Printing background image

[Storm]

I try to make a job with a pdf background image placed over the entire
page. It looks fine, but the background image will not print.
Any suggestions how I can achieve printing a background image in 4 full
colors?

 

[John McGhie [MVP - Word]]

Hi Storm:

It's absolutely impossible to answer your question until you tell me which
software you are using.

If you mean Word on OS X, the answer is probably "you can't".

But look up "watermark" in the Help for an explanation of how it is supposed
to work.

Whether or not it does depends on your computer and printer. It will work
with some and not with others.

cheers

I try to make a job with a pdf background image placed over the entire
page. It looks fine, but the background image will not print.
Any suggestions how I can achieve printing a background image in 4 full
colors?

--

Please respond only to the newsgroup to preserve the thread.

John McGhie, Consultant Technical Writer,
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
Sydney, Australia. GMT + 10 Hrs
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]

 

[Storm]

It's absolutely impossible to answer your question until you tell me which
software you are using.

I am using OS X 10.3.3 - Word X

If you mean Word on OS X, the answer is probably "you can't".

I can't - but I would nearly bet that I have done this under OS 9.

But look up "watermark" in the Help for an explanation of how it is supposed
to work.

Whether or not it does depends on your computer and printer. It will work
with some and not with others.

Thanks - I am supposed to deliver a job to a customer who wants to print
my "background" image and place different graphics on top of it.
I have placed it as an ordinary image which allow elements on top of it.
And it functions ok - but using this solution it is easy to move the
"background" picture by a accident. (Is it possible to lock it
somehow?). I would avoid this using a background image.
But if it does not function in all printers and on pc platforms as well,
it is not the solution.
I will try of the watermark solutions.

 

[Dayo Mitchell]

Thanks - I am supposed to deliver a job to a customer who wants to print
my "background" image and place different graphics on top of it.
I have placed it as an ordinary image which allow elements on top of it.
And it functions ok - but using this solution it is easy to move the
"background" picture by a accident. (Is it possible to lock it
somehow?). I would avoid this using a background image.
But if it does not function in all printers and on pc platforms as well,
it is not the solution.
I will try of the watermark solutions.

If you anchor the graphic in the header, which I think the watermark does by
default, then it is somewhat protected from people randomly clicking on it,
as they would need to be in the header/footer to affect it.

DM

 

[John McGhie [MVP - Word]]

Hi Storm:

If it were *me* using the document, I would use Insert>>Object>>Microsoft
Word Picture to create a drawing canvas. I would then assemble all of the
graphics elements on the canvas.

When the canvas appears, a little floating toolbar appears with a hash
button (pound sign) button on it. That re-sizes the canvas to encompass all
of the objects in the picture. Click it when the whole thing is to your
satisfaction.

When you close the canvas, the entire picture is encapsulated so that no
parts of it can move and it cannot break across pages. To make changes, you
double-click it.

The canvas is actually a word document embedded within a Word document. It
makes graphics stable and predictable. Regrettably, there is almost no
documentation about it in the Help.

A watermark, on the other hand, is a graphic that exists in the header of
the document and replicates on each page. Just because the anchor for the
watermark is in the header does not mean the picture has to print there.
You can drag the graphic to print anywhere on the page. You need a section
break with its header set to "[Not] Same as previous" somewhere on that page
so you can remove the watermark from the following pages.

The watermark is a better solution for sending to customers: they can then
screw around with the foreground graphics as much as they like without
damaging the watermark. The downside is that bugs in the OS X printing
system make the printed results very variable on the Mac. In OS 9 and on
the PC it works beautifully.

Hope this helps

I am using OS X 10.3.3 - Word X


I can't - but I would nearly bet that I have done this under OS 9.


Thanks - I am supposed to deliver a job to a customer who wants to print
my "background" image and place different graphics on top of it.
I have placed it as an ordinary image which allow elements on top of it.
And it functions ok - but using this solution it is easy to move the
"background" picture by a accident. (Is it possible to lock it
somehow?). I would avoid this using a background image.
But if it does not function in all printers and on pc platforms as well,
it is not the solution.
I will try of the watermark solutions.

--

Please respond only to the newsgroup to preserve the thread.

John McGhie, Consultant Technical Writer,
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
Sydney, Australia. GMT + 10 Hrs
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]

 

[Storm]

Thank you for an insppiring answer.

If it were *me* using the document, I would use Insert>>Object>>Microsoft
Word Picture to create a drawing canvas. I would then assemble all of the
graphics elements on the canvas.

When the canvas appears, a little floating toolbar appears with a hash
button (pound sign) button on it. That re-sizes the canvas to encompass all
of the objects in the picture. Click it when the whole thing is to your
satisfaction.

When you close the canvas, the entire picture is encapsulated so that no
parts of it can move and it cannot break across pages. To make changes, you
double-click it.

The canvas is actually a word document embedded within a Word document. It
makes graphics stable and predictable. Regrettably, there is almost no
documentation about it in the Help.

I have my background graphic in pdf format - that makes the canvas
solution unnecessary if I understand it correct.

I want to apply a table on top of my graphic, and I want the customer to
insert different graphics into the table cells. Perhaps I have to try
harder, but I cannot manage to apply it on top of the graphic, it makes
the canvas grahics move.

But perhaps such a solution using a pdf demands a postscript printer to
print correctly? Do you know about this?

A watermark, on the other hand, is a graphic that exists in the header of
the document and replicates on each page. Just because the anchor for the
watermark is in the header does not mean the picture has to print there.
You can drag the graphic to print anywhere on the page. You need a section
break with its header set to "[Not] Same as previous" somewhere on that page
so you can remove the watermark from the following pages.

The watermark is a better solution for sending to customers: they can then
screw around with the foreground graphics as much as they like without
damaging the watermark. The downside is that bugs in the OS X printing
system make the printed results very variable on the Mac. In OS 9 and on
the PC it works beautifully.

I think this is going to be my solution, it is supposed to be used on
pc.

Hope this helps

Thank you both for great help - tomorrow I will try out the watermark
possibility. I am not used to Word, so this is quite a challenge to me