have done. I used the one for my desktop printer, which I'm pretty
certain will never, ever, be connected to the laptop; which seems like a
waste of space and resources, or would if the program didn't require it.

But hey, it works now; that's the main thing.

Bert

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

The one to use, if you want to know what the document will look like when
you ultimately do print it, is the driver for the printer you'll ultimately
print it on, because documents can be formatted slightly differently
depending on what printer driver is selected.