Column break problems

[Paul MR]

Word 2000 and I am not very experienced. I wrote a 78-page document
with 2 columns on each page. Where column breaks were absolutely
critical, I inserted a hard column break. Otherwise (like in the middle
of a paragraph), I just let the text continue or else put a couple of
hard returns at the end of paragraphs.

I e-mailed the document to a friend for proof reading. When he opened
it on his computer many of the soft column breaks had shifted, making
the whole document screwy (i.e. some of the hard breaks were just two or
three lines from the top of the column, resulting in a basically empty
column.) On my computer, the breaks are still where they should be.

(1) What caused this shifting?
(2) Most importantly, when I take the doc on a disk to Kinkos for
printing, how can I guarantee that the shifting won't happen there too?

Thanks,
Paul in San Francisco

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

See http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/Formatting/TextReflow.htm. And don't use empty
paragraphs; use "Keep with next" and "Keep lines together" to control text
flow.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA

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[Paul MR]

Thank you Suzanne. Your FAQ article raised these further questions:
(1) Is there some way I can "attach" or "link" my home printer or
printer driver to the document and freeze it that way, so that no matter
what computer I use to open the document it opens with the settings I
have at home?

(2) I have only an Adobe Acrobat reader and I believe it cannot create a
pdf file, right? Neither do I see a way for Word to create a pdf file,
right? Would saving the document as an rtf file have the same effect of
locking the formatting as pdf does?


Paul in San Francisco

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

The answer to both, I'm afraid, is no. But you have divined that the only
way to "freeze" the document layout is to create a PDF. In addition to the
full-bore Adobe Acrobat, there are free or low-cost PDF writers available
online. Be aware, however, that a PDF will not be editable.

Another approach is to install the driver for your home printer on any
computer used to open the file, and select that as the active printer when
viewing it. Even this solution will have some limitations, since the driver
for a given printer will be somewhat different on different operating
systems.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA

Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.