Viewing position changing behind my back

[Renishug]

Word 2003. I have two documents open in Print Layout. I do not have the
'Windows in Taskbar' option selected. Each document is maximised displayed as
'Page Width'. I look at one document, then I swap to looking at the other
document, then I come back to the first document, but what is displayed has
shifted away from where I left it - it is now at the top of the page that I
was looking at. This is somewhat annoying. How can I stop Word doing this
repositioning behind my back? (I know the workaround options of 'use Nomal
layout' and 'don't use Page Width'; but I like the usual way that I view
documents.) Thanks.

 

[Herb Tyson [MVP]]

The problem is with the Page Width setting. For some reason, Word interprets
that as a prime directive, and it insists on reapplying it each time you
switch back to that document, for fear that the window width changed since
you last left it <gasp>.

Does Page Width usually result in the same (or nearly the same) zoom level
for you each time? If so, a work-around would be to set the zoom to that
level rather than using Page Width. For example, if I choose Page Width in a
document in Word 2003 at the moment, the resulting zoom is 151%. If I
follow your instructions, I get what you get. If I click in the zoom tool
and press Enter to "lock in" the 151%, however, I now get the behavior you
would like.

So... if there is a target percentage that usually gets you the view you
want, you could either click to lock it in, or you could use a macro to set
it. This macro could reside on the toolbar next to the Zoom dropdown (for
example) so it would be perhaps even a little easier to use than choosing
Page Width. Moreover, Word usually remembers the zoom setting, so, you
probably wouldn't need to use such a tool all that often.

If your target zoom were 151, this macro would do the trick:

Sub SetZoom()
ActiveWindow.ActivePane.View.Zoom.Percentage = 150
End Sub

Heck... you could even put the main line into AutoOpen and AutoNew macros so
that Word would automatically zoom you to that level when a document is
opened or created.