How to change template Header & Footer content for Page 2 and beyond:

To have different Header & Footer content for page 2 and beyond, the technique is pretty straight forward.  Just add enough placeholder content to generate page 2 and turn on the “Different First Page” checkbox.  Luckily, once you proceed to set different content for the  header and footers content of Page 1 and Page 2 and then, delete the placeholder content in the main body to get back to one total page of content, Word remembers the new Page 2 Header and Footer settings when the template  content reaches two page length or more.

The specific steps are as follows:

1.  Add enough dummy content to the body of the document so that Page 2 is created.  A quick way to do this is by typing in =rand(8,6) followed by hitting enter.  This creates 8 paragraphs of random text with 6 sentences in each paragraph.
2. Click into the Header.  Put a check-mark in the Different First Page checkbox.
3. Add the Header and Footer content  desired for Page 1. For example,  add company logo, company name, and address,
4. Add the Header and Footer content desired for Page 2.  For example,  add page numbers to the footer.
5. Delete the dummy placeholder text.
6. Do a quick test by adding dummy placeholder text back in to see if Word retains the knowledge of different Header and Footer content for Page 2 and beyond.

How to make template Page Margins different on Page 2 and subsequent pages:

The workaround to get a different top margin on Page 2 and beyond is pretty slick.  The top margin for Page 2 and subsequent pages will be controlled by the Margin settings set for the overall document on the Layout tab.  The top margin will be different on Page 1 by using the trick of adding a text box to Page 1 header.  This text box forces the body text to start lower on Page 1, thus in effect giving “the look” of a bigger top margin on Page 1.

Use these steps to accomplish this:

1. Complete the steps #1-5 in the previous section because it is important to have the setting of Different First Page turned on.
2. Change your document margins to what you want for Page 2 and beyond by the normal method of going to the Layout tab and clicking on the Margins button.  Select either a built-in set of margins or go to Custom Margins and set the particular ones you want.
3. Go to the Header of Page 1.  Add a Text box to the header that has a Wrap Text setting of “Top and Bottom”.  Set its width to around 8.5″.  Give the text box a height that makes it block enough of the upper region of the page so that the typing of the text in the body is exactly where you want the text for Page 1 to start.  Finish by making the text box hidden by removing its outline/border.  Choose a fill color of “No Fill” so any graphics behind it will be seen.

The end result is that you have sneakily used the text box to falsely create the look of a bigger top margin on Page 1.

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The post How to create a Word letterhead template with new page settings on Page 2 appeared first on Donna's Technology Resources.

A company that was rebranding approached me with the desire to create one universal letterhead template file that would work for all office locations.  When the file opened, they wanted a prompt to ask the end user which office they would like to create a letterhead document.  The end user selection then was to be used to populate specific office information such as address and phone numbers in the header and footer areas.  This task was first solved by using Visual Basic (VBA) inside Microsoft Word to create a user form with controls that are mapped to specific bookmarks in the template.  But this working solution ran into issues with the client’s desire to have direct control over fine-tuning the exact placement of the text and its font characteristics such as size and boldness.  They didn’t want to have to modify the VBA code whenever they wanted tweaking done.  Thus, the solution was changed to using VBA to insert images of the header and footer information instead of using VBA to place textual information.  This way modification of the template could be done in-house by the graphics department.  Simply by having graphics provide refreshed image files the template would be updated through the dynamic use of the user form pulling in the new images.

The approach I used can be broken down into these major steps:

1. Create your header and image files and place them in a folder called Images.
2. Create a source Word document containing a table of the office location names and the names of the header and footer image files.
3. Set bookmarks in the template file to indicate where the images are to be placed in the document.
4. Code a user form box to pull the office information from the source table and display that in a simple window as the template file opens.
5. Write VBA code to take the input from the user form box and place the appropriate image files at the correct bookmarks.
6. Scale the images to the appropriate magnification level by using scaling commands in the VBA code.

Each of these steps is detailed below.

Step 1:  Create header and footer image files and place them in a folder called Images

Use a graphic program to create your image and footer image files.  I made my images 8.5” inches wide.  As for the length, I made them as tall as the top margin setting for the header files and as tall as the bottom margin for the footer files.  Place all these images in a folder called Images.  Store this image folder in the same folder as the sourceaddresses.docx file created in Step 2 and the letterhead template file created in Step 3.

