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Re: Footer in Section 1 is set outside the printable area of the document

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Walled_...@officeformac.com

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Sep 29, 2009, 11:56:28 AM9/29/09
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I was getting this too (printing documents with page numbers on A4), and I was just about to repost the question when I found the answer!

With the file open, go Format>Document>Margins, then raise the value for the Footer (or Header) from edge. Mine was set at 1.2cm, I think, and I turned it up to 1.5cm and now it's fine.

I've now made this my default setting, and it seems to work fine without the error message on a new document, but I think one would have to reformat any older documents. Sigh.

best
Carol

John McGhie

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Sep 29, 2009, 6:36:41 PM9/29/09
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Hi Carol:

Yes, you're on to it :-)

We need to "make room" for the footer we actually intend to print. Word's
default "From Edge" setting is 1.25 cm (half an inch) which assumes a
single-line footer.

When we want a dual-line footer, or a graphic or other large object (e.g. A
table...) in the footer, we need to set it further from the edge.

Most printers have an "unprintable zone". For many printers, this is 1 cm
(0.4 inches) from the edge of the paper. Modern printers will go a lot
closer, but modern printer manufacturers are often too lazy to update their
printer drivers to say so!

When Word prints, it requests the printer driver information from OS X. If
it can't get it, or can't read it, or the non-printing area setting has not
been provided by the manufacturer of the printer, Word will assume 1 cm.

The setting "from edge" refers to the "inside" extremity of the header or
footer (the bottom of the header, or the top of the footer).

To set this accurately, we need to work out how high the footer or header
really is. Assume the Footer style is set to its default settings, it
inherits from Normal style. So it might be 12 points on a 14 point leading
(i.e. with a "Single" line spacing). Single line spacing sets a leading of
120 per cent of the font height.

So the height of each line is 14 points. There's no space above or below,
so no space between. A two-line footer is thus 28 points high. The printer
non-printing area is 1 cm (28 points). So the closest we can get that to
the edge of the paper is 56 points (2 cm, 0.77 inches).

So set "From Edge" to be 2 cm.

For a visually pleasing result, we should set the document Margin to twice
that, so the footer ends up "in the middle". So set the margin to be 4 cm
(1.6 inches).

You can be lazy if you like and leave the document margin at its default
setting (2.5 cm, 1 inch). Word will automatically move the document margins
inwards to make room for the header or footer if it needs to.

There you go: now you know what graphics designers do for a living :-)

Cheers


On 30/09/09 1:56 AM, in article 59b70...@webcrossing.caR9absDaxw,
"Walled_...@officeformac.com" <Walled_...@officeformac.com> wrote:

--
Don't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/

Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie, Microsoft MVP, Word and Word:Mac
Sydney, Australia. mailto:jo...@mcghie.name

copela...@gmail.com

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Sep 26, 2012, 11:49:50 PM9/26/12
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Problem is that documents prepared on a PC version of Word will print fine but will report this error if coped to Word 4 MAc.

wony...@gmail.com

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Jan 7, 2013, 9:20:43 AM1/7/13
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2009년 9월 29일 화요일 오후 4시 56분 28초 UTC+1, Walled_...@officeformac.com 님의 말:
THANK YOU SO MUCH!!

joyc...@gmail.com

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Jan 9, 2013, 8:09:54 AM1/9/13
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thank you. save my time!
zzz

danm...@danmontez.com

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May 16, 2015, 11:00:01 PM5/16/15
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Go to Page Setup and make sure Microsoft Work and NOT page attributes is selected at the top. Major glitch in macs. Fixed mine after hours of work.

patels...@gmail.com

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Jan 14, 2016, 11:53:07 AM1/14/16
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Genius! THANK YOU!

patels...@gmail.com

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Jan 14, 2016, 11:54:17 AM1/14/16
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On Tuesday, 29 September 2009 09:56:28 UTC-6, Walled_...@officeformac.com wrote:
Just ensure that you have also selected APPLY TO WHOLE DOCUMENT and i followed the advice above (Thank s Carol) and changed only my footer, as that was the error indicated, to 1.5 and WALLA!
Cheers

nguyendinhmi...@gmail.com

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Aug 14, 2017, 5:46:31 AM8/14/17
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thank you so much

wes...@aol.com

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Jun 15, 2018, 2:22:04 PM6/15/18
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Why aren't Mac and MicroSoft answering these questions???
I still cannot get the footers to show the complete text - 1/2 of a number, e.g. - whether I increase or decrease the bottom margin. No fix for me yet!

jkor...@gmail.com

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Jun 16, 2018, 11:37:37 AM6/16/18
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On Friday, June 15, 2018 at 2:22:04 PM UTC-4, wes...@aol.com wrote:
> Why aren't Mac and MicroSoft answering these questions???
> I still cannot get the footers to show the complete text - 1/2 of a number, e.g. - whether I increase or decrease the bottom margin. No fix for me yet!

The official Microsoft site is answers.microsoft.com, not this forum.

If your macOS print dialog is set to format for any printer, the operating system will assume a 1/2" margin all around the page. Instead, set the dialog to the printer you're actually using to get the margins the printer is capable of.

Another possible issue is that if you're using an inkjet printer, there is often a margin of 1/2" or more at the bottom of the page. This is imposed by the printer driver.
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