Curious printing problem

Curious printing problem

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Sometimes I type a letter in Word which contains a list of 3 or 4 numbers. I align the numbers correctly on the screen. However, when I press Print, they come out badly misaligned.
'Print preview' shows them correctly aligned.
What is going wrong?
SJD

Replies (12)

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By User deleted
12th Mar 2009 16:26

Not WYSIWYG = Bad Product
Sorry Rachel but how can you say Word is a good package when it does not do as promised and give WYSIWYG? I too have had SJD's problem and it is frustrating that having previewed and then printed a large document you have to review every page to check that what you saw on the screen is what has come out.

It should show you EXACTLY what it is going to print.

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By pauljohnston
12th Mar 2009 13:35

As an alternative or as an addition
goto www.fineprint.com download a free copy of finerint and make it the default drive in your computer.

then print your document. You will see a visual of the output from word before it prints. If this is the same as your document try updating the printer driver

If it is not click on hide /show icon in word and check your formating is the same. For instance word treats a tab differently from spaces

Good luck

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By RogerNeale
13th Mar 2009 08:09

Screen fonts or Printer fonts

It's probably not the fault of the software, the earlier suggestions regarding tabs or spaces are certainly valid.

However, one of the biggest problems with computer programs such as Word and Wordperfect is that they have to interpret the fonts in the best way they can.

There is often a difference in the font that is used on screen and the font that is sent to or used in the printer.

Another problem is the difference between one printer and another, printing the same docuemnt on two different printers will more often than not produce a slightly different result.

Unless your monitor is exactly the same size as your piece of paper and and set to use exactly the same resolution as your printer, you can only expect to see an approximation of what will be printed.

One way you can be sure that you'll get a print that looks exactly like the screen is to use a font that is embedded in your printer. You can sometimes tell which ones they are by the the fact that they have a tiny picture of a printer next to them. Most will have TT (TrueType) next to them.

Another way is to use a better printer, one which complies with the "PostScript" standard. The problem here is that most users buy cheap printers :-) which are generally not PostScript.

I believe that, instead of WISIWYG, the common acronym should be WYSIAWYG. What You See Is Almost What You'll Get.

In essence, WISIWYG should only be used as a guide to the approximate layout of your page and not a definitive view of what you'll get on paper.

If it's crucial that it's printed properly, i.e. filling in a pre-printed form, test, adjust, test, adjust etc. etc. before the final print.

Roger Neale
Business Systems Consultant
07714 670 789

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By User deleted
12th Mar 2009 17:26

It depends on your formatting
I don't believe there is a computer software product that doesn't have a quirk or two. I've had a lot more problems with accounting software than I've ever had with Word and Excel. If you format Word correctly (not using tabs and spaces unless you know how to set them up properly and using tables instead) you won't get these issues. I've yet to see a document with problems like this where if you look at the formating (using the symbol that looks like pi with a blob on) that you can't see that the formatting wasn't done correctly.

The easiest way without training is to insert a table (and you can line things up much easier this way) and make the borders blank so that you don't see them in the finished document.

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By User deleted
05th Mar 2009 13:37

£4.99 alternative ?
Ashampoo® Office 2008 supplied by e-mail reduced from £39.99 to £4.99.

This includes Word Processing, but I don't know how good it is.

Perhaps a good option for people who don't like MS products.

As with all software the headline price can be the immaterial factor : the learning curve to use it or missing features problems could become the more significant financial consequences of going for a relatively unknown software product.

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By User deleted
05th Mar 2009 13:30

Nothing wrong with Word
Word is a very good programme - I think the fault is we all try to pick it up as we go along rather than having ever been trained on it properly. I learnt a lot from a PA about the formatting side which used to drive me crazy and I think I cope with fairly well now.

Honestly try the insert table, or the automatic numbering command and automatic increase/decrease functions on a new document (without copying a lot of bad formatting) and you should be ok. If not if you want to leave your email address I'm happy to contact you to get a copy of the offending document to review and see if I can see the reason for the problem.

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By User deleted
05th Mar 2009 10:45

What else?
What should I use instead of Word? I used to use Wordperfect, but that wasn't very good.

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By User deleted
05th Mar 2009 12:55

What else
SJD
I wish i knew - i was trying to sympathise.

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By User deleted
04th Mar 2009 17:13

What is wrong?
You are using Word, perhaps the most frustrating bit of software ever developed.

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By pawncob
04th Mar 2009 16:46

Who knows?
Word is terrible. It realigns paragraphs and sets its own margins apparently at random.
It sounds like you're trying to print outside the printable margins, or you've got phantom spaces in the document.

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By User deleted
04th Mar 2009 13:45

Hard to tell
It's hard to tell without seeing your document.
However tabs and spaces could well be the problem.
If you are just numbering something, are you using automatic numbering/indentations?
If you are doing something more complex, insert table is a good idea (then make it look as if it isn't a table by removing the borders as you would in excel). With tables you can align each cell (left, centre, right, justified) so that you aren't using the more complicated tab issues.

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By User deleted
04th Mar 2009 13:33

TABS
Sounds like you are using spaces or tab or a combination of the two.

Try using the fixed tabs along the ruler at the top. If you set one up (ie click on the ruler where you want it) then double right click on it and select the correct tab in box that pops up and set it to right, then the number will be right tab aligned.

Hopefully this should sort the problem.

Nigel

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