Word prints an extra blank page.

[Joe Kosheff]

My Word 2002 document chapters are separated by odd page section breaks so
that new chapters begin on the front of a duplex printed page. When section
text ends on an odd page, Word correctly leaves a blank page but then leaves
another blank, with the result that the next chapter begins with a blank
page. There is no problem when text ends on an even page. The extra blank
page is not visible on-screen, even in Print Preview. Page numbering is
correct. MVP John McGhie describes an automatic way to create a non-blank,
even-numbered page at the end of a chapter, but this is a bit too technical
for me. A manual page break before the section break solves the problem by
forcing an even-page ending, but requires a review of each section ending
before printing. Is there a better solution?

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Check the beginning of the chapter for page breaks (including "Page break
before" formatting). If you are restarting numbering, you will of course
need to start with an odd number to get a recto page.

For general "blank page" troubleshooting, see
http://sbarnhill.mvps.org/WordFAQs/BlankPage.htm

 

[Joe Kosheff]

There are no page breaks at the beginning. Numbering does restart with each
chapter. Numbering is correct in the sense that the first page containing
text is numbered, for example, 4-1 where 4 is the chapter number. Print
Preview with facing pages correctly shows the blank page at the end of the
previous chapter but does not show the extraneous blank at the beginning of
the next chapter. What is a "recto" page? I did not find a solution in the
blank page link. Any further ideas? Many thanks for your help.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

A recto page is a right-hand, odd-numbered page. The back of it is verso.
These are standard publishing terms. If you would like to send me a sample
of the misbehaving document, I'll take a look.

 

[Joe Kosheff]

I will send you the first 3 chapters of a very large document. It will be
easier to work with and does show the problem. Where do I send it? And thanks
again.

 

[Joe Kosheff]

Here is an update. I copied an excerpt of my document except for the last
paragraph mark, which exhibits the same problem as the full document, into a
new blank document. The extra blank page problem went away but the last odd
page break in each chapter (some chapters have more than one break) failed to
produce a blank page.

I repeated this test by pasting a copy of the excerpt into Notepad and from
Notepad into a blank Word document. Then I inserted odd page breaks and page
numbering formats the same as my document. This new Word document showed the
same problem as the preceding document. Could this be a Word bug?
--
Joe

I will send you the first 3 chapters of a very large document. It will be
easier to work with and does show the problem. Where do I send it? And thanks
again.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

I would have to see the document to troubleshoot it. You can get my email
address by clicking on my name in the NG post. If you send it, please
include a full description of the problem in the cover email.