Do you have any idea how to set a document in Microsoft Word to have exactly 25 lines per page? That’s what the agents and publishers I’m approaching want as a standard format, (1″ margins and 25 lines) but every attempt I’ve made to do that has fallen short one way or another — the occasional 24 or 26 lines. Any ideas? I’ve queried a lot of my other writer friends, but their solutions don’t quite work. They may not be Mac folks. Help! If you don’t have an answer I’m going to be doing a lot of line counting and eyeballing of pages.
An interesting question and one whose answer is more subtle than it may initially seem. I asked my friend Allan Wyatt, author of my favorite Microsoft Word Tips newsletter, for his assistance. Here’s what he shared with me:
“It is probably because he has orphan/widow control turned on for the paragraph styles he is using. Turn it off, and it should be fine.”
Before I show you how to do that, however, let’s look at how to set a document to have 25 lines per page. It’s ridiculously complex, sorry to say. Here’s what Allan explains:
“There is no setting where you indicate “number of lines per page” because most places never worry about that anymore. Instead, you have to calculate it.
Hold the Shift key and select all text boxes, then right-click and select ‘Format Text Box.’ On the Layout tab, select ‘In front of text’ and click OK. Now you can move each box independently.
- Start your font size. (A fairly standard font is 10-point, so I will use that in the following calculations.)
- If you display the Indents and Spacing tab of the Paragraph dialog box (Format | Paragraph), the Line Spacing should be set to “Single.” This allows Word to calculate a normal line spacing, which typographically is 120% of your font size. In other words, with 10-point type you end up with 12-point line space, baseline to baseline. (If you use a different font size, this will obviously change.
- There are 72 points in an inch, so that means you can get 6 lines per inch if you are using single line spacing with a 10-point font. (72 / 12 = 6).
- If you have 1-inch top margin and 1-inch bottom margin on your page (Format | Document), that means you have 9 inches of printable space on a standard 11-inch sheet of paper.
- If you have 6 printed lines per inch (step 3) and 9 inches of printable space (step 4), that means you have 54 printed lines per page.
- You can adjust margins, font size, or line spacing as necessary to get a desired number of lines per page.
- If you need to print double-space lines, then use the Indents and Spacing tab of the Paragraph dialog box (Format | Paragraph) to set the Line Spacing to “Double.” The only thing this does to your calculations is to divide the number of lines per page (step 5) by 2.
If you can follow all of that, you can set your document to be exactly 25 lines per page. Good luck!
Let’s Stay In Touch!
I do have a lot to say, and questions of my own for that matter, but first I’d like to say thank you, Dave, for all your helpful information by buying you a cup of coffee!
OK, this is a bug, but it won’t be fixed for a while, so you need to work around it.
Word is supposed to open each document at the Zoom setting in which it was last saved. It doesn’t. It also insists on opening every document in the top left corner of the screen.
Fortunately, in Word 2011, we have a full version of VBA back, so we can cure this. Sims 4 for android free. download full version. Here’s how:
Restore View Macros
This set of Macros causes any document you have opened previously to open at the size and window position you last left it. This works around a bug in Word 2011. Word should always restore a document to the size it was last closed: Word 2011 doesn’t do this.
This macro code currently tests to ensure it is running in Word 2011 or above on a Mac. If you remove that test, you will probably get it working in Windows versions, but you’re on your own :-) We know it doesn’t work in earlier Mac versions.
Installation Instructions
Sorry, this is a bit of a fiddle: due to a bug in Word 2011 VBA, the OrganizerCopy function I need to build an installer will not copy macros. Follow these steps exactly:
- Download the file:
Version 1.7, 21 Dec 2010, with bug fixes and enhancements
Version 2.5, 21 Dec 2010, also restores cursor to last edit
- Remember where you saved it!
- You will get a .bas.zip file: double-click it in the Finder to de-compress it. It’s the .bas you need.. Make sure that the .bas extension on the file name remains.
- Start Microsoft Word 2011.
- On the Tools menu, choose Macro, then Visual Basic Editor .
- No matter what else you see, you should see the Project window in the top left corner:
- Select the entry Normal (Normal.dotm) which is usually at the top.
- If you are upgrading, delete the RestoreViewMacros module.
- From the File menu, choose Import File.
- Navigate to the RestoreViewMacros.bas file, wherever you saved it, and choose Open.
- The RestoreViewMacros module will appear in the Project window.
- Close your way out, and Quit Word to ensure that everything gets saved.
Usage
You don’t have to do anything! If you add the macros to your Normal.dotm template, they work automatically. There, that was easy, wasn’t it!
On each file creation or save, the current position and size of the window, and the position of the cursor, is written into the document and saved. Word does this by design: it’s just not working right in the current version.
On each file open, the macros search the document for these values, read them in if they are there, and adjust the size of that document window accordingly.
- Version 1.x contains a macro named ‘gotoSpot’ which will skip the cursor to the stored position. By adding that macro to a toolbar or keystroke, you can return to the stored last-edit location when you want to.
- In version 2.x, the macro automatically skips the cursor to the last edit, every time it opens a document it has previously saved.
For the technically minded, the macros intercept the Word startup, file open, file close, and save actions.
The macros rely on the AutoExec(), AutoOpen(), AutoNew(), AutoClose(), and FileSave() special macros (because the equivalent events are not implemented on Word 2011). If you are already using those special macros, you need to edit your code to add the calls to these RestoreView macros.
Fixed Position Layout
There are various things that will thwart the macro. Obviously the main one is if you have no document open, the macro has nowhere to save anything. If the document on-screen has no text, or has never been saved, the macro will not attempt to write values into it. That’s because you probably don’t want to keep such a document, so you don’t want to be nagged to save it each time.
Fingers Stuck In Fixed Position
Support
How To Keep Text In Fixed Position On Microsoft Word For Mac Free
Bug reports: Please email these immediately to john@mcghie.name
Other support: This is the free version. All support is via the forum. Requests for support via email will not be answered. Sorry, but I cant burn up working time supporting a give-away product — I am sure you understand.
Biomechanics Model Of Feet In Fixed Position
Enhancements: Email me at john@mcghie.name. Of course, you will understand that I will charge a fee for those (probably only a dollar or two, depending on what you want). Send a clear, concise email and I will be delighted to give you a quote.
Or: The code is open: you can make your own enhancements. Ummm.. No! I wont get into email back-and-forth if you break it {grin}.
