Upside down text in Word
Jamie A
to print on one page so I need to print upside down on the
top half of the page. I've found text direction but it
only allows vertical, not upside down. Any ideas?
Thanks in advance,
kasbu...@aol.com
Suzanne S. Barnhill
--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
"Jamie A" <kasbu...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:0f8201c1af8c$737b30a0$b1e62ecf@tkmsftngxa04...
Eero Loone
What follows is just an addition to former threads on upside down (do a
search) and information available on MVPS site Suzanne Barnhill directed you
to. We all can't thank enough for the contributions by MVPs. In particular,
information about Word2002 and earlier versions of Word is available there.
All major word processors in newer office suites can rotate text while
treating it as a drawing, even if some among them cannot change text
direction on a page or inside a TextBox. This is not necessarily an
annoyance. Usually, you don't want to rotate your paragraphs 37 degrees
counter-clockwise for 15 pages, do you?
In Word2000:
1. Insert-Picture-New Drawing
2. Insert-Text Box (or use the button on the Drawing toolbar).
3. Enter the text into the TextBox.
3a. Format the text to your heart's desire (red!!)
3b. Format the Text Box to your heart's desire (yellow background, green
2,25pt border!!!)
3c. You can also insert an AutoShape and thereafter insert text into the
AutoShape.
4. Push the rotation button on the Drawing Toolbar.
5. Use the green handles to rotate the box. You can also use Format Text
Box size tabs to enter precise figures to determine rotation. 180 degrees
produces upside down.
6. Size the Text Box AND the draw box to the minimum.
7. Click outside to return to the main body of the document.
The Drawing object (the container box) is created inline. Now:
8. Set layout / wrapping and anchoring options as with any box. Tight would
be a good setting, usually, because your other text will wrap around the
TextBox and not around the drawing box or canvas.
DO NOT size the Text Box and the container drawing box with mouse while not
in the Microsoft Draw 98 window.
DO NOT drag the text box off the drawing canvas: the box remains rotated,
but the text reverts to normal left-to-right direction (although retains
other fromatting like color).
The actual commands will, of course, be different in WordPerfect or WordPro,
but the basic idea is common to all three applications. I do not know who
was the first to provide this solution. Of course, the other ones do not
matter for us here.
You can create two drawing boxes or canvases to cover the page and have
different rotation angles (in one, upside down text). Fold the result and
you'll get a double-sided card.
Create a dummy test file at first, and thereafter the real file.
Eero
Dave Rado
Thanks for posting that - I' hadn't noticed that you could do it that way,
and it's always good to have an extra string to one's bow. If it's OK by you
I'd like to add something about it to the article.
Regarding Jamie's question, though I would definitely recommend going for
the 2-cell table approach described in the article Suzanne linked to - it
quicker, simpler, uses real text rather than a picture and the print quality
is better.
Also, I found that pasting from PowerPoint worked better than using the
AutoShape method. But then, not everyone has access to PowerPoint, and many
of those who don't will probably appreciate your tip.
As far as quality is concerned, see:
http://www.daverado.mvps.org/downloads/Demo/Rotation/Demo.zip. The
difference is especially noticeable in the one rotated to -45 degrees; but
the kerning has gone wrong in both of the Draw 98 pictures (even when
printed). It's not perfect in the PPT versions either, but it's a lot
better than the AutoShape versions, at least on my system.
As far as easiness is concerned, if you use the PowerPoint method, and if
you set the PPT text box up in the way I indicate in the article, it
automatically pastes into Word with no wasted white space - and you don't
have to drag the textbox to achieve this; the text box automatically adjusts
its size to fit the text within it. Using the MS Draw method, you have to
manually adjust both the text box and the Autoshape by eye to fit the text;
and in the case of the Autoshape it wouldn't even let me type in
measurements (IOW, having got the textbox the right size I wanted to type
the same width and height for the Autoshape and couldn't - I had to drag
with the Alt key down).
Also, a fellow MVP who has Word 2002 pointed out that if she tried to print
a document created in Word 97 or 2000 containing AutoShapes of the type you
describe, without first disabling "Update fields" under Tools + Options +
Print, she got "Error! Objects cannot be created from editing field codes" -
and the problem wouldn't occur with a picture.
But your tip beats the pants of WordArt, and the table method only works for
things like cards that need to be folded in the middle, so I think it will
be helpful to a lot of people - thanks for sharing the tip.
Regards
Dave
"Eero Loone" <elo...@ut.ee> wrote in message
news:eD6FBgAsBHA.2760@tkmsftngp05...
Eero Loone
You can certainly use the tip.
I agree with you that for simple, 90-degree increment turns (including
upside down), the table cell is the simplest method.
I have been interested for various other angles (you can put in interesting
2nd or 3rd level headings) Draw allows you the fine controls. With proper
wrapping options there is no need to worry about box sizes, unless one wants
to have a coloured background. AutoShapes... yes, they constrain you
awfully. Too automatized.
Eero
Bob Buckland ?:-)
FWIW, while working in the Draw 98 canvas (optional install
that gives the 'new drawing' feature in Word 2000
you can also use, from the drawing Toolbar
Draw=>Rotate or Flip=>Flip Vertical in place of
the 'rotate' feature.
On laser printers using the new drawing feature can
sometimes require more printer memory to do the
page than using text rotation from a text box or table
cell on a rotated page.
=========
<<"Eero Loone" <elo...@ut.ee> wrote in message news:eD6FBgAsBHA.2760@tkmsftngp05...
In Word2000:
Eero >>
--
Bob Buckland ?:-) MS Office products family MVP
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