Step 2: Create a source Word document containing a table of office location names and the names of the header and footer images

Create a new word document called SourceAddresses.docx.  Insert a table containing office location names and the names of the header and footer images.  Make sure the table has a header row indicating the content of each column.  The table information will be read by the VBA.  For the code I have shared in this post, have column 3 and column 4 contain the names of header images and footer images, respectively. Any other content in the document, besides the table area, will be skipped so if you want to type a title for the table and other notes below, it will not impact the VBA code being able to read the table of information.

Step 3: Set bookmarks in the template file to designate where the images are to be placed

3a. Setup Word options so that you can see the bookmarks you will set:

By default Word will keep bookmarks hidden.  Do these steps, so

you can see where they are set:

1. Open your template file and save it as a Macro-Enabled template (*.dotx).
2. Click on the File tab and then choose Options.
3. Go to the Advanced category on the left hand side.
4. In the Show Document Content section, put a checkmark in the Show Bookmarks box.  Now bookmarks inserted in the document will be seen by an I-beam symbol.

3b. Insert a bookmark called BkmHead in the very upper left corner of header by these steps:

1. Double click within the top 0.5” of the document to get into the Header area
2. Move your cursor all the way to edge of the piece of paper by moving your left indent markers all the way to the edge of the paper.  If you have standard 1” margins then you can also do this by entering -1.0 in the left indent box on the Layout tab.
3. In the Header from top box enter a value of 0”.  Your cursor should now be in the very upper left corner of the document.
4. Click on the Insert tab and then on Bookmark.  Add a bookmark with the name BkmHead.  You should now see the header bookmark at position A

3c. Insert a bookmark called BkmFoot in the very lower left corner of footer by these steps:

1. Get your cursor in the Footer area.
2. Move your cursor all the way to edge of the piece of paper by moving your left indent markers all the way to the edge of the paper.  If you have standard 1” margins, then you can also do this by entering -1.0 in the left indent box on the Layout tab.
3. In the Footer from bottom box enter a value of 0” Your cursor should now be in the very bottom left corner of the document.
4. Click on the Insert tab and then on Bookmark.  Add a bookmark with the name BkmFoot.  You should now see the footer bookmark at position B.

Step 4:  Create a VBA user form to read the office information and display it to end user

A great guide to help me get started was found in a similar project on tech republic

4a:  Create the userform

1. Open VBA editor by pressing [Alt] + [F11]
2. Then go the Insert menu and choose UserForm.  The toolbox should automatically be displayed.  If you do not see it then choose Toolbox from the View menu.
3. Add  a list box and a command box control to the userform and make them the desired size.
4. Name the list box and the command box by using the name box in Properties window.
5. Use the Caption box in Properties window to give the user form and the command button user friendly verbiage.  For example, for the user form  enter a Caption of something like “Select your office” and for the Command button enter a caption of “OK”.

4b:  Add the code to have the userform read the table of addresses display it in the userform:

Double-click the userform to return to its module and then enter the following code which stores the table information in an array and then populates the array information in the userform:

Private Sub UserForm_Initialize()
Dim arrData() As String
Dim sourcedoc As Document
Dim sourcename As String
Dim I As Integer
Dim j As Integer
Dim myitem As Range
Dim m As Long
Dim n As Long
  Application.ScreenUpdating = False
  
  'Code opens the file called Sourceaddresses.docx and reads the contents
  'Note:  The file SourceAddresses.docx must be located in the same files as this template file.  Never move or rename it.
   Set sourcedoc = Documents.Open(FileName:=ThisDocument.Path & "\SourceAddresses.docx", Visible:=False)
    
  'Get the number of list members (i.e., table rows - 1 if header row is used)
  I = sourcedoc.Tables(1).Rows.Count - 1
  'Get the number of list member attritbutes (i.e., table columns)
  j = sourcedoc.Tables(1).Columns.Count
  
  'Set the number of columns in the Listbox
  ListBox1.ColumnCount = j
  
  'Load list members into an array
  ReDim arrData(I - 1, j - 1)
  For n = 0 To j - 1
    For m = 0 To I - 1
      Set myitem = sourcedoc.Tables(1).Cell(m + 2, n + 1).Range
      myitem.End = myitem.End - 1
      arrData(m, n) = myitem.Text
    Next m
  Next n
  
  'Use the .List property to populate the listbox with the array data
  ListBox1.List = arrData
  'Close the source file
  sourcedoc.Close SaveChanges:=wdDoNotSaveChanges
lbl_Exit:
  Exit Sub
End Sub

4c:  Add the code to run the userform automatically:

Open ThisDocument module from the Project Explorer window.   Enter and save these short lines of code.  This will make the userform appear upon the opening of the template file.

