Text Box Overload?

[Guest]

My marketing department has been using Word 2002 and 2003 to lay out proposal
documents. (We use Word rather than a lay out program for maximum
accessibility to others in the company.) Our design calls for call out
boxes, pictures, subtitles, etc. that we have been inserting into text boxes.
This has allowed us the most freedom in placing this type of content.

From time to time, our documents begin to act as though they are
"overloaded." The screen image looks fine, but when we print the page, some
boxes have disappeared and others have moved. This generally happens when
we've been inserting pictures and have multiple text boxes with pictures and
text - but not always.

Is there a maximum number of text boxes a document can handle? Or are we
running into difficulties because our picture files are too large? We
generally insert the picture and change the size right within Word, rather
than resizing through a program like Photoshop. Any suggestions would be
most appreciated.

 

[garfield-n-odie [MVP]]

If you experience this problem when printing to a laser printer,
then I suspect the printer doesn't have enough memory to handle
complex graphics (high-resolution images, multiple drawing layers).

 

[Guest]

A good thought - however, we use that same color laser to print complex
projects from Illustrator, so I'm fairly certain the printer's memory should
be able to print my docs.

 

[garfield-n-odie [MVP]]

Different software programs will "talk" differently with a given
printer driver. Next time you run into a Word document that
prints incorrectly, try printing at the minimum print resolution
for your printer (maybe 75dpi or 150dpi) instead of the usual
600dpi or 1200dpi, and see if the graphics print better. Other
things you might try:
1. In Word, try turning off background printing in Tools |
Options | Print.
2. In Windows, try turning off printing spooling and/or
advanced text services in Start | Control Panel | Printers |
<right-click on your printer> | Properties.

 

[Guest]

You are fabulous! Our resolution was already at the lower setting, but I
turned off background printing and my page printed beautifully. Thanks so
much for your very prompt help!