Previewing Before Printing | Microsoft Office Word 2003 Inside Out (Bpg-Inside Out)

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Even before you familiarize yourself with the nuances of printing, you should make a habit of using the Print Preview feature. Like a painter stepping back from her canvas, you can use Print Preview to take a big-picture look at a page or series of pages before you commit the information to hard copy. In Print Preview mode, you can examine entire pages at once, checking for obvious page setup errors and oddities and even applying minor fixes to correct some of the errors you discover. For example, using Print Preview, you can quickly see when an image box overlays text (or vice versa), when a single line runs onto the next page, or when indented text is misaligned.

Getting Comfortable in Print Preview Mode

Print Preview gives you a chance to view your document from a variety of perspectives before you print. By default, when you activate Print Preview, the current page is shown. To activate Print Preview mode, open your document in Word, and then use one of the following techniques:

Choose File, Print Preview.
Click the Print Preview button on the Standard toolbar.
Press Ctrl+Alt+I or Ctrl+F2.

Figure 3-1 shows a document in Print Preview mode. The Print Preview toolbar buttons are described in Table 3-1.

click to expand
Figure 3-1: Previewing documents can help you troubleshoot page layout issues before you print.

Table 3-1: Print Preview Toolbar Buttons
Name	Button	Description
Print		Prints a single copy of the previewed document without displaying the Print dialog box.
Magnifier		Enlarges and reduces the view and enables you to edit content.
One Page		Displays a single page in Print Preview.
Multiple Pages		Enables you to arrange, display, and print multiple pages at one time.
Zoom list		Enables you to enlarge or reduce the current view.
View Ruler		Toggles rulers on and off. Rulers enable you to modify margins and indents and set tabs from within Print Preview mode.
Shrink To Fit		Reduces the number of pages in the current document by one. This feature helps you avoid having a small amount of text spilling onto an extra page.
Full Screen		Maximizes the viewing area by hiding standard components of the Word window, such as the title bar, menu bar, status bar, and scroll bars.
Close Print Preview		Exits Print Preview mode and returns to the same page and view that appeared before you activated Print Preview.

To exit Print Preview mode, you can use any of the following methods:

Press Esc.
Press Ctrl+F2.
Choose View, Normal.
Click Close on the Print Preview toolbar.
Click a view button (located to the left of the horizontal scroll bar).

When you exit Print Preview, Word returns the insertion point to the position in which it was located before you selected Print Preview.

Controlling How Print Preview Displays Documents

In Print Preview mode, you can examine your document by zooming in to see details. You can also maximize your viewing area by shifting to Full Screen mode, pull back to display the flow of content on multiple pages, or select a specific page to focus on. Let's look at each viewing option, listed below:

Zooming in on information You can increase the viewing size of your document by using the Magnifier button (which displays the document at actual size) or by indicating a size in the Zoom box (either by selecting a size in the Zoom list or by typing a percentage value). To zoom in on a selected area, click the Magnifier button, and then click in the area of the document that you want to examine more closely. You can use the Zoom box to further modify your view, if necessary. To return your document to its original size, make sure that the Magnifier button is selected (it remains selected until you click another toolbar button), and then click in the document. In other words, you click once to enlarge your view to 100 percent, and click a second time to reduce the view. As you'll see in "Editing in Print Preview Mode," later in this chapter, you can also use the Magnifier button to activate Print Preview mode's editing options.
Working in Full Screen mode To maximize the Word window's viewable area, click the Full Screen button. Figure 3-2, shows two pages of a document in Full Screen mode. Notice that all standard window elements are hidden except the Print Preview toolbar and a small floating toolbar containing the Close Full Screen button. To display menu options when in Full Screen mode, position the pointer at the top of the window. To revert to standard Print Preview mode, click the Close Full Screen button on the Full Screen toolbar, click the Full Screen button, or press Esc.

Figure 3-2: Full Screen mode maximizes your Print Preview viewing area.
Displaying multiple pages One of the greatest benefits of Print Preview is the ability to view multiple pages at once. This feature enables you to see how your document will flow from page to page before you create a hard copy. You can view up to 24 pages (three rows by eight columns). To show multiple pages, click the Multiple Pages button, and then drag your mouse across the menu's page icons to select the number of rows and columns you want to display. Figure 3-3 shows 24 pages (the maximum number) in the Print Preview window.

Figure 3-3: Using the Multiple Pages feature, you can display up to 24 thumbnail pages at a time.
Viewing a selected page Obviously, you can click the One Page button on the Print Preview toolbar to display a single page. Conveniently enough, you can also select which page you want to view if you have displayed multiple pages. To do so, click the page you want to view, and then click the One Page button.

Differentiating Between Print Layout View and Print Preview

Keep in mind that Print Layout view and Print Preview are two different views. (Print Layout view and Print Preview are discussed in detail in "Viewing Documents in Various Lights,".) To summarize:

Print Layout view Displays a document as it will print, showing the standard Word interface. Print Layout view enables you to work with standard Word editing controls while viewing how page elements will print. To switch to Print Layout view, choose View, Print Layout or click the Print Layout view button in the lower-left corner of the Word window.
Print Preview Displays your document in a custom interface that contains the Print Preview toolbar. In Print Preview mode, you can view multiple pages at one time as well as making editing and formatting changes before you print.