Sub AutoNew() 
UserForm1.Show 
End Sub

Once you have added this code, save and close the template file.  Then double-click on the template file to see if the userform works.  The userform should look something like this.

Step 5:  Write VBA code to place the images at the appropriate bookmarks

Open VBA editor by pressing [Alt] + [F11].   Go to Userform1 and  add the lines of code below underneath the lines of code that you added in Step 4b above.

This code places the image files at the bookmarks set in the Header and the Footer. The very bottom section of the code is also necessary to change to print layout view (default view) and to force the cursor to be located in main document.  These additional steps are necessary because insertion of the bookmarks is in the Header and Footer area leaves the cursor in that location for the end user.

Private Sub cmdOK_Click()

' Dim header_image As String
' Dim footer_image As String

Dim header_image As String
Dim footer_image As String
'
'
' 'Load the option selected in the listbox and delete return characters unless they are in the address field
If Not IsNull(ListBox1) Then

header_image = Me.ListBox1.Column(2)
header_image = Replace(header_image, Chr(13), "")
footer_image = Me.ListBox1.Column(3)
footer_image = Replace(footer_image, Chr(13), "")

Dim BmkNm As String

' PLACE HEADER IMAGE at the bookmark called "BkmHead" and scale it to make it the desired size
BmkNm = "BkmHead"
With ActiveDocument
If .Bookmarks.Exists(BmkNm) Then
Dim WrdPic As Word.InlineShape
Set WrdPic = .Bookmarks(BmkNm).Range.InlineShapes.AddPicture(ThisDocument.Path & "\Images\" & header_image, False, True)

With WrdPic
.ScaleHeight = 84
.ScaleWidth = 84
End With
End If
End With

' PLACE FOOTER IMAGE at the bookmark called "BkmFoot" and scale it to make it the desired size
BmkNm = "BkmFoot"
With ActiveDocument
If .Bookmarks.Exists(BmkNm) Then
Set WrdPic = .Bookmarks(BmkNm).Range.InlineShapes.AddPicture(ThisDocument.Path & "\Images\" & footer_image, False, True)

With WrdPic
.ScaleHeight = 84
.ScaleWidth = 84
End With
End If
End With
'
'
'
'CHANGE TO PRINT LAYOUT VIEW & FORCE CURSOR TO BE IN MAIN DOCUMENT
ActiveDocument.ActiveWindow.View = wdPrintView
ActiveWindow.ActivePane.View.SeekView = wdSeekMainDocument
If ActiveWindow.View.SplitSpecial = wdPaneNone Then
ActiveWindow.ActivePane.View.Type = wdPrintView
Else
ActiveWindow.View.Type = wdPrintView
End If

Unload Me

Selection.HomeKey Unit:=wdStory
End If

End Sub

Step 6: Scale the images to the appropriate magnification level by using scaling commands in the VBA code.

Before you do this final step, open the template file to see if it successfully places the image files in the header and footer.  The code should work well except you will probably notice that the images are too small.

So the next step is to adjust the .ScaleHeight and .ScaleWidth properties to appropriate values so that the image will have the right dimensions.  The easiest way to do this is by reading the dimension of the image placed into Word in inches.   Then think about the desired width you would like your image to be in Word.   Adjust the..ScaleHeight and .ScaleWidth by the ratio of the desired width over the current width.  When working with my images I created them to span the width of the document so I wanted them to be 8.5” wide. I adjusted ScaleWidth and ScaleHeight to values that got me a width of 8.5″.

Sample Files to Download:

Feel free to download my set of sample files.  After extracting them, open the file called LetterheadTemplatefor AllOfficeLocations.dotm.   Images will placed in the both the Header and Footer areas per the end user’s request.  If you chose Location C, the document generated will look like this.

