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How to prevent Word header from attenuating/fading/washing out?

Anonymous
2011-06-01T16:27:28+00:00

How to prevent Word header from attenuating/fading/washing out?

Microsoft 365 and Office | Word | For home | Windows

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  1. Stefan Blom 339.3K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2011-06-01T17:09:37+00:00

    That's just the way headers (and footers) display in Print Layout view. You'll notice that if you activate the header/footer view (for example by double-clicking the header), the main body of the document will be "washed out" instead.

    Headers and footers will look correctly in Print Preview (Backstage view), which you can activate by pressing Ctrl+F2, or in Full Screen Reading view.

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  1. John Korchok 231.6K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2016-04-08T21:21:39+00:00

    You're using Helvetica Neue for your font. I guarantee, almost no recipients will have that installed and you text will change appearance.

    My psychic abilities suggest you're actually working on a Mac, but have posted in the Windows section of this forum. You are producing the PDF using File>Print>PDF>Save as PDF, but you have left the printer set to Any Printer in the print dialog, so you're getting the default 1/2" margin all around the page.

    Instead, use Word's File>Save As>PDF command and you won't get those margins. Or, in the print dialog, create a custom page format with 0 margins on all side and set that as your page format.

    On an aesthetic note, your resume will look more professional if you have wider margins rather that placing text and logos so close to the edge.

    When the Word doc is opened in Word for Windows, most of your logos are in different positions than you intended. In Word>Preferences>View, check All in the Show Non-printing characters section. Then you can see the anchors for each logo. Drag the anchor to the paragraph it's supposed to be beside, then the logo will move with the paragraph.

    Or even better, create a table with a left-hand column for dates and logos and a right-hand column for specific information. If the logos are in line with text in a table cell, they will be guaranteed to stay in place and not go wandering.

    Finally, shorten your pages slightly and create new pages with a page break instead of multiple carriage returns. Because font substitution is occurring (I don't have Helvetica Neue installed in my version of Windows), the Continued... line is almost halfway down the second page, not at the bottom of the first like you intended.

    Here is a link to what your resume looks like at the moment in Word 2010 for Windows: Resume

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  1. Anonymous
    2013-06-01T02:23:08+00:00

    Really? Really Microsoft? You really had to dim-out headers? 

    Why? Why on earth would someone take the extra time and care to write down some code stating to word "let's do something useless and dim-out headers and footers whilst in the most popular view mode our paying customers will use!!"

    Well it won't show when you print, says Mister Douchy. Should I thank them for not sabotaging my printing options too? This is word 2013, designed for people living in 2013!!! Have you heard of giving users the ability to customize their working environment?

    They seem to be aware that people print less and less and exchange files, as they implemented an entire system that enables users to work on the same document and chat about it from within word!!! Is it too much to ask for visuals showing like we intended?

    And do not give me the PDF option to get headers looking normal. Why would I multiply my files by having PDFs ready just for proper visual display when Microsoft could just do the only sensitive and logic thing there is: leave headers the beeeep alone and not assume that someone somewhere is happy about the fading stuff.

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  2. Anonymous
    2013-02-14T18:28:06+00:00

    While I am well aware of the function of Print Preview, and the problems associated with the dimmed-out header when not active, my client doesn't.

    Sure, I would love to use my Adobe Creative Suite 6 InDesign to do a proper layout in all the ways that Word fails to do, with all these opaque approaches to working and limitations, and let's face it, having the header dimmed in Print Layout view *is* a limitation, because in this day and age, many documents NEVER get printed. Word should have been smart enough to recognize this use of their product and provided options accordingly. So it should be "fixed" on account of the fact that it is a limitation. Or have an option to have it viewed in Print Layout at 100%

    My client wants to use Word, because she sends out contracts via a mail merge feature in Word to her clients. Well she doesn't want to have to convert all of these documents into a PDF in fact lacks the time or skills and can't justify paying me for such a task either, she wants to be able to send the document attached to an email, and be viewable by her clients by simply opening it in Word (don't even get me started on what happened when i used a built in footer design, and the nightmare of how it turned it into a table when i had to save it in Compatibility Mode).

    Please take this message with you to any production planning meetings and recognize that people are now using it in ways that extend beyond what they thought of in 1994 or something, please. If there is some other way for my client to use her mail merge & send out the letters via email without the header being dimmed please let me know. As i said, i would have loved to have used InDesign, but that wouldn't have worked for her. I hope this message is useful and perhaps part of the chorus of voices that may help Microsoft rethink or update how people use their product.

    Thank you.

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  3. Anonymous
    2011-06-13T16:31:51+00:00

    It would be nice if they would finally fix it. Not that I don't love telling people "don't worry, it will print fine" two or three times a week ...

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