Chapter 21 -- Mastering Page Setup and Pagination

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Chapter 21

Have you ever started creating a document with one goal in mind and then seen it change (sometimes against your will) into something entirely different? A single-column publication suddenly becomes a multiple-column document. A piece that wasn't supposed to be a booklet now is. Everything changes—margins, orientation, column specifications, and headers and footers. These aren't the kind of changes you want to be making when you have a 2:00 P.M. deadline to meet.

Whether you plan your publication in advance or change strategies mid stream, Microsoft Word's page setup features control the page basics. Specifically, when you plan your pages, you'll be making choices about the following things:

• The size of top, bottom, left, and right margins
• The space between columns
• Whether you want to print one or two pages per sheet
• The size of paper you plan to use
• The orientation of your document
• The tray or cartridge from which the paper will be fed
• Layout considerations for sections, headers, and footers

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Planning Page Setup

Although you can select your page settings at any point during the creation or editing of your document, taking time up front to think about and plan basic document settings can save you time, trouble, and corrections later. Additionally, if you're creating a standard document for others in your department to use, getting the basics set early can ensure that you don't have to go into multiple documents to readjust margin settings, page size, and more.

When you make drastic changes in your document setup—such as changing the page from portrait to landscape orientation—the content of your page will be dramatically affected. If you switch orientation after you've entered text and graphics, set headers and footers, and created section divisions, you'll have lots of changing to do.

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