In general, Print Layout view should be used as a working environment, and Print Preview mode should be used to verify your document's layout when you're almost ready to print and when you want to make minor fixes.

Note

Pages in Reading Layout view do not represent how pages will appear when the document is printed. Instead, Reading Layout view optimizes the view of a document for online reading. To display how pages will print while using Reading Layout view, click the Actual Page button on the Reading Layout toolbar. For more information about the Reading Layout view, see Chapter 1, "Gearing Up with Word 2003."

Editing in Print Preview Mode

As you zoom in, out, and around in Print Preview, you'll occasionally see details you want to adjust. If you exit Print Preview mode to fix the problems, you'll be returned to your original location, which means that you might have to search all over again for the areas you identified in Print Preview mode. Fortunately, you don't have to leave Print Preview mode to make minor editing adjustments. If you need to edit some text, condense a document slightly, or adjust alignment, you can do so in Print Preview mode using the techniques described here:

Inside Out: Displaying a Print Preview page in another view

When you exit Print Preview, your insertion point returns to the position in which it was located before you selected Print Preview. In some instances, you might prefer to go directly to the page you were viewing in Print Preview mode. Unfortunately, Word doesn't provide an option to display the current page in Print Preview mode in other views—you're forced to return from whence you came. A quick workaround to this little impediment is to take note of the relevant page number while you're in Print Preview mode (click in the page, and then check out the page number on the status bar), close Print Preview, and then use Go To (press Ctrl+G or display the Select Browse Object menu) to move to the desired page.

Editing text in Print Preview mode You can modify text in Print Preview mode by deleting, adding, cutting, copying, pasting, moving, and formatting text and other document components—in much the same way you edit documents in other views. To activate text editing mode in Print Preview mode, click Magnifier, which changes the insertion point to a magnifying glass. To edit at actual size (100 percent), position the magnifying glass on the page in the area you want to edit, click to zoom in to 100 percent, and then click Magnifier again to change the magnifying glass to an insertion point. Keep in mind that you don't have to edit in 100 percent view; you can edit in any view size. At 100 percent, you can edit text in detail; at smaller sizes with several pages on the screen, you can easily drag elements from page to page.

Condensing text to shorten a document by one page You can use the Shrink To Fit feature to tighten up a document that's just a tad too long. To do so, click the Shrink To Fit button on the Print Preview toolbar. If desired, you can click Shrink To Fit multiple times. Each time you click the Shrink To Fit button, you shrink your document by at least one page. Be forewarned that you might not like the changes Word makes (for instance, fonts can be reduced up to four point sizes). In some cases, Word will simply give up and present a message box stating that it was unable to shrink the document by one page. For instance, in shrinking an 82-page document, Word gave up at 33 pages. To undo shrinking, use Word's Undo feature.

Caution

If you want to print but not store the Shrink To Fit results, click Shrink To Fit to shrink your document, click Print on the Print Preview toolbar, and then undo the Shrink To Fit action before you save the document. Once you save a document that's been shrunk, you can't undo the Shrink To Fit changes.

Adjusting margins, indents, and tabs You can click the Rulers button on the Print Preview toolbar to toggle rulers on and off in Print Preview mode. When the rulers appear, you can drag the margin, indent, or tab icons to adjust margins, indents, or tabs. If you're displaying multiple pages, the rulers move to the top and left of the page that's currently selected. In Figure 3-3, the rulers correspond to the first page in the first row (which is actually page 25 in the document, as you can see in the status bar).

Cross-Reference

For more information about using rulers to adjust margins, indents, and tabs, see Chapter 8, "Aligning Information and Formatting Paragraphs and Lists."

Tip

Access Page Setup options quickly When rulers are visible, you can quickly display the Page Setup dialog box, which enables you to reset a document's margins, page orientation, and other page setup options. To display the Page Setup dialog box, double-click anywhere within the ruler areas except the white portion of the top ruler. If you click within the white portion of the top ruler, you might accidentally set unwanted tabs.

Tip

Print booklets using landscape orientation Word is designed to have landscape orientation for booklets; therefore, you can't print a booklet using portrait orientation. If you're working in portrait orientation and select Book Fold from the Multiple Pages list in the Pages section of the Margins tab in the Page Setup dialog box, Word will automatically switch the page orientation to landscape.

Inside Out: Undoing changes in Print Preview mode

Notice that the Print Preview toolbar doesn't contain an Undo button. Luckily, this doesn't mean that you can't undo changes in Print Preview mode. To undo changes, choose Edit, Undo, or press Ctrl+Z. If you find that you frequently need to undo changes in Print Preview mode, display the Formatting toolbar (choose View, Toolbars, Formatting) in Print Preview mode, or customize the Print Preview toolbar by adding the Undo button, as described in Chapter 5, "Customizing Word and Enhancing Accessibility."

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