Microsoft Word Hell

[undressedmonster]

I'm trying to create some templates in Microsoft Word for people to type into and print on our letterhead.

I did some searching on this forum and couldn't find answers to my specific question, so here goes.

I figured out how to get my header and footer on the first page without them also being on subsequent pages. But because there is no header on the 2nd page and on, the body text can move up a few lines to make it visually "feel right." But how do you set different margins for different pages?

I tried inserting a section break, but then the problem is when people fill up the first page and their text flows onto the 2nd page, so does the section break. And therefore the 2nd page becomes part of the same section as page 1, thus giving it the same margins. How do I tell Microsoft Word that only page 1 has xyz attributes and all other pages following have abc attributes?

A friend tells me that no one in the world has figured this out and that I'll be famous if I do. Please prove him wrong!

[Mynock]

I think he's right. I don't know of a way around it.

[red cloud]

Word is a terrible program. You'd be better off formatting in HTML and CSS. :D

I personally use InDesign.

[Sonic_Nerdish]

I did something similar recently, but used the Text Field Tool in Acrobat Pro after exporting a PDF in InDesign. After you set up the file, all they need is Acrobat Reader to be able to use it to print on the letterheads. It's another option.

[undressedmonster]

Oh, you have got to be kidding:

http://www.thedeelirium.com/wp-content/uploads/screenshot.jpeg

Grrr, why the hell not??!!!

Anyway, I've found a workaround for the margin thing. It seems so stupid that the leading word processing application in the world hasn't supplied the functionality for this simple need. I can't imagine that IBM, Coca Cola, and even Microsoft don't provide letterhead templates for all their employees so the visual identity doesn't go down the drain. How do they deal with these simple issues?

Anyway, here's the margin workaround: http://blogs.msdn.com/rick_schaut/archive/2004/05/02/124802.aspx

Basically you have to add an invisible rectangle with text wrapping in the header to push the body text on the first page down. How idiotic is that?

[Craig B]

Most companies print blank letterhead, that's why. At least we do, but we do have letterhead templates in Word as well, and it sucks.

Word sucks ... it's the biggest piece of bloat ware on the planet. It's bad code added to bad code added to bad code to create a shite program.

[Broacher]

The other thing about doing any kind of design work in Word is that you ALWAYS have to expect that no matter WHAT you do to prevent the user from tinkering, altering, the layout, the styles, the palettes-- you can be absolutely sure that there will ALWAYS be a subgroup of rabid users who read your attempt to introduce graphic standards as a insulting challenge to their skills and who will wast no effort to demonstrate that it is they that posess the complete mastery over this program that too often pretends to be a layout program.

There's an old saying borrowed from computer programmers that covers this:
"If the input editor has been designed to reject all bad input, an ingenious idiot will discover a method to get bad data past it."

Beware the ingenious idiots.

[frankster]

It makes sense to print the letter heads blank first to save on coloured ink too. They don't want to be wasting the office deskjet coloured ink cartridges on all that black type they intend to put on the page.

[undressedmonster]

Yeah, Word is terrible. They spent their time adding the functionality for making a (really bad) webpage out of a word-processing document but didn't add a function for being able to give different pages different margins, regardless of the body text that flows onto those pages.

Ugh...

And now my second challenge: trying to lock objects so people don't mess with them. AND adding form fields for people to add their own contact info, but without messing up the type styles. I'm beginning to see that the major problem is that design isn't separated from content, as it is in the wonderful world of Web 2.0.

I'm not a programmer or a software developer, but you'd think the geniuses at Microsoft would have figured these things out within, what, 20 years (?) of Word development?

[Mynock]

>> Beware the ingenious idiots. <<

or indigenous idiots.

[Broacher]

OR even worse, the disingenuous idiots.

[Mynock]

BUT don't forget deciduous idiots.

[fredrich]

I did something similar recently, but used the Text Field Tool in Acrobat Pro after exporting a PDF in InDesign. After you set up the file, all they need is Acrobat Reader to be able to use it to print on the letterheads. It's another option.

Is there any way to make a .pdf form so that the user can enter information in fields from Reader, and then save the form as a new .pdf? (Not only be able to print it)

[Mynock]

Is there any way to make a .pdf form so that the user can enter information in fields from Reader, and then save the form as a new .pdf? (Not only be able to print it)Not without acrobat professional. You can put an email button in there and it will send out an xml file which you can then put back into the PDF and print or save with Pro.

[fredrich]

So in other words, Adobe is causing people to have to make document templates in Word. Great thinking.

[Mynock]

So in other words, Adobe is causing people to have to make document templates in Word. Great thinking.They are making people buy the professional version of their software.

[fredrich]

They are making people buy the professional version of their software.

Still pretty annoying in my opinion. I have Acrobat Pro, so I don't care, but the people who is going to use the templates most likely don't. They do have Word though. Ah well.