If you find this post helpful, be sure to leave a comment.

Thanks.

The post Using VBA to insert header and footer images in Word document Letterhead Templates appeared first on Donna's Technology Resources.

The curators wanted to know if they could somehow  freeze  the size of table cells in Word.   Then subsequently , the image would  automatically adapt to fit the size of the table cell, basically to achieve the opposite behavior from the default setting in which the cell adapts to the size of the picture.

I presented  2 routes to take.  The choice of which depends on the specific need.  One way is to simply focus on locking cell width by following Method 1 below..  The other way is to go one step further and  lock both cell width and height  by following both Method 1 and 2 below.

METHOD 1:  Freeze cell width but still allow the row height to adjust as necessary for the entire table

Change the parameters of your table as follows:

1. Right-click on the table and choose Table Properties.
2. On the Tables tab, click on the Options
3. Remove the check mark for “Automatically resize to fit contents”.
4. Click OK and OK.

With this new table setting the insertion of a large picture is much more friendly because the column width is not changed.

One advantage of this approach is that if cells end up containing long lengths of text instead of a picture, the cells will continue to accommodate extra content by auto-adjusting the row height, as necessary.

METHOD 2:  Freeze both height and width of cells in targeted rows

Complete the steps above under Method 1 and then do the additional steps below to lock the row height of targeted rows:

1. Select the row or rows that will contain pictures.
2. Right-click on the selected rows and choose Table Properties.
3. On the Row tab, select the Specify Height check box, and type a specific height you want used for these particular rows that will contain graphics.
4. Using the Row Height drop-down list, choose Exactly.
5. Clear the Allow Row to Break Across Pages check box.
6. Click OK.

With these settings,  inserting a picture will not influence the cell width or cell height.  In this annotated screenshot, the row height is locked down at 1.5 inches.

One disadvantage of locking down row height is that  a cell is no longer friendly to a text passage that is bigger than the size of the table cell.  The text will be cut off when it is too lengthy to fit in the cell.  This issue can be seen in this screenshot below.

Recap

Whether you choose to do just Method 1 or both Method 1 and 2 is up to your particular situation.  Leave a comment below to let us know which approach you will use to adjust your table settings.

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The post How to Freeze a Table Cell in Word When Inserting a Picture appeared first on Donna's Technology Resources.

When you use a unique font that is not a standard Windows or Office font, you risk suffering with the possible effects of font substitution occurring when your file is opened on another computer.  When font substitution takes place, the look of your document can change considerably.  Parts of the text can become misaligned, text wrapping points may change, and special characters can turn into meaningless rectangles.  To prevent font substitution from happening, you can choose to embed the fonts to make sure the document looks the same on other systems.  As a result, you minimize the risk of the fonts, layout, and styling of the document changing.   Without using the embed feature, you may feel your only choice is to rely on sharing your file in only in pdf format because pdfs allow you lock down the look of the document.   But pdfs suffer from the disadvantage of not allowing full editing rights.

How do I embed a font in Word?

1. Click on File tab and then select Options.
2. Select the Save category on the left hand side.
3. At the very bottom of the list of options and under the heading Preserve fidelity when sharing this presentation, check the box labeled Embed fonts in the file. 

   

4.  Then click OK.

Are all fonts embeddable in Word?

No, please be aware of 2 very important features of a font that can limit your ability to embed it.

1. The font should be a TrueType (.TTF). Many Postscript/Type 1 and OpenType fonts do not support embedding.
2. Your licensing of the font must allow it to be embedded.

Font designers often will restrict the ability of a font to be embedded. This prevents unlicensed use of the font.  Generally, if the font is purchased at a higher price point, the ability to have Word embeddability is unlocked.

Fonts can be purchased with 1 of 4 levels of embeddability:

• Non-embeddable
• Preview/Print
• Editable
• Installable

The levels of Editable and Installable allow the font characters to be embedded in Word and PowerPoint.

To check what rights you have to a font: go to Control Panel in Windows and click Fonts. Clicking on the font shows the Font embeddability.

In the picture above, the Mickey Ears Regular font is listed as Installable   Therefore, this font can be embedded in Word.

For more information, check out Microsoft’s Font Redistribution FAQ document.

