textbx txt shows onscreen-won't print; cut/cpy box crashes Word

[Dr.Frenzy]

Sorry for length & several questions; I'll do my best to explain.

Sev'l chapters, all saved as indiv. documents. Now copying them 1@time into
master draft (no, not Master Document.) First, check against template for
clean styles/formats. When all text for 1st 6 chapters in master doc, now
insert "sidebars" ("emphasis" txtbxs: excerpts frm body text), anchor to
relevant paragraphs. Last, insert marginal "tab" txtbxs (/not/ formatting
tabs ... like a file tab, or "thumb tab" in right margin.) These txtbxs are
aligned relative to page; placed ~.2" outside right margin, lined up from
bottom of top margin and proceed down right margin; vertical text direction.
Ex: "Section I" txtbx positioned at 7.45 x 1, "Chapter 1" txtbx at 7.45 x
1.8, "Chapter Title" txtbx at 7.45 x 2.82. These marginal boxes float over
text (not that there's any in the margin to float over, but more to the point
shouldn't be affected by text flow), are not layed out in table, *are*
anchored (to page, yes? Like to (0,0)?).

Can't figure out how to make these textboxes part of "template" or other
layout, so process is: lay out first "tab" txtbx on first page of the
chapter; do all formatting (color, border, position, etc.); Copy; go to ea.
subsequent page and Paste. Page Down, click on page, Ctrl+V, repeat. Because
of tiling "feature" in Paste, ea. new box shifts position slightly on ea.
page. So when done, I go back thru chapter page@time, Ctrl+click ea. to
select all; on last select I right-click, Format Txtbx, enter same position
for all. All jump to where they should.

Per Subject line, "random" txtbxs show their text /onscreen/ but don't
print. Now the fun part: I go to Cut a non-printing page's box, it shows up
in Clipbd with no text! OK, so I'll go copy a "good one" from another page;
can't! No rt-clk to get dotted border. Can only get the diag.line border Edit
Txt. When I *get* Edit txt border, I can now rt-clk to get menu, but Cut/Copy
functions now greyed out. Any attempt to get dotted border on *any* txtbox
now impossible, including main Edit menu.

If I close out of doc, then reopen, I get these features back ... once. So I
can make a Copy of a "good one", go to a "bad one" (now that I made a "Copy"
the Cut/Copy features are now greyed) and though I can't Cut, I can Delete;
then Paste the good one (Paste is never greyed.) Then I have to close the
document and repeat.

Obviously some bug? Scanned for viruses on all docs, nothing. Tried a
"Compare and Merge" between an older "good" version and the new one, can't
find what went wrong ... but /did/ notice there are seemingly random
instances of "Asian (Chinese) PRC" font encoding in Style Defs.

Also, even tho anchored to page, not paragraphs, some "sidebar" inline boxes
jump. Moving these sidebar boxes back where they belong makes *margin* baxes
jump! Even tho not anchored to text.

1) Are any of my actions causing the non-printing error?
2) How can I find all instances of non-Latin encoding so I can replace? They
all show up under Normal; if I show Formats in Use I don't find them. Going
to Reveal Formatting works, but I'd have to move the cursor thru the text one
character at a time before finding isolated instances of the Asian encoding.
3) How, other than "clicking around" in the grey area "off the page" can I
find "bumped/lost" txtbxs? I've clicked around outside page, found hidden
txtbxs that way (pointer changes to the multi-arrow "target") but there must
be a better way.

The document is huge. Do I have to start from scratch??? Auughhh!

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

I would suggest anchoring your "tabs" to the header so they will repeat on
every page. One easy way to set this up is to create a tall, narrow wrapped,
borderless table in the margin. In each section, fill the appropriate table
cell for the tab in that section.

 

[Dr.Frenzy]

When I anchor a table in the header, the header expands to the height of the
table, thus bumping/starting the body text way way down the page. Is there a
way around this?

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

You have to wrap the table. If it's in the margin, it won't really matter
what kind of wrapping you use--Square or Behind Text or whatever.

 

[Dr.Frenzy]

Suzanne, I wasn't able to discover any Table Properties that let me do
Wrapping. Is there a way to get to more table features than in the Table
Properties feature?

The only Wrapping I knew of was in textboxes, so I tried that. Fortunately,
the post that came in after mine (about different headers on subsequent
pages) was my "next question", so by looking at your response and going to
your MVP pages, I was able to get all 21 different sets of "margin tabs"
done! Thanks!

I'm certainly grateful, and hope you could now take a shot at the questions
I had in my original post. (Please tell me if I should break the issues up
somehow, or re-post them under separate subject lines, as I am new to group
and its netiquette. As they all seemed to occur together, this is why I
posted the whole background, thinking it might trigger some recognition
amongst the experts!)

1) Any idea what might be causing textbox text to show in the eDoc, but not
print, subsequently stripping copy/cut function when attempting to correct?
2) How can I find all instances of non-Latin encoding so I can replace the
Asian encoding?
3) Other than clicking around in the grey "off page"
area, how can I find "bumped/lost" textboxes?

Thanks...
Matthew

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Sorry, I misspoke. Table wrapping is limited to None or Around, but Around
should do what you want. The text box will work, too.

1. If text boxes aren't printing, the most likely cause is that you don't
have "Drawing objects" checked on the Print tab of Tools | Options.

2. Sorry, don't have a clue about this.

3. Finding strayed text boxes should be much easier if you display text
boundaries (Tools | Options | View), but I don't know if this will help if
they've strayed off the page.