[Broacher]

Someone want to check this one out?

http://www.foxitsoftware.com/pdf/rd_intro.php

[undressedmonster]

Someone want to check this one out?

http://www.foxitsoftware.com/pdf/rd_intro.php

I have Foxit Reader installed on my PC laptop. PDFs load like lightning. It's great.

[Ned]

Incredibly small: The download size of Foxit Reader is only 1.5 M which is a fraction of Acrobat Reader 20 M size
Breezing-fast: When you run Foxit Reader, it launches instantly without any delay. You are not forced to view an annoying splash window displaying company logo, author names, etc.
Text converter: You may convert the whole PDF document into a simple text file.
Acrobat reader is 20M, just for the reader!? :eek: I never realized it was so big... Of course, I only use Acrobat Pro, which came with the suite...

It always bothered me how slow Acrobat loads, as well as the fact that non-designers can't easily take my text out to paste it into their databanks.

This Foxit sounds great...

As far as your letterhead dilema, Undressed, I really think your best bet is to just make your letterhead in PDF, and print them onto blank sheets, then keep those loaded in the cheaper-to-run laser or dot matrix printer, if you have one. Of course, this will take some juggling of papers, since you have a different first page than your continuous pages. Maybe leave them both in two of those in/out boxes next to the printer.

This would not only solve your formatting issues, but also your problem with uneditable areas. Nobody can change the letterhead that way.

[hewligan]

It always bothered me how slow Acrobat loads, as well as the fact that non-designers can't easily take my text out to paste it into their databanks.

Acrobat itself isn't that slow, the problem is actually all the plugins it has to load on startup - most of which you probably don't need. Remove the ones you don't and watch it speed up.

http://dwtips.com/2006/06/17/how-to-speed-up-pdf-loading-with-adobe-acrobat/

You can copy and paste text from Acrobat Reader in a limited way - you can select all with cmd/ctrl-a and the copy all of the text. What you can't do is just copy the piece you want.

Of course, once you paste that into your word processor or whatever, you can then pick out the bit you want. Not ideal, but it works.

[fredrich]

What you can't do is just copy the piece you want.

Yes you can. Use the select tool, select the text you want and copy it.
Tools > Select & Zoom > Select Tool

[undressedmonster]

Acrobat reader is 20M, just for the reader!? :eek: I never realized it was so big... Of course, I only use Acrobat Pro, which came with the suite...

It always bothered me how slow Acrobat loads, as well as the fact that non-designers can't easily take my text out to paste it into their databanks.

This Foxit sounds great...

As far as your letterhead dilema, Undressed, I really think your best bet is to just make your letterhead in PDF, and print them onto blank sheets, then keep those loaded in the cheaper-to-run laser or dot matrix printer, if you have one. Of course, this will take some juggling of papers, since you have a different first page than your continuous pages. Maybe leave them both in two of those in/out boxes next to the printer.

This would not only solve your formatting issues, but also your problem with uneditable areas. Nobody can change the letterhead that way.
I found a workaround for the margin problem. The header/footer on different pages is easy to fix if you can find the instructions. It's all very counter-intuitive, though, which is my main problem with Microsoft products.

I'm having our printer print 2-color letterhead shells, but I have to provide for an area in the footer for a department's contact info or a list of the school board members. Those have to be in the Word document and be editable. Unfortunately there is no (easy or known) way to place a field for them to type that info without interfering with the type and paragraph styles. Nor can I "lock" a textbox's position so they don't accidentally move it.

To me, these seem like things that would be easy enough and common enough for Microsoft to include in Word. But hey, what do I know? I'm just the (letterhead/memo/fax cover sheet) designer. :rolleyes:

Anyway, my next dilemma is adding a b/w logo for the fax and memo sheets. I'm trying a number of formats: png, jpg, tif, wmf, etc. They all look terrible when I print to the HP laser printer that I believe many employees will be printing to.

Are there any threads that discuss importing a logo into Word? I found a couple yesterday but can't find them again today. I think Word is making me stoopid. :eek:

[doubting_thomas]

Anyway, my next dilemma is adding a b/w logo for the fax and memo sheets. I'm trying a number of formats: png, jpg, tif, wmf, etc. They all look terrible when I print to the HP laser printer that I believe many employees will be printing to. If your logo is vector .wmf is the way to go for Word, IMO. At least it used to be.

[undressedmonster]

If your logo is vector .wmf is the way to go for Word, IMO. At least it used to be.

I tried wmf and it came out by far the worst so far.

Ugh, I'm having a major Microsoft conniption right now. Someone with zero website or design experience just made a new website for one of our schools in g**d*** Publisher and needed help getting it online. And of course large blocks of text are made into freaking gifs instead of actual text.

When will IT and staff development stop promoting this totally s***** software for websites??? Ugh, I hate Microsoft for that stupid "Save as Webpage" function.

I think I'm going to take a sick day on Monday. Sick of Microsoft, that is.