Double-sided Printing with Portait and Landscape mixed - also Page Break question.

  • Thread starter Thread starter Shane
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Shane

Greetings,
We use Word 2003 in Windows XP and I'm facing an odd situation. We write
technical documents, in this case a parts list. We prefer to have the
pictures on the left side of an open book, with the list of parts on the
right. That way when you're looking at a part, you don't have to turn a page
to find the information about a part.

These picture/list combinations are done in Landscape orientation, but the
front portions of the book (cover, table of contents, etc) are done in
Portrait orientation. No real problem with a section break (I even figured
out how to deal with the headers, footers, and numbering).

The difficulty I'm facing is that in this manual the Portrait section is 3
pages long and the Landscape part starts on page 4 (normally the 'back' of
page 3). This should work, as page 3 will be in the reader's right hand
(I've printed this, and that works), then you turn the page... and page 4 is
in your left hand (with the picture) and page 5 is in your right (with the
list).

Unfortunately, when I print double-sided, the back of page 3 is blank, and
the image ends up on the wrong side of the next piece of paper.

I could add two pages between 3 and 4 "Intentionally left blank" but I would
prefer not to.

As I looked into this, I noticed that there is both a section page (inserted
by me) that stops the Portrait and starts the Landscape and throughout the
ENTIRE landscape section, EVERY page has a "Section Break (continuous)" with
occasional "Page Breaks" here and there.

I'm really confused about Section Breaks beyond the simple "Insert > Break >
Next Page" function. I'm quite willing to completely re-format this
inherited document and start from scratch, but don't want to if I don't have
to.

Which raises the questions:

Is Word2003 unable to print a Portrait layout on one side of a page and a
Landscape on the other?

Where can I find out some information on Page Breaks in general and the
'continuous' variety in particular?

Thanks,

Shane
 
No, you cannot mix portrait and landscape on the same sheet of paper. This
is a PRINTER forced limitation. Also, it is normal to start a new section on
an Odd page. So if the first section is Page 1-3, then the next section must
start on Page 5. I think it the combination of these that is making it
difficult for you. Does that help sort your problem?
 
Word is quite capable of putting landscape on the back of portrait and vice
versa, and, pace Terry, there is nothing wrong with this, but many printers
try to avoid doing it (apparently printing landscape at all is trying for
them, and trying to duplex portrait+landscape is very challenging), so Word
accommodates them. Sometimes you can override this laziness by placing the
insertion point in the misbehaving section, choosing the Layout tab of Page
Setup, and changing the section start type from Odd Page to New Page.

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

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Suzanne,
Thanks for the info, apparently the originator already had it set that way.

I sent this same file to a different printer and also printed it to PDF and
in both cases the pages did as I'd wanted.

The printer I normally use was recently worked on and at least one setting
is off, so perhaps there's another.

Shane
 
Maybe I have just been unlucky and never had a printer that will do this. So
I have simply stuck to starting sections on an Odd page or meeting the
obstacle by doing separate print runs. The first print run prints a blank
page (except for the Header and Footer, of course) where the landscape
object needs to go. Then I print these pages separately. Admittedly, it is
only any good for a small print run.

Terry
 
If you need a portrait header and footer on the landscape page, this is far
the simplest approach, I agree.

--
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.
 
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