How do I check if embedding the font truly worked?

Unfortunately, looking at the font named in the Font box on the Home tab will not help you know if the embedding worked.   The Font box will always say the name of the font used when designing the document even if the system has no access to such a font.

To check for font substitution, you need to find and use on the Font Substitution button which is found by these steps:

1. Open the file on a system that does not have the unique font installed.
2. Click on File tab and then select Options.
3. Select the Advanced category on the left hand side and scroll down to the Show document content section.  Click on the Font Substitution button.

   

4. If you get the message, that “No font substitution is necessary”, then the embedding worked.

If I do not have rights to embed, how can I control the font substitution that occurs when I open my document on another computer where my custom font is not installed?

1. Open the file on the system that does not have the unique font installed.
2. Click on File tab and then select Options.
3. Select the Advanced category on the left hand side and scroll down to the Show document content section.  Click on the Font Substitution button.
4. In the Font Substitution window, work one at a time with each font listed in the Missing document font column.   Select the desired appropriate font in the Substituted font column.

   

Please be aware that these settings for font substitution choices are unique to that particular installation of Word. The choices made here do not travel with the document.

How can I permanently convert a font to one that is commonly installed?

Use the steps above to get to the Font Substitution window.  Then for each unique font listed in the Missing document font column, find a desired Substituted font in the drop down of the adjoining column.  Then click on Convert Permanently button in the lower left corner when you feel that particular font should be permanently replaced with another one.

Where can I find a list of Common fonts that would be available on most computers?

Common fonts are those that are generally installed with either the Operating System or with the install of Microsoft Office.

This resource pages at Indezine.com  and another from ampsoft.net list the fonts installed with the various versions of Microsoft Office.  If you utilize fonts that are predominantly used across the various versions of Office, you can be relatively sure that your document will not suffer any unintended consequences of font substitution taking place on other computers.

Does embedding in PowerPoint work the same way?

No, there are some significant differences.  Please read my other post on PowerPoint font embedding FAQs to discover how there are less direct tools to figure out Font Substitution in PowerPoint

The post How to Embed Fonts in Word FAQs appeared first on Donna's Technology Resources.

To avoid distortion when resizing an image always use the CORNER handles.  Avoid using the ones midway on the outer edges.

By default, some images you have in your projects will be proportionally locked and some won’t be.  But you do not even need to worry about making sure they are proportionally locked if you always use keys like SHIFT and/or CTRL when you drag from a corner handle:

• To maintain proportions, press and hold SHIFT while you drag the corner sizing handle.
• To keep the center in the same place, press and hold CTRL while you drag the sizing handle.
• To both maintain the proportions and keep the center in the same place, press and hold both CTRL and SHIFT while you drag the sizing handle.

How to lock the Aspect ratio or to check if it is locked:

If the lock aspect ratio is checked, an image cannot be distorted if you resize using a corner resize handle So if it is on, you are less likely to distort an image.  However keep in mind that even with the lock aspect ratio on, an image can be distorted if you resize using a resize handle midway on the outer edges.  Hence, the advise given in the previous section:

1. Go to the Picture Tools tab.
2. Click the dialog box launcher in the bottom right corner of the Size group (see Figure 2 pt. A).

   

3. In the Layout pane that appears, check the Lock aspect ratio check box (see Figure 3 pt. B).

How to resize an image to an exact height and width:

Often you know about how big you want an image to be.  If this is the case, then you can enter the exact size desired:

1. Go to the Picture Tools  tab.
2. In the Size group on the far right side, enter the new measurements into the Height and Width boxes (see Figure 2 pt. C).

How to reset a picture back to its original size and format use Reset Picture button:

If you have inadvertently distorted a picture, Reset Picture & Size can help you get that picture back to its original length to width ratio.

1. Go to the Picture Tools tab.
2. In the Adjust group,select the drop-down menu with Reset Picture (see Figure 2 pt. D) and choose one of the following:

• Reset Picture discards all the formatting changes made to the picture.
• Reset Picture & Size discards all the formatting changes and the image is restored to its original dimensions.

Good luck keeping with keeping your images the way you need them to look.

The post Resizing Images in Office without distorting (Word, Excel, and PowerPoint) appeared first on Donna's Technology